The Bears have whittled down their search for a new general manager to two men, Chiefs director of college scouting Phil Emery and Patriots director of pro scouting Jason Licht. Both are expected to get second interviews later this week.
The Bears have eliminated two outside candidates, Jimmy Raye of the Chargers and Marc Ross from the Giants, as well as in-house candidate Tim Ruskell.
The future of Ruskell is not yet known. It likely will be up to the new general manager to decide whether or not to retain the Bears' director of player personnel.
It is possible the GM hiring process could drag into next week or beyond. Most of the five original candidates for the job were seen in Mobile at Senior Bowl activities Monday, and Bears president Ted Phillips remains at Halas Hall.
Rumors were flying Monday, including one that said the Bears had already offered the job to Emery. This did not happen.
The team interviewed all five men last week.
Both Licht and Emery have knowledge of how the Patriots assess talent.
