Ryan Poles is the last unknown ahead of the Chicago Bears’ off-season. That might seem unusual, considering team president Kevin Warren stated the GM would lead the search for the next coach. However, plenty of people don’t believe his fate is determined just yet. With Matt Eberflus gone, people have started taking a serious look at the construction of the Bears’ roster and have come away unimpressed. While some good players are interspersed across each position group, there isn’t much star power and a glaring weakness in the trenches.
The Bears have now lost eight straight games, the second-longest streak in franchise history. Poles was also part of the longest one (14 games) between the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Other GMs have been through rebuilds as well but never fielded teams this hopeless. For all the talk about establishing a winning culture, Poles has failed. Why should people trust him to get the next coach right? The short answer is they shouldn’t. In discussing this topic, Bears insider Bill Zimmerman of Windy City Gridiron sure made it sound like the GM is in trouble.
If Warren takes a serious look at the big picture, the decision will be obvious.
Kevin Warren has a decision to make and if you pull back and look at the big picture. How can you justify giving Ryan Poles an extension and aligning him with a new head coach based on the 2024 team performance?
The answer is simple: you cannot.
Kevin Warren is going to come to the same conclusion that I have.
Ryan Poles must lose his job.
There have been plenty of positives about his tenure, but there’s just no way you can trust Ryan Poles to be the general manager for the next three or four years, aligned with the new coach as the man to surround Caleb Williams with the talent to take the Bears to a Super Bowl contender.
We are just two months away from the Bears’ 4-2 record. We were all thinking playoffs, and now the team is headed for another reset.
This season was a failure in every aspect. Nate Davis’ head rolled. Shane Waldron’s head rolled. Matt Eberflus’ head rolled. Ryan Poles is next.
Ryan Poles’ last line of defense is George McCaskey.
The only salvation he has is the fact that the team owner played a central role in hiring him. McCaskey is known for being loyal to his inner circle. Look how long he protected Ted Phillips despite glaring evidence that the man wasn’t qualified for his job. The Bears chairman may not be wild about the idea of dumping the GM he hand-picked after just three years. Don’t forget he kept Ryan Pace despite three ugly seasons from 2015 through 2017. It isn’t crazy to think he’d offer the same opportunity again.
Much of this hinges on Warren. He is the wild card. The team president already convinced McCaskey that firing Eberflus midseason was best for the team, which had never happened before. If he reaches the conclusion Zimmerman believes he will, that means Ryan Poles will be gone after the season ends. The Bears would reset at the top with a new GM and head coach, hopefully with a common vision on how to guide the franchise out of the pits and back into the light.
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again, easy to pick the number one draft and dole out millions, that could/should win games, but you need to build teamwork culture and have intelligence, just haven’t seen it last three years under Poles. Why isn’t Cole Kmet used? Was it a preemptive sideline alliance between Poles and certain players. Kevin should be reflecting on three years, taking action before another bad pick is made.
@TGena It’s funny you mention some of those teams who underwent “quick” rebuilds because of their supposedly more competent GM. I’ll just give you one example to explain how most people who don’t follow other teams on a day to day basis have no idea how many steps it took or how many years to build a team good enough to actually appear on the radar of anyone outside the market they’re in…Detroit. if you go simply off record, sure, they got good after Brad Holmes took over, but that doesn’t consider how they actually got there. Most would probably… Read more »
@Monkey Man Your vulgarity, insane madness, and lack of charming wittiness all suggest that you are living by a large rendering drainage pipe close to the Chicago Stockyards.
Look, everyone: Not THIS many of you wanted to trade out of 1.01. I know that because I wrote approximately a billion words about it and got screamed at like an orphan who pissed the bed again.
@TGena, I get it, but that also alludes to bad coaching as well. Even Wright, who looked pretty good last season, has regressed. Jenkins regressed as well. That points to bad coaching and bad game planning. We’ve got decent talent on this team, Moore, Odunze, Wright, Kmet, Williams, Johnson, Sweat, would all do better with better coaching and a couple of additions that would help them out. We definitely need a C, DE, DT, S, and G. Add that and proper coaching, the team improves. The question is, would we be seeing better play and be happier with what appears… Read more »