Ryan Poles’ Credibility Just Took Another Big Hit

Ryan Poles’ Credibility Just Took Another Big Hit.

I’m fully aware this will not be a popular article or opinion. The Bears just lost their seventh straight game and looked very bad doing it.

Chicago is a football city, and the Bears’ loyal fanbase is tired of the team constantly falling well below expectations. However, I have seen countless fans calling for Ryan Poles’ head, and based on his overall body of work since taking the helm, I think that is a rash decision.

As the General Manager, his most important job is identifying talent and building a playoff-caliber roster. I know the NFL is a results-driven league, and the results say he has missed the mark. However, I don’t think the results tell the full story. If the Bears hadn’t choked away three games last season (largely due to coaching malpractice), they would have won 10 games and been the seventh seed, knocking the Packers out of the playoffs in the process.

 

Likewise, poor coaching and situational awareness also sunk our chances against the Commanders, Packers, and Lions this season. We were a few plays (and a few more boneheaded coaching decisions) from winning those games against some of the best teams in the conference.

If we had won them, do you think there would be anyone calling for Poles to be fired? Because I don’t.

Sep 10, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles walks laps around the field before their game against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

PHOTO: Jamie Sabau/Imagn Images

I’d argue we have just as much blue-chip talent as the Packers and Vikings and significantly more talent than the Commanders (look at the rosters and tell me I’m wrong). The key difference between the Bears and those squads is, one, our coaching staff doesn’t belong in the same conversation as any of theirs, and two, they are built through the trenches, while our offensive line is as porous as it seemingly always has been.

I want to be clear- Ryan Poles is not free of blame for the Bears’ struggles this season. He is most to blame for the aforementioned porous offensive line. However, there is also some important context regarding that situation. There is a narrative that he has completely ignored the line, which is not true. They signed Nate Davis to a three-year, $30 million deal, which made him the fourth-highest paid right guard in the league in terms of average salary, last offseason, and also drafted Darnell Wright with the tenth pick of the 2023 NFL Draft. They also spent a day-two selection on another tackle, Kiran Amegadjie. They took more of a shotgun approach to the center position, signing Coleman Shelton (who started 30 games for the Rams from 2022-23) and trading for Ryan Bates this offseason.

With Braxton Jones (one of Poles’ better late-round selections) and Teven Jenkins already in place, there was reason for optimism for the offensive line heading into the season. However, it didn’t take long for that optimism to be dashed, as the Titans powerful front had the big men on skates from the first snap in the opener. Unfortunately, that game foreshadowed their performance this year. With all that said, he hasn’t ignored the line; he has just been AWFUL at evaluating talent there, which is shocking considering he played on the line himself.

Jones and Wright are the only two players (although I don’t have a single doubt that Jenkins is going to sign elsewhere and immediately ascend to Pro Bowl status) who should regain their starting roles heading into next season. The latter is the only one that they can count on playing at a high level. They need to retool the unit. However, I am not ready to give up on Poles for that reason.

Unfortunately, the second-most important job for a GM is to put a quality coaching staff together.

There is no sugarcoating it, Poles also failed miserably there.

Matt Eberflus always seemed like an A-to-B coach, and he should not have been retained after the role he played in last season’s three devastating losses I mentioned above. He should never have been coaching the team for Caleb Williams’ rookie season based on how important it was for the Bears brass to (finally) get it right. However, Poles seemed to fundamentally believe in what the ‘Flus was preaching, and I think he almost went down with him (as I believe he should have if he allowed him to coach the rest of the season).

Now, the Bears came out flat in the first game of the post-Eberflus era, and the crosshairs have moved to Poles. This feels out of touch. Chicago could do a LOT worse at the top of their organization, and they are better off letting him prove that he can learn from his mistakes because he has done a lot more good than bad for the roster.

Of note, Rome Odunze was not a bad pick. Pairing him with Williams is going to age incredibly well. He is a perennial 1000-yard pass-catcher (and our future number-one receiver) sitting behind two proven veterans.

 

It’s also significant that he is MUCH better than any offensive lineman we could have realistically selected at that point in the draft. Besides hitting on nearly every first and second-round selection in his three years at the helm, which is something our previous regimes could never say, he has also made a handful of quality free-agent pickups in TJ Edwards, Andrew Billings, and Kevin Byard III. Likewise, his ability to wheel and deal with the best of them speaks for itself (the only trade I think was an absolute miss was the Claypool move).