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.
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.
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.
