Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears are casting a wider net in their head coach search than any other team.
The team is a little over halfway through interviewing the 20 candidates they've requested, but that's just the first round.
The Bears can't even interview some of the coaches on their list in-person until their current employers are eliminated from the playoffs.
It could be a while before Poles and Kevin Warren decide on their next head coach.
Good things come to those who wait, but if the process starts to take too long, it could hurt the team in the long run.
If the Bears wait until after the Super Bowl (February 9) to hire someone coaching in the big game, that coach will likely be the last one hired in this year's hiring cycle.
All of the other coaches hired by the Patriots, Jets, Jaguars, Raiders, Saints and Cowboys before then will fill out their staffs with the top assistants available.
If the Bears coach starts that process later, he might not be able to land his first choice candidates if they already commit to coaching jobs elsewhere.
In recent years, we've seen some head coaches hired later in the cycle end up making incorrect choices with key coordinators.
Is that because they couldn't get their first choice? Or would they have made the same coordinator hire if they had become head coaches earlier.
In 2022, the Minnesota Vikings hired Kevin O'Connell to be their head coach on February 16 after his Los Angeles Rams played in the Super Bowl.
He hired Ed Donatell to be his first defensive coordinator and then fired him 11 months later. Donatell hasn't coached again in the NFL since. Was Donatell O'Connell's first choice or just the choice that was still available to him that late in the process?
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald also both fired key coordinators one year into their jobs. Their respective teams had to wait until after the NFC and AFC Championship games in 2022 and 2024 to hire them.
It could be that those coaches aren't very good at picking coordinators, but they had fewer options available to choose from than other head coaches who were hired sooner.
Waiting longer to hire a head coach also runs the risk that the coach you want to hire ends up getting cold feet.
If Poles sets his sights on Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, for example, the Bears need to be certain he will take the job when his team is eliminated from the playoffs.
The last thing Chicago can afford is for Johnson to win the Super Bowl in Detroit and then decide he doesn't want to leave for a head coaching job after all.
Remember when the Indianapolis Colts hired Josh McDaniels in 2018? Then on February 6, he changed his mind and returned to the Patriots.
Johnson has already been hesistant to leave Detroit and fickle about what head coaching jobs he'll consider.
If the Bears get left at the proverbial alter (by Johnson or any other candidate), they could also miss out on their second or even third choice and settle for whatever available candidate is most tolerable.
Poles needs to be decisive in his head coach search and quickly identify the candidate who should lead the Bears.
Then he needs to be sure that coach is onboard and in it for the long haul, regardless of how long they remain in the playoffs on their current team.
