Chicago Bears head coach Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery were fired Monday after the team completed what Chairman George McCaskey called a "painful" 5-11 campaign.
The Bears opted to begin their overhaul from the top down, parting ways with Emery after just three seasons and dismissing Trestman after two.
McCaskey and President Ted Phillips addressed the media Monday afternoon. McCaskey said the search for a new general manager and coach "is underway" and that the Bears have hired former New York Giants GM Ernie Accorsi as a consultant to help with the search. He said Accorsi already has given them a list of potential GM candidates.
Accorsi hired two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom Coughlin while with the Giants.
"You can never have enough expert football opinions," Phillips said.
Phillips said the Bears had no timeline for making the hires but "we are going to proceed with a sense of urgency." He said the Bears already have received "numerous inquiries."
"We think we're in a building phase," Phillips said. "We want to build off what we have.
"It came down to this: If you lose confidence in the status quo, you have to make changes."
Asked about the dismissals, McCaskey said the decision was finalized Sunday night and, "There wasn't a final straw. It was an evaluation of the body of work."
McCaskey said the Bears endured "a painful season" and said his mother, 91-year-old Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey, "is pissed off. I can't think of a 91-year-old woman that that description would apply, but in this case, I can't think of a more accurate description.
"She's been on this earth for eight of the Bears' nine championships, and she wants more. She feels that it's been too long since the last one, and that dissatisfaction is shared by her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. She's fed up with mediocrity. She feels that she and Bears fans everywhere deserve better."
McCaskey said it was important for the Bears to re-establish an identity.
"People need to know that when they've played the Chicago Bears, they've been through hell," he said.
Regarding Jay Cutler, McCaskey said he had no regrets about the huge contract given the quarterback last January. Phillips said he didn't anticipate Cutler being involved in the search for the new coach.
"I'm a fan of Jay's personally ... and professionally," said McCaskey, who added that all personnel decisions will be made by the new GM and coach.
In response to a question, McCaskey said the Bears have had no contact with former San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.
Phillips confirmed that offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer also was fired Monday. Mel Tucker remains the defensive coordinator for now.
Emery met the media and thanked the Bears organization for the opportunity he was given, and the fans for their support.
"This job was an opportunity of a lifetime," Emery said. "My only regret is that we didn't win enough games for this opportunity to continue. It's time to change and move forward. Go Bears."
Emery then exited the room without taking questions.
Major changes were inevitable after the Bears skidded to their worst record in more than a decade, losing seven games by double digits.
Now the Bears will begin their search efforts immediately in a bid to revamp their front office and coaching staff.
Among the former NFL head coaches that the Bears may pursue are former Redskins and Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, former Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, former Vikings coach Leslie Frazier, former Chiefs coach Todd Haley, former Texans coach Gary Kubiak, former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels and former Jets coach Rex Ryan.
The Bears also are expected to look at top assistants such as Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who was one of three finalists for the job that went to Trestman.
As for the general manager position, potential candidates include Chiefs director of player personnel Chris Ballard, Browns vice president of player personnel (and former Bears executive) Morocco Brown, Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin (whose father Bill was a former Bears GM) and Packers director of pro personnel Eliot Wolf, son of highly regarded personnel man Ron Wolf.
Such monumental changes were anticipated as the Bears limped to the end of a 5-11 season marred by dysfunction, underachievement and lopsided losses.
In two seasons, Trestman's Bears went 13-19, a contrast to his successful Canadian Football League tenure that included two league titles.
"I want to thank Virginia, George and the McCaskey family, Phil Emery and Ted Phillips for giving me the opportunity to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears," Trestman said in a statement. "I also want to thank all the coaches and players who gave us everything we asked over the past two years. I have tremendous respect for this organization. Chicago is a special city with great fans. I appreciate the warm support my family and I received."
His lead-from-behind style and aversion to hierarchical roles within the team proved to be an ill fit for a roster that included an inconsistent quarterback, an outspoken star receiver and several defensive veterans who longed for Trestman's predecessor, Lovie Smith.
Trestman built his program on ideals involving peer-to-peer accountability and the power of relationships, but it crumbled in 2014 under the weight of high expectations that resulted from the offense's success during his debut campaign.
A particularly tumultuous second half of the season sealed his fate. It began with back-to-back blowout losses to the Patriots on Oct. 26 and the Packers on Nov. 9, in which the Bears became just the second team in NFL history to surrender at least 50 points in consecutive games.
On Dec. 8, following three straight nationally-televised double-digit losses, offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer told the team he was the source of an NFL Network report in which a team official anonymously criticized quarterback Jay Cutler, saying Cutler "absolutely killed" the Bears with poor play management. Trestman allowed Kromer to stay in his role, which alienated some players who felt Kromer betrayed them.
Six days after that, Trestman benched Cutler. Several players chafed at Cutler's demotion, which contrasted Trestman's willingness to let Kromer maintain coordinator duties
Veterans such as linebacker Lance Briggs and kicker Robbie Gould proceeded to speak out about the dysfunction that existed on Trestman's watch.
Emery hired Trestman in Jan. 2013 to invigorate the offense and develop Cutler into a quarterback capable of leading the team to multiple championships and the head coach failed to succeed on either front with Cutler's continued inconsistency creating major issues.
His mechanical breakdowns and poor decisions were near the top of a long list of reasons the Bears' offense flopped in Trestman's second season. Now Trestman belongs to the fourth set of offensive coaches to depart since the Bears traded for Cutler in 2009.
Emery's exit is directly tied to the failures of Trestman, the head coach he handpicked in 2013 after firing Lovie Smith. Emery chose Trestman as his team's new leader over fellow finalist Bruce Arians, a move that has been widely skewered with Arians reviving the Arizona Cardinals and guiding them back into the playoffs while the Bears have plummeted toward the bottom of the NFC.
Emery was also held accountable for last January's decision to reward quarterback Jay Cutler with a seven-year contract extension, a move he felt would stabilize the team at its most important position, yet backfired with Cutler's ongoing struggles throughout 2014.
The new deal given to Cutler last winter came after a 2013 season in which he missed five full games and parts of two others due to injury. Cutler also lost six of his final eight starts in 2013 and his inconsistency continued this season, in his second full year working under Trestman.
Emery's track record includes several key additions to the Bears' roster, most notably the 2012 trade to acquire Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall as well as the decision to select offensive lineman Kyle Long with the No. 20 pick in the 2013 draft. But with every high-profile victory the GM enjoyed, there seemed to be at least one corresponding swing-and-miss, from the hiring of Trestman to the Cutler contract to the move to draft Shea McClellin with the Bears' first-round draft pick in 2012.