Ryan Poles may have been offered a public assurance that the plan was for him to lead the search for a new head coach last month. However, things change fast in the NFL, especially when the team keeps losing. The Chicago Bears just dropped their 10th in a row on Thursday night in a 6-3 clunker to the Seattle Seahawks. Caleb Williams was sacked seven times again, marking the third time that has happened this season. It has become impossible to defend the GM. He hired the coaching staff. He assembled this roster and now holds the two longest losing streaks in franchise history.
Yes, the team has looked competitive at times this season, but that isn’t what Poles was hired to do. He was hired to win. With his third season almost over, the Bears have only done that 14 times. Since the GM position came into being in 1974, nobody has had a worse three-year stretch in franchise history. Mark Hatley also had 14 from 1997 through 1999. Ryan Pace had 14 from 2015 through 2017. Not exactly great company to keep. Even so, is it possible Poles will survive anyway? Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron, who’s known for having strong team sources, dropped a not-so-subtle hint.
Ryan Poles is teetering on the edge.
By all accounts, there isn’t much unity behind the scenes at Halas Hall. Most believe team president Kevin Warren is in the midst of a power grab, unsatisfied with the organization’s direction. He’s fine with keeping Poles, but indications have been that the Bears have no qualms about firing the GM if the head coach they want isn’t excited about working with him. Throw in that Poles enters the last year of his contract and it’s hard not to see the team simply parting ways with him.
The bad far outweighs the good at this point. Ryan Poles’ biggest claim to fame is his blockbuster trade with Carolina that landed D.J. Moore, Darnell Wright, and Williams. It was a good decision. Unfortunately, its luster is wearing off as other moves have cropped up like weeds. You have the Chase Claypool trade, signing Nate Davis, trading for Ryan Bates, and drafting Velus Jones, Zacch Pickens, and Kiran Amegadjie in the 3rd round. To say nothing of the Eberflus hire. Every GM makes mistakes, but his feel too egregious to overlook.
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@Tred I agree with you on both points. Stacking draft picks, many from comp picks, and then developing some of them into real contributors is the single biggest reason why Green Bay is consistently competitive. Clearly, with their QB history since the early 90’s, it’s not the only reason, but I do think it’s the biggest. The Bears, on the other hand, have always run a deficit of picks, trading so many away, that they rarely have depth and always need to use free agency to fill holes in their starting line-up. That creates a team that is older, more… Read more »
@Arnie – real quick I want to address two excellent points you make – 1) good teams sign FAs who don’t screw up their comp picks. 110% AGREE with you. Poles lost us a pick by signing Byron Pringle his first season here. I’m pretty sure he lost us another one last year, but I can’t remember the circumstances. The Packers get fat on comp picks. The Bears – and this goes way beyond Poles – never have. 2) Good teams develop young players who overperform their contracts. 110% AGREE with you, also. Poles DID try to bring in a… Read more »
@Tred Yes, we do view the roster quite differently. I also think we disagree significantly on how much impact the coaching staff has on whether a fan believes the roster is talented or not. The days of super teams are long gone, championship rosters do not have top 5 or even top 10 at all positions, they almost exclusively have rosters with holes, and they have coaching staffs who make it work all work. They develop young players to overperform their contract, draft status and raw talent. They plug holes with free agents that don’t screw up comp picks for… Read more »
@Arnie – I get your point. And I understand that many people will look at it like that. But I’m wired different. I don’t care if I’m at the pinnacle of power. If I’m being interfered with to the point that I no longer respect myself, or the job I’m doing, I’m gone. Again, that’s just me. But it’s also the only personal perspective that I have to view Ryan Poles, or any other executive with. Added – I think you and I see this roster differently. I think they need 11 new starters, and probably half a dozen or… Read more »
@Tred No, not foreign at all woth opinion makes sense. The only thing I think that complicates it is when we’re talking about an NFL GM job, one of only 32, and pretty much at the pinnacle of his chosen career path, so as a young guy who theoretically would like to continue working in his chosen profession, and a first timer who doesn’t have a long established resume, telling a meddling owner where to go is probably not just the end of that job, but an end to your entire career path. That’s why I think that it’s understandable… Read more »