Matt Eberflus is gone. The spotlight of the Chicago Bears‘ dysfunction now rests on GM Ryan Poles. This shouldn’t be a surprise. He promised a winner when he took over in 2022. Instead, he’s offered nothing but the same stuff they’ve endured for the past decade. There hasn’t been a culture change. The offense is still bad. There is no sense of identity. Many wonder why Poles deserves a pass while Eberflus got the blame. With each passing week, it looks like the roster he’s built isn’t as impressive as many thought.
No position group has haunted the GM more than the offensive line. It was supposed to be his area of expertise as a former lineman himself. Instead, it has shown how alarmingly blind he is to the position. The group has allowed 58 sacks this season, on course for the most ever in a single season by the Bears. Worse still, his most prominent moves are proving to be disasters. Nate Davis was a complete crapshow after less than two seasons. Third round pick Kiran Amegadjie looks completely overmatched whenever he steps on the field.
Now Poles suffered another blow as Ryan Bates, his prized trade acquisition from Buffalo, went on Injured Reserve for the second time.
Ryan Poles can’t hide from this.
Bates was somebody he’d pined for going back three years when the Bears tried signing him as a restricted free agent. Instead, he traded a 4th round pick to Buffalo to get Bates, who barely logged 100 snaps this season before shoulder and head injuries ended his year. That is a bad look. Ryan Pace may have been more egregious with wasting draft resources, but that doesn’t excuse Poles. The Bears would’ve likely gotten more of a return from a veteran free agent rather than giving up a valuable pick. This is why the trade market can be dangerous.
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Ryan Poles should know that by now. Since taking over, he has traded for the following players:
- N’Keal Harry
- A.J. Klein
- Chase Claypool
- D.J. Moore
- Dan Feeney
- Montez Sweat
- Ryan Bates
- Keenan Allen
- Darrell Taylor
- Chris Williams
Of that list, only Moore and Sweat can be called successful acquisitions. The rest were disappointments to varying degrees. At some point, the Bears need to take stock of these misfires and ask the obvious question. Should we really trust this GM with the future of the franchise? Everybody makes mistakes, but Poles’ seem too frequent to ignore.
Get off this horse. Coach them and THEN see if every acquisition is a failure. That was what I said about Fields, it’s what I think about every single player you bring in. Sorry, in a test laboratory, you establish a baseline before introducing variables. Lambert keeps throwing in variables without any baseline THAT is why failure is so common. Everyone acts, reacts, has opinions based on “feelings.” Then to support their delicate “feelings,” they pull up random statistics to support their argument (“feelings “) When we see ONE coach, then we can find out if there are other coaches,… Read more »
Poles will likely be another McCaskey scapegoat soon. Culture change? Did you expect one? It has been the same old story for a long time. Promise of change but still one common denominator: George McCaskey. When will people realize it is still him making the personnel (coaches, front office AND roster) decisions?
Picking out talent hasn’t been a strong point the Bears staff. There are many teams that have picked up players to offset injuries. The bears just lack the midseason aggressiveness and the talent recognition to keep us competitive.
The Bears have Bates because Poles has no rival in finding O-liners who can’t/won’t play. In this case, the 4th rd pick spent was really for Austin Booker as it turns out. Bates was more of a throw in.
Plus….”no qb drafted 1.01 has ever landed in a better situation”.
@bluridge – you are a damn clown if you believe CW is the 5th best QB in that draft. If CW had gone to Washington or Denver, he would have dwarfed the numbers that Daniels and Nix are putting up. Nix and Daniels went to teams that had actual coaches. Payton has won a SB, and Quinn has coached his team to a SB, so both have an idea how to gameplan. CW got Flus and Waldron. The comparisons in coaching are laughable at best. CW – 14 gp, 2937 yards, 17 TD, 5 Int, 61.9% comp, 67 carries, 408… Read more »