Bears GM Ryan Poles Had Awkward Moment When Asked About Ex-OC Shane Waldron

Bears GM Ryan Poles struggled to answer a simple question on Monday. | Screengrab via @dave_bfr

The Chicago Bears have been one of the biggest laughingstocks in the the NFL this year and that continued when they found a mind-boggling way to lose to the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. The following day they fired head coach Matt Eberflus moments after he spoke with the media about that holiday loss.

On Monday GM Ryan Poles met with the media for the first time since the firing and he had a really awkward moment when he was asked a basic question about former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who was fired less than a month ago.

Reporter: "Ryan, where do you think it went wrong with the selection of Shane Waldron?"

Poles seemed to be surprised by the question and remained quiet for what felt like an uncomfortably long time before giving his answer.

Ryan Poles on where he feels it went wrong with Shane Waldron.

Look at how uncomfortable Poles was answering this. pic.twitter.com/SZets7Moyt
— Dave (@dave_bfr) December 2, 2024

"With Shane obviously there was some communication that probably didn’t happen as clean as it needed to be and we just got off to a tough start," Poles said. "It’s always difficult when you have a young quarterback, we built this to have supported around Caleb but when you have that blend of a young rookie quarterback with experienced players to make that all work is a difficult task and I think there was a little bit of struggle just getting that going."

Fans were not impressed with Poles in that moment:

Didn’t think this one would be asked?

10 seconds of silence https://t.co/WI98QATQtN
— Mike Harmon (@SwollenDome) December 2, 2024

We bashed Eberflus for not taking accountability for his mistakes. This was a perfect opportunity for Poles to do the same and he froze https://t.co/7KuiwlF5R0
— Chicago Football Connection (@CFCBears) December 2, 2024

This response/reaction symbolizes to me that Ryan Poles had a large hand in hiring Waldron https://t.co/K2PaFrrPCN
— We are back Ben Johnson (@TommyK_NFLDraft) December 2, 2024