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The spotlight is a double edged sword. It shines bright during times of success, and even brighter during times of failure. No general manager in all of football has been under the spotlight more in the last two offseasons than Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles. And rightfully so.
In 2023 the Bears had the number one overall pick, and a decision to make. The media was dying to know, and Poles wasn’t shy from sharing his beliefs with them.
In early March of 2023 it became clear that Poles was going to trade the pick and stand by quarterback Justin Fields after a conversation with NBC Sports’ Peter King. The trade went down only four days after King’s piece hit the internet.
Poles was lauded by the media after pulling off one of the all time great trades in NFL history by trading back from number one overall in 2023 with the Carolina Panthers.
A trade that not only netted him a star receiver in DJ Moore, but multiple high draft picks on top of that.
This was all after multiple podcast and talk show appearances for the young general manager, rightfully basking in the glory of having the world at his fingertips.
Nothing changed in 2024 when Poles lucked into another massive, yet easier decision, with Carolina gifting Chicago the number one overall pick and the rights to quarterback Caleb Williams.
Poles kept more hush on his decision with the media, but didn’t shy away from speaking on shows about the decision. Most notably his ProFootballTalk interview during the combine.
After the Fields trade went down, and it was more apparent than ever that Caleb Williams was going to be the next quarterback of the Chicago Bears, the media tour took off once again.
Talk shows, podcasts, radio interviews, doesn’t matter. If you had questions, he had answers.
The one question that everyone had was why Matt Eberflus was retained as head coach? Why would you keep the head coach who hasn’t shown much and is potentially on the hot seat if you plan to select Williams?
Why wouldn’t you move on from him and end this potential cycle of drafting a quarterback, only to fire his head coach after one season together?
Poles wasn’t happy about the talk of another quarterback hired/coach fired situation.
"It pisses me off a little bit, to be honest with you because we were hired to break the cycle.” Poles said on the Pat McAfee show in regards to RGIII’s comments about Williams pulling an Eli Manning to avoid the Bears’ cycle.
Poles did in fact not break the cycle, and once again the Chicago Bears have found themselves in this exact situation for the third time now in only seven years.
The spotlight is a double edged sword. It shines bright during your success, and even brighter during your failures. The spotlight should once again shine bright on Poles, this time for his failure.
His failure to see the clear decision of letting Matt Eberflus go after two seasons. His failure of hiring an incompetent offensive coordinator to pair with Williams. His failure of building up the trenches to keep his quarterback, who has been sacked a league-high 56 times through only 13 games, protected.
Despite all these failures, Poles has shown positive traits to the importance of roster building and building through the draft, all while being smart with your money. Outside of a few misses, I've stood behind almost every decision he’s made.
He also delivered us Williams, who I believe to be the future of this franchise for the next decade plus and I believe in having a general manager and quarterback connection. Was luck involved in landing Williams? Yes, but he made the luck come to fruition.
While we more than likely know by now the final decision to hire Eberflus in the first place was Poles’, ownership didn't help his cause by interviewing coaches before he was even hired and giving him a short list of candidates they liked.
Poles should get another shot at hiring the next head coach, but he needs to stand tall on the situation.
It took multiple days for the Bears to address the media after the firing of Eberflus, and it gave no one hope. The Bears head of football operations looked distraught, almost scared to speak with the media.
It was all Kevin Warren, who was brought in to build a stadium, not to be the point of answers after a franchise altering decision. We haven’t heard from the general manager alone since the decision has been made.
Poles must stick to what he’s been doing the last two offseasons. Do the talk shows, podcasts, radio interviews and own up to your mistakes. You are the football head in the room. The fans have the questions, give them the answers as to how you are going to fix this mess.
Why should we trust you to hire the next head coach? Why was the offensive and defensive line not more addressed in the offseason?
You have four weeks left in the season to come up with the answers. Don’t hide behind Kevin Warren, and don’t bunker down and run from the spotlight. Wear it and they will respect you for it.
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