Brad Biggs revealed last week that the Chicago Bears had done something unusual. When they hired GM Ryan Poles, they signed him a standard four-year contract. However, head coach Matt Eberflus got a five-year deal. Whatever their reasoning, this means Poles would go into 2025 with only one year left, making him a lame duck if the Bears were to keep him. That creates two scenarios. Either they sign him to an extension or they choose to part ways. This way they don’t scare away a large section of potential coaching candidates who won’t want to work in a situation where the GM is on the hot seat.
However, there is an unexpected twist in this situation. According to Adam Jahns on the Hoge & Jahns podcast, the Bears have a deadline to worry about. If they are to extend Poles, it must be done by the end of next week before the coaching search kicks off. That means if they don’t, it could signal that a change is coming.
Ryan Poles is in the exact same spot as Ryan Pace was.
The Bears’ 2017 season ended on December 31st. Just 24 hours later, news broke that the team had extended Pace through 2021. That paved the way for him to lead the coaching search, eventually landing on Matt Nagy. The regular season for Chicago ends on January 5th next month in Green Bay. If Poles’ contract news doesn’t break by that point, it would be a signal the organization plans to make a change. Either that, or they will have completely lost their sanity by employing a lame-duck GM in the middle of the most important coaching search in recent franchise history.
Kevin Warren stated the plan was to keep Ryan Poles in place. However, the team has only gotten worse down the stretch of this season. It just lost its 10th game in a row, the second-longest ever for the franchise. One can safely assume that number will reach 11 by the end of business next Sunday. What justification would the Bears have to keep him at that point? He would need one hell of a sale pitch. Signs are growing that his relationship with Warren is hardly harmonious. Everything points to this team needing a fresh start.
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@PoochPest makes a great point, in that as this season has gone south, there’s pretty much nothing Poles could do to fix it. A few practice squad signings to bolster weak units are pretty much it – players like Joe Thomas don’t come up on the open market, ever. @luapgnik: I don’t think choosing Rome was a failing. The other choices were to reach for an OL, or trade down, and I think over the long haul, taking the player who was clearly the best player available regardless of position, will make the team better in the future. Overdrafting at… Read more »
It is funny looking at all the people absolutely convinced about what the right moves are, which is all part of being a fan, when if everyone here was honest, their first choice a few years ago were “offensive minded” Brian Daboll as HC and his buddy, Joe Schoen at GM. From a successful team, worked well together, they were “aligned”, proven at developing a QB with Josh Allen, perennial playoff team so a winning pedigree. Seriously, I think some “expert” fans would have traded one or more of their children to get George to hire that pair, which in… Read more »
We’ll know soon enough, most likely. Until then we’re going to get hit by every rumor started by every member of every NFL franchise who wants to amuse themselves.
Somewhere, a janitor’s assistant will end up being quoted as, “An NFL-related source states…”
Wait for it.
Poles painted himself into a corner. He tried to stay ahead of everyone by trading for a WR prior to a weaker WR draft class. He did the same thing with the Sweat trade.
All of that to go into a draft that is weak in OL help, when that is our primary need.
He has to look at those teams that are going to have a regime change and try to take advantage of it. Scherff would not be an option for me at all.
The whole hiring mess is a first class dumpster fire right now. George, Warren, Poles and a new coach yet to be picked. Not to mention all of the unnamed MacCaskey family consultants who will add spice the mix. The long walk in the desert goes on for Bears fans.