LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The timelines were a bit warped for Ian Cunningham.
The Chicago Bears assistant general manager is a key piece in the franchise’s long-term building efforts. He’s also the most-trusted confidant for general manager Ryan Poles.
Cunningham also has his own aspirations to be a general manager himself.
When he was a finalist for the open general manager positions in Tennessee and Jacksonville, Cunningham was excluded from the Bears head coach hiring process so he could focus on his own interviews.
That left one of the most significant football operation voices at Halas Hall in limbo.
“Personally, it was awkward,” Cunningham said. “I wanted to be a part of this process. It was just a weird time. I wanted to put my best foot forward.”
Cunningham was one of the most attractive general manager candidates this offseason. The biggest reason was his resume.
He worked his way up from being a personnel assistant in Baltimore, to being the Eagles’ Director of Player Personnel. For the last three years, Cunningham has been the Bears’ assistant general manager.
The long story short is Cunningham is ready to run his own show.
It didn’t come to fruition for the Tennessee Titans, who hired Mike Borgonzi, brother of former Bears’ linebackers coach, Dave Borgonzi as their general manager. Once that was completed, Cunningham wasted no time getting out of limbo and into the frying pan as the Bears finalized hiring Ben Johnson.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out in Tennessee,” Cunningham said. “As soon as that was done I got back in, started watching all the videos of the coaching interviews.”
Just when Cunningham was out of limbo, he jumped back into it.
The Jaguars fired Trent Baalke in late January, and Cunningham became a finalist right before the NFL Combine.
Jacksonville hired Los Angeles Rams’ Director of Scouting Strategy James Gladstone as general manager. Cunningham was back with the Bears as they then dove head first into the combine, NFL Free Agency and, now, the NFL Draft.
It wasn’t without emotion. Cunningham said it hurt coming so close to being a general manager only to get passed over for a second-straight year.
The balancing act between the job at hand and the job he wants creates a difficult dichotomy.
“You devote your time here, you want to help this crew and you also have your own goals and aspirations,” Cunningham said. “You feel a little bit weird but, again, thankful for those opportunities, grateful for those opportunities.”
Now, he’s shaken that off. He doesn’t have time to dwell on what could have been when he’s now preparing for his fourth draft with the Bears.
Cunningham is necessary in the Bears’ draft room, too. Last year, there were videos going viral of Cunningham holding Poles back from trading up to select Rome Odunze. The Bears landed Odunze at No. 9 overall without trading any draft assets.
The Bears might have to navigate that against on Thursday, with so much murkiness surrounding what could happen in the top 10.
“There are a lot of phone calls going on right now,” Poles said.
What the Bears can take solace in is how Cunningham’s level voice will be in the draft room this weekend.
“My sole focus is this draft and bringing a winner to Chicago,” Cunningham said.