LAKE FOREST – Keeping with their trend over the last three days, the Bears have brought in a pair of candidates to interview for either their general manager or head coaching position.
On Friday, that included former Dolphins coach Brian Flores for the same position in Chicago and current Saints assistant general manager Jeff Ireland for the GM spot, who the team confirmed they spoke to for the positions.
Being able to talk to Flores is a bit of a surprise since his firing by the Dolphins after three seasons caught many off guard. In Miami, his last two teams finished with records over .500, including 9-8 this past season, but neither one of those teams made the playoffs.
That was Flores’ first head coaching job after spending 11 seasons as an assistant at a variety of positions for the Patriots. During his time with the team, the Patriots won three Super Bowl championships as he served primarily as a secondary and linebacker’s coach.
Ireland also has a major connection with the Dolphins as he was their general manager from 2008-2013, with the team winning the AFC East in his first season. After serving as a draft consultant for the Seahawks in 2014, Ireland was hired for his current position with the Saints as assistant general manager and director of college scouting in 2015.
There is also a Bears’ connection for Ireland since he served as the team’s ballboy while he was 12 years old. that was because his grandfather, Jim Parmer, was a scout for the Bears from 1972-1977 and then director of college scouting from 1978-1985.
This now brings the Bears’ interview total to six since general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy were fired on Monday. On Wednesday, the Bears interviewed general manager candidate Glenn Cook and head coach candidate Doug Pederson, then talked to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah of the Browns and current Bears vice president of player personnel Champ Kelly for the general manager position on Thursday.