ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Chicago Bears hired Ryan Poles of Canandaigua in January to be the NFL franchise’s general manager.

It’s harder to get home now for Poles. His new gig is keeping him busy. When he does get back, he and his wife and kids will rent a house. And when there’s time, stop by Nolan’s for dinner. But most of that’s on hold for a while.

Poles ascended to the top of job at Halas Hall in Chicago last month. He’s already transforming the front office, preparing for the draft, signing free agents. He’ll also admit taking the reins of an NFL franchise is comparable to he and his wife Katie bringing their first child home from the hospital.

“There’s no manual anywhere,” he said. “You’ve got to figure it out.”

And so the 36-year-old Poles, raised in Canandaigua, an all-state high school lineman, a Boston College star and NFL player, has steered his football journey into Chicago. So badly did the Bears want Poles, who was also a finalist for the GM jobs with the Bears and the Giants, that Bears chairman George McKaskey greeted him at the O’Hare Airport baggage claim. McCaskey saw in Poles what Scott Piloi and the Kansas City saw in him when they hired him as a scout 12 years ago.

“I was treated differently,” Poles said as he reflected on an organization that elevated him to executive director of player personnel before his departure for Chicago.

Poles still pauses to collect his emotions when he considers the opportunities the Chiefs gave to a grinder like him; from KC general managers Pioli, John Dorsey and Brett Veach, to head coach Andy Reid and owner Clark Hunt.

“You're thankful for it, obviously?“ Poles was asked.

In a whisper, Poles offers: “Yeah.”

His ability to judge talent is why the Bears, a team starved for championship-level players, turned to Poles. He was among those to convince the Chiefs to go all-in to acquire the draft capital to acquire MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, before he was universally regarded as a generational talent.

Poles also scouted Travis Kelce, the Chiefs’ All-Pro tight end. Before he left, he oversaw all college scouting and also helped lead KC’s pro personnel operation.

“In the end, you look for people who are not just talented, but who, when given the chance to play football, they play it like a school kid at recess -- joyfully, no pressure,” Poles said. “They consume the game and have fun doing it.”

When he begins his long days at the Bears' remodeled headquarters, Poles passes through a darkened hallway. It lights up with every stride a visitor takes, revealing sculptures of the numbers and names of Bears legends, from Red Grange and Gale Sayers to Dick Butkus and Walter Payton. Poles gets a charge each time he passes through the hallway.

“To have the opportunity to be a part of this legacy, and to add to it; it’s why you get into this line of work,” Poles said.

Poles interviewed for four other NFL GM jobs before he chose Chicago. Like the Bears, he also had a second interview with the New York Giants, just as his friend, Brian Flores had a second interview for the Giants head coaching job. Poles says he never felt he accepted a courtesy interview with any organization.

“So if they wanted to pass, I was okay, because it just wasn’t the spot for me,” he said. “And that was my approach for all of this. It’s peaceful when you do it that way because you don’t get worked up. You don’t get mad. You just wait for the right one. “

Flores did not have the same experience with the Giants as Poles. His turned the NFL upside down with a lawsuit against the Giants, two other teams and the league that claims a pattern of racist hiring patterns. It challenges the validity of the league’s Rooney Rule, which expects all teams to interview at least two people of color for any GM or lead coaching

“There are issues,” he said. “It’s still out there for sure. My approach is, ‘I’m going to do a good job.’ Be successful with Ryan Poles, and that’s how I’m going to overcome those things and knock those walls down."

And he plans to stick to the standards that got him the job. Poles said he felt no pressure to hire a coach of color, nor received any push back when he chose, as the Bears' new coach, first-time head coach Matt Eberflus.

“I just had that instinct and that gut feeling I got myself a special one,” he said.

The Bears front office may have gotten one too, in a young man trying to steer a historic franchise to better days as it and the league attempt to leave their hardest lessons in the past.

“If I can just act and prove it wrong by being successful, that’s the only way to do it,” Poles said.