Since last January, Ryan Poles made his stance clear. He was 100% behind head coach Matt Eberflus and his staff going into the 2024 season. One more push would get this team over the hump. After a promising 4-2 start, everything came crashing down. The Chicago Bears have lost nine straight games, their second-longest streak in franchise history, and Eberflus was fired the day after Thanksgiving. Even then, Poles seemed to resist the urge to offer any criticism of the former head coach.
That is what made his recent admission on ESPN 1000 so jarring. One of the Bears’ biggest issues this season has been their constant slow starts to games. As of now, they rank 32nd in the NFL, with just 1.3 points averaged in the first quarter. Poles was asked about where this constant issue comes from. He admitted that a good portion of the problems go back to training camp that were never really addressed. It was the first true admonishment of Eberflus’ work the GM has offered.
Ryan Poles’ loyalty may end up costing him his job.
It still isn’t clear what happened last off-season. Some have said Poles wanted to fire Eberflus, while others say he was the coach’s biggest supporter. Either way, that admission says two things: The coaches set the team up to fail from the start, and the GM saw it coming. It raises questions of why he didn’t step in if something was wrong. Then again, what could he do? He’s the GM. He doesn’t make schematic decisions. That is the responsibility of the coaches. He had no choice but to hope Eberflus would figure out the problem at some point.
They didn’t.
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There is no hiding from such a colossal failure. Ryan Poles may keep his job, but that won’t be because he’s earned it. There have been too many setbacks to justify it. He will only stay because George McCaskey hired him personally, and he is reluctant to make a change. All one can do is hope Poles learned some critical lessons from how the hiring process led to Eberflus three years ago. Maybe that will help the Bears navigate the pitfalls this time around.
George McCaskey is at the core of the Bears problems. He is the one who is involved in every decision and while he admits he’s not a football expert he insists on certain things. He chose Matt Eberflus, he chose Ryan Poles, and he chose Kevin Warren. In that order and that’s what’s wrong. I’m convinced the Bears will never be great again while he’s the chairman of the board.
Ah, so Poles saw this coming all along.
That means he squandered a mountain of draft capital on a “generational” qb just to watch him become a punching bag.
Rather sadistic.
Ryan Poles is an inept judge of NFL talent, proficiency, heart and value.
This ineptitude is not limited to his players — it also affects selection of his coaches.
The GM-down housecleaning will be starting (in plain view) very shortly.
Just sit back, and let it wash over you.
It’ll be painless.
Okay, so IF it is true that Poles saw the issues with how the coaching staff was preparing the team during training camp, AND he is sharing that now, that confirms two things in my mind. 1) Poles wanted to fire him last offseason, and 2) George and/or Warren blocked him from doing so. To throw the former coach under the bus at this point doesn’t help Poles, or anyone else, other than to let his comment serve as a reminder to the guys deciding his fate that the biggest problem with this season’s performance was their decision and they… Read more »
Get this: Poles record is worst than Flus’s record and he was fired a month ago.
Princess Poles holds the 2 longest losing streaks in franchise history. The longest 14 game streak wasn’t good enough so he decided to double down. How’s the “deepest line he’s ever been a part of and never been a part of anything like it” doing? They are close to setting the NFL record for sacks in a season.
Fire Princess Poles.