Mighty Joe Young
Living in Troll's Heads Rent-Free for Decades
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- Feb 8, 2021
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My favorite teams
Ok.
Let's just say I understand no one has any reason to believe me on any of this. And I am ok with that. All I will say is, I know a guy.
That said, this goes back over a year. Here's everything in chronological order. Think of it as story time if you want, but this is what I have been told by someone who WOULD know (connected person, not "internet source"):
* Bears pursuit of Ben Johnson went back over a year ago. Poles and BJ were acquaintances, and Poles wanted to part with Matt Eberflus last season and bring in Ben, having seen BJ have success for 2 seasons in a row. George refused. BJ himself was interested in the Bears because at the time they had DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, and the 1st overall pick in the draft - BJ is a college football fan and loved watching Caleb Williams in college. Coaching him is THE driving factor as to why the Bears were Ben's top choice.
*While this was going on, Kevin Warren was working to remove as much of Trace Armstrong's influence from the Bears as he could. Trace has had an oversized influence on the Bears for DECADES now, and because of George's willingness to be attached to a former player, especially one that is willing to re-enforce George's bad habits of the McCaskey brand of meddling (Tea with Virgina, HC attends church with them on non-gameday Sundays, etc), that allowed Trace to have a lock on getting his clients into he organization. Poles being a Trace Armstrong client put him in Warren's crosshairs.
*However, what ended up basically saving Poles' bacon was he came clean to Kevin about his plans with pairing Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, and also the headwinds Poles faced with executing this thanks to George refusing to fire Matt. This was indeed a year ago. Warren was intrigued, but basically told Poles his job was dependent on landing Ben. At the same time, Warren agreed to work with Poles on helping make this happen, as if it did, Warren saw this as a potential major win for selling the stadium and eventually the team.
*Using back channels, Ben agreed to wait a year. Its why last year he went back to Detroit (the rumor that Ben wanted Howell as QB was smoke from the Commanders to save the embarrassment of flying out to meet Ben before even securing his agreement to meet - he shot them down while they were still in the air).
*During this time, Warren started working on George, buttering him up to the idea of being more hands off and that a better coach would require big time money. George was open to the latter, but stuck in his ways on the former, insisting on the tea and church and other weird things the McCaskeys do.
*The end of season presser looked awful for the Bears, but the purpose was not for the fans - Warren was sending a public message to Poles. "This is your plan, and I will go along with it, but don't forget who is in charge and that your job is on the line to execute this." This is why Poles looked like a broken man in that presser.
*The horrible season and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory so many times broke George enough that he was willing by end of season to commit to paying whatever a top coach needed. However, George was still stuck on all the McCaskey meeting weirdness. George said it had never been an issue before or come up before, but IF it did, he'd be willing to hear out the coach and consider changing things. This led to Warren leaking and confirming some of these to social media and the internet - the purpose was 2-fold. To make it public, and to equip Ben with ammo for his eventual interview. Warren had a plan.
*At the interview, towards the end, BJ point blank asked George about "what he read on social media" about what the McCaskeys require, and if it was true, and if so, it was a deal-breaker. This FINALLY got George to relent. The stuff you hear reported about BJ wanting to know if the ownership would meddle is EXACTLY about this. The McCaskeys will leave Ben alone. Ben will report to Poles ONLY. This is how well-run NFL teams do it, and this is also what Warren wanted, as a dysfunctional front office will cause a decrease in value to the franchise.
*Expect Poles to get a contract extension matching BJ in years.
*Last note - Warren is NOT a nice guy. He's a politician and he is cut-throat, but knows how to play the game, including using leverage, misdirection, etc. He is VERY good at the political aspect of these jobs. Ultimately, the Bears will break ground on a stadium and sell the team, which will free Warren from the Bears. Expect him to be rewarded with a very high position in the main NFL offices for doing this. A successful Bears franchise (which is in one of the major markets) makes the whole NFL richer. These things are usually left hands off, but let's just say the league was tired of the Bears not being profitable due to ownership mishandling. There is precedent for the league getting "involved" from time to time - see what happened to Dan Snyder and Jon Gruden. They don't do it as often as you would think, but there are times when they DO get involved. And they will never disclose that.
*Side note - the League very much wants to get invovled with the Cowboys, but Jerry Jones is a very paranoid man with a lot of resources. They haven't found a convincing "in".
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