The Chicago Bears are halfway through their search for a new general manager after interviewing San Diego Chargers director of player personnel Jimmy Raye following their meeting with New England Patriots director of pro personnel Jason Licht.
The Bears announced, via the Chicago Tribune, that they met with Raye on Tuesday, and the team revealed last week it had received to permission to interview four executives from around the league.
Raye joined the Chargers in 1996 and spent four seasons as a scout before serving as director of college scouting from 2000 to 2007.
The Tribune also reported Tuesday the Bears declined a request by the Minnesota Vikings to interview secondary coach Jon Hoke for their vacant defensive coordinator position, marking the second consecutive offseason the Bears have denied an assistant the opportunity to interview for a coordinator spot.
The Tribune speculated the Bears could possibly have denied the request because the Vikings are an NFC North rival, but the newspaper also pointed out the Bears denied a request from the Tennessee Titans to interview Mike Tice for their offensive coordinator position last offseason. Tice recently replaced the now retired Mike Martz as the Bears offensive coordinator.
The Bears don't have a blanket deny-all-requests policy, however, as special teams coordinator Dave Toub has interviewed for the Miami Dolphins' head-coach position. The Bears, however, locked up Toub to a two-year deal Tuesday.
The Tribune also reported that Hoke interviewed to be Philadelphia's defensive coordinator last offseason, but that was when he was without a contract.
