“Oh, my good God.”

That was the reaction of a high-ranking personnel man from an NFL playoff team who texted me a clip of Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren responding to a question Tuesday about his commitment to general manager Ryan Poles.

“When we say long term, I mean, a year is a lifetime,” Warren said.

The Bears are on the radar of other teams, even ones in the postseason, as everyone is curious which direction the coaching search will take. That clip, which made its way around social media, caught the attention of multiple personnel men who sent it to me.

I won’t cherry-pick quotes, which can lead things to be taken out of context, so here’s the rest of Warren’s response after calling a year a lifetime.

“I know that’s important,” Warren said. “I know 2025 is important not only from a football standpoint, from a stadium standpoint, from an operations standpoint. Again, I trust Ryan. I trust the process that he has put together. I’m confident it will yield positive results.

“We will hire a world-class coach, whether it’s Thomas Brown or someone who currently does not work in our organization. We will get this right and I’m looking forward to it. I am so excited about being able to start these interviews, I haven’t been able to sleep the last couple nights.”

There’s a lot to dive into here because I disagree with the notion that a year is a lifetime, certainly not in the NFL for a team coming off a 5-12 season with a quarterback who will be entering Year 2 in the most competitive and rugged division in the league.

What’s clear is Chairman George McCaskey and Warren have empowered Poles to take the lead in the search process. He oversees football operations and they have confidence in him. For how long remains to be seen and is open to interpretation.

Poles was asked directly if he has received a contract extension.

“I’ve said from the day I was hired that I’m not going to get into my contract,” he replied. “I just think it’s a very personal thing in terms of how much I’m making and how long I’m making it.”

Poles wants to keep that matter of his employment private, and that’s understandable. He also can appreciate why it was a relevant topic in that setting and why it will be when meeting with coaching candidates, who will want to know about the power structure and status of those involved.

“The candidates we talk to, that will be something I can address with them,” he said.

McCaskey said the organizational flow chart remains unchanged at Halas Hall. The head coach reports to Poles. Poles reports to Warren. Warren reports to McCaskey. The Bears prefer a vertical structure, and that’s how it is laid out.

So what will Poles tell candidates about his situation, certainly a question you would expect, at least in a second interview.

“I’ll have that conversation with them,” he said. “And we’ll go from there.”

How much remaining runway Poles has is unclear, and it’s his prerogative to keep it that way. But is the idea legitimate that a coach’s timeline needs to match the GM’s?

“In the interviews that I have participated in, that has never been a factor,” McCaskey said. “No one has ever come in and said, ‘I’m not going to come here unless the general manager and I are on the same timeline.’ I don’t think that’s going to be a factor.”

Poles will have to be candid with someone he’s trying to hire, and when I wondered aloud during a chat with a personnel man for another team if Poles’ contract length could make the Bears undesirable, he went the other way.

“Not necessarily,” he said.

In fact, he said, it could make the job appealing. Take the job. Get to know Poles and his staff. Get a feeling for the dynamics in the building and see where the relationship goes. In the event it doesn’t work out, provided the coach remains on steady ground, he probably would have a strong say in the selection of the next GM.

“That’s pretty attractive, I think, to a high-level candidate,” the personnel man said.

But there aren’t a ton of situations in which a coach actually got to pick the GM, and it’s definitely a long shot here.

If the Bears get the right coach and everything clicks — and that’s an incredible challenge in front of the organization — this won’t matter in the long run.

Right now, it matters. That doesn’t mean the situation is a deterrent.

If the Bears don’t wind up hiring Ben Johnson or Mike Vrabel, who’s the guy?

It’s an interesting question posed by one source I chatted with. He didn’t lean in any particular way, and neither did I. It would be a wide-open race at that point with the initial list large and possibly still growing.

I threw out the name of Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who is on the Bears list and was a teammate of Poles for one season at Boston College.

“I don’t think they can go defense if it’s not Vrabel,” the source said.

The New England Patriots could be moving fast on Vrabel. The team reported Tuesday it completed interviews with Byron Leftwich and former Bears quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton just two days after firing Jerod Mayo.

Provided those were in-person interviews, the Patriots could be clear to hire Vrabel (or anyone else) as soon as they want. The Rooney Rule mandates teams interview at least two external and minority candidates in person.

A couple of folks I chatted with agreed that a lot of teams will wind up doing much worse than hiring Mike McCarthy, the Dallas Cowboys coach, with whom the Bears asked to meet and were denied permission. If the Cowboys don’t renew McCarthy’s contract by Tuesday, he could meet with any team.

McCarthy led the Cowboys to three consecutive 12-win seasons from 2021-23, brought out the best in quarterback Dak Prescott and was principal in developing a young Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. He might really like the idea of being able to battle the Packers twice a season.

“I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if it wound up being Arthur Smith,” the source said of the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator and former Atlanta Falcons coach. “He’s been a head coach. He’s resurrected Russell (Wilson) to a point, from where he was to where he is right now. He’s got a presence. He’s smart.”

The point is Johnson and Vrabel appear to be the chalk picks right now, and after that it’s wide open.

Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, whom Eberflus tried to lure as quarterbacks coach in 2022, is an interesting candidate.

Todd Monken, a Wheaton native, has been at the controls of the Baltimore Ravens offense and helped elevate Lamar Jackson to a new level. He has been a college head coach at Southern Miss.

St. Rita and Northwestern graduate Mike Kafka has been a runner-up for three head coaching positions and is on the Bears list. The New York Giants have struggled, but Kafka helped develop Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City and has a relationship with Poles.

Vrabel finished his playing career in Kansas City in 2009-10, when Poles was beginning as a low-level scout.

He has a strong personality, which might make some in the building a little nervous but potentially is what the Bears need.

It just looks like the Patriots could be moving fast in an effort to land him.