The Bears looked like they aced out the Vikings for general manager Ryan Poles in January when they offered Poles the job before he could go back to Minneapolis for a second interview as one of two finalists to replace Rick Spielman.
The Vikings hired the other finalist —Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, a former commodities trader who was the Browns’ vice-president of football operations and had interviewed with the Bears.
Regardless of whether Poles chose the Bears over the Vikings (he had not been offered the Vikings job), it was on paper a victory of sorts for the Bears — they hired a candidate someone else wanted.