Chicago Bears Aren't Giving up in Controversial Battle Against NFL

The Chicago Bears are not giving up in their quest to get two compensatory draft picks.

Because of The Rooney Rule, the Bears were expecting to get two compensatory picks in the 2026 NFL Draft after the departure of former assistant GM Ian Cunningham, who was hired as the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.

However, the league denied the Bears those two picks, saying that Chicago didn't qualify for them because Cunningham wasn't the "primary football executive," a role the NFL believed really belonged to president of football operations, Matt Ryan.

“The policy for receiving picks pertains to the head coach or the primary football executive,” the NFL said. “The primary football executive position was filled by Matt Ryan.”

As ridiculous as that sounds, the NFL has not changed its stance and the Bears were left out in the cold when the 2026 comp pick selections were released.

Bears still fighting the good fight

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. — Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

While the league has denied the Bears, that hasn't stopped the team from continuing to fight on during the NFL Annual League Meeting, as Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

"The Bears are still trying to persuade the NFL to give them compensatory picks after the hired Ian Cunningham," Finley reported. "They expect an answer soon."

While we appreciate the fight from the Bears, it's not really clear what they expect to accomplish. After all, the 2026 NFL Draft order is already set and the league isn't going to change it.

Falcons, Ian Cunningham agree with Bears

The guy at the center of this controversy, Cunningham, has even said he agrees with the Bears' argument that they should get the picks.

“I’m the general manager, I was hired, I would think they would get two third-round picks,” he said. “I don’t know the wording of it, that’s just my perspective. Again, I wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for them giving me that job and helping me grow to get this job right now.”

Adding to that, Ryan even admitted at Cunningham's introductory press conference that Cunningham was indeed running things.

“Im not doing the scouting. I’m not running the meetings," Ryan said. Our general manager will do that. "The general manager role is going to be exactly the same.”

We certainly can't blame the Bears for trying. After all, it does feel like they were wronged in this situation.

That said, we wouldn't expect the NFL to budge.