And shared on social media by Eric Bohn, whose Twitter bio identifies him as“ your trusted resource for Chicago’ s Northside and the North Shore residential real estate market.”. …
The video surfaced a little before 11 p.m. Monday. Undercover, of course. And shared on social media by Eric Bohn, whose Twitter bio identifies him as “your trusted resource for Chicago’s Northside and the North Shore residential real estate market.” In this case, he was moonlighting as an impromptu P.I. — with his cellphone ready. This, after all, is what we do in 2022. See, share, then open the floor to reaction. Bohn’s covert video documentation showed what certainly appeared to be Chicago Bears Chairman George McCaskey strolling through O’Hare International Airport with a man who certainly appeared to be Kansas City Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles, a finalist for the Bears general manager job. Finally! In the third week of the Bears’ hunt for a new GM and head coach, we had eyes on the process, evidence of McCaskey with boots on the ground, meeting Poles at the airport and leading this all-important search party into a new in-person stage. From there, it turns out, everything escalated rather quickly. After Poles’ second interview with the team Tuesday — this time at Halas Hall in Lake Forest — he agreed to become the Bears general manager. The team announced the hiring Tuesday evening. At 36, he will jump into a front-office position that, under the Bears structure, offers great latitude and freedom to carry out his vision. He will be responsible for jump-starting a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2010 season and finished 6-11 in 2021. Poles’ first order of business is hiring a coach. He’ll do so, presumably, with a focus on how the new leader can implement a plan to lift quarterback Justin Fields to new heights. Many around the league see the Bears’ turnaround efforts as a heavy lift. But in Poles, they have united with a leader who understands the climb and has seen what high-level NFL success looks like. The Chiefs have gone to the playoffs in eight of the last nine seasons. This Sunday, they will play in the AFC championship game for the fourth consecutive January and are favored to reach the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season. Back to that airport encounter for a moment. By Tuesday morning, Bohn’s video of Poles and McCaskey heading out of O’Hare had more than 700 likes and close to 300 retweets. Many of the replies went as you’d expect. There was predictable sarcasm. From @puttinonfoil: “Wow. George running an Uber now.” There were jump-to-conclusions responses. From @Eric11Lackey: “Personally, I love this. Ryan Poles is our next GM as long as he accepts. George is adding that extra personal touch, him picking him up saying ‘you’re my guy, When you’re my guy, you’re family.’ This is a huge sign of respect to the candidate.” And then, naturally, there were next-level social media sleuths who froze the video, zooming in and seeking clues to figure out something.
