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The Bears are not ready to let the NFL off the hook.
Following the hiring of former assistant G.M. Ian Cunningham as G.M. of the Falcons, the Bears continue to appeal the league's decision to not award the team a pair of third-round compensatory draft picks.
Via Courtney Cronin of ESPN, both president and CEO Kevin Warren and owner George McCaskey said the Bears expect a final answer soon.
The effort included a visit by McCaskey, Warren, and G.M. Ryan Poles to the league office, for a meeting with Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The league has said that the Bears didn't get the picks because Matt Ryan — the Falcons' president of football — is the primary football executive in Atlanta. Ryan has made it clear, however, that Cunningham is operating as the team's General Manager.
“He is the G.M.,” Ryan told PFT Live on Monday. “He is the G.M. I’m learning — I mean you talk about things that are coming on your desk every day, management council things, different things like that, why they rule certain ways, why they don’t rule certain ways. I’m not experienced enough to give you a really credible answer on that at this point. I would say this, I think in every facet of the word, Ian’s a General Manager in this league."
The NFL is in a pickle on this one. If the league had just given the Bears the picks in the first place, no one would have said a word about it. Now, after the league said "no" for so long, it will be reluctant to admit the first decision was a mistake.
Especially with the Florida attorney general currently hounding the league regarding the Rooney Rule.
