Some Love for Ryan Poles - Bear Fans Only

[playthrough2001]

I have not predicted next year yet. I had them at 8 wins last year and I am thinking around the same right now until I see how the draft plays out. I do believe they will be last place in the NFCN again. IMHO, the team completely lacks difference makers at this point as well as depth on the OL.

Justin Jefferson is the premier difference maker in the NFCN. He’s going to be playing with a rookie coming off a major injury.

Amon Ra and DJ are right behind him. Gibbs is probably next.

Who scares you on the Packers offense?

Defensively it’s Hutch but he’s coming off a major injury too.

The division was pretty damn competitive and the biggest difference for the Bears was having the worst coach paired with the worst offensive line. Hopefully, that’s changed in a big way.

They should have swept the Packers but apparently they’re the only team that can drill the long snapper on a field goal.

 

[CaliBearFan]

The lines are got good because I don't believe he is a good judge of talent, mostly on the OL side. He surely didn't value the trenches until this offseason. Building from the outside in was stupid.

He fielded the worst OL in the league last year and is lucky his QB1 is still alive. He saw what Howie Roseman did with the trenches and now is trying to follow suit. It definitely is panic mode to me.

Poles has yet to draft a difference maker. The jury is still out on WR2 and QB1.

This is a 5 win last place team.

I think BJ is probably running the show more than Poles is this offseason. I am good with that.

If you look at the decision making in real time, it looked like he basically drafted his BPA in the draft and did not reach for lineman. Same with FA with little exception. He is thinking long term. That being said, I would assume there is some amount of smartest man in the room complex when it comes to Oline and he overvalued his valuation of talent. But we also had a crazy amount of injuries to starters and backups last year.

Again, panicking and following Roseman is an assumption. Free to think what you want though.

Poles deserves credit for having us set up for whatever success this free agency brings regardless of whatever influence Johnson had on the actual acquisitions, which was my main point.

 

[TL1961]

Not really much he can do rn unless there is someone on trade market. This fa is weak af and saw how news fell off a cliff yesterday across the nfl signing people. It’s going to be mostly cheap deals going forward. I want poles to do the same thing he did in free agency for the draft commit to the trenches. If he did this day 1 this team wouldn’t be in such a sorry place like they’ve been for last 3 years.

“If he could have spent big $ on FAs in the tear down year, I’d be happy.”

 

[TL1961]

No question. I totally agree.

I think the Carolina trade was brilliant.

I still think the Sweat trade was an excellent move.

Davis was a terrible signing.

Before Dalman, his treatment of the center position was handled poorly.

The Claypool trade was unfortunate but I understood what he was trying to achieve.

His first two draft picks, Gordon and Brisker, are damn good football players.

All three of his first round picks are durable and I believe all three will be top tier NFL players.

I like Tory Taylor but he was a luxury pick.

Velus was a big miss.

Kiran needs to show he belongs this season as at least a capable back up.

I think Braxton was a pretty damn good pick.

I think Dexter is trending toward being a disruptive force on the defensive line.

Stevenson has talent but he has to mature. He’s an idiot right now.

Keeping JJ and Kmet were both good decisions.

Eberflus was an uninspiring, massive miss. I don’t believe for a second he would have been Poles’ choice if Polian and George had not given him three names to consider.

I think getting Johnson and Allen is the other end of the spectrum.

No question, this draft is critical. He has three premium picks and 4 in the top 75. He needs to grab 4 young contributors and hopefully at least two high impact players with those selections.

I love the way he preemptively attacked the IOL with trades and then came away with Dalman. That’s nice work.

There’s plenty more to discuss. The best teams have continuity in their front office and coaching staff. My hope is Poles and Johnson are extremely successful and are here a long time.

Agree with every word.

 

[SugarWalls]

I agree. It gives a lot of people a reason to complain which I understand, it’s just lazy imo

He traded a 2nd round pick for a player that was basically out of the league 1 year later. It’s not like he was just bad or didn’t work out for the bears and then worked out for another team. He traded a 2nd round pick and the guy was done. There’s nothing lazy about it, it was a complete failure to assess a player

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

He traded a 2nd round pick for a player that was basically out of the league 1 year later. It’s not like he was just bad or didn’t work out for the bears and then worked out for another team. He traded a 2nd round pick and the guy was done. There’s nothing lazy about it, it was a complete failure to assess a player

And? I doubt anyone would say that it was a good move. Everyone knows it was an epic fail. Hell I think the Bears lost like 12 games in a row after trading for him and finally won a game after they kicked him out of Halas hall. Something crazy like that.
All I care about at this point is that Poles learns from his mistakes and gets better. If he doesn’t he will be fired and we will deal with mistakes some more. It’s like a circle

 

[SugarWalls]

And? I doubt anyone would say that it was a good move. Everyone knows it was an epic fail. Hell I think the Bears lost like 12 games in a row after trading for him and finally won a game after they kicked him out of Halas hall. Something crazy like that.
All I care about at this point is that Poles learns from his mistakes.

The comment was it was ‘lazy’ to criticize poles for the claypool debacle, which is disingenuous and also minimizes the how big of a mistake it was

Obviously it doesn’t matter now, but it seems fair to bring up when evaluating a GM

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

The comment was it was ‘lazy’ to criticize poles for the claypool debacle, which is disingenuous and also minimizes the how big of a mistake it was

Obviously it doesn’t matter now, but it seems fair to bring up when evaluating a GM

It’s lazy to not admit that most people understood the why. He (imo) needed to try getting someone who could help him evaluate Fields to determine if he was worth re-signing. Obviously it didn’t work. Like….AT ALL!

 

[SugarWalls]

It’s lazy to not admit that most people understood the why. He (imo) needed to try getting someone who could help him evaluate Fields to determine if he was worth re-signing. Obviously it didn’t work. Like….AT ALL!

Right and the issue with this entire line of reasoning is that poles is the one that got himself in this position by not adding anything to the WR to begin with.

It’s not like they had a good WR get injured and then he had to make a desperation mid season move because of it. Poles went into the year with Mooney and idk who was even #2. He was asked by the media what helps a young qb, he said ‘a great wr.’

Poles put himself in that situation. He deserves absolutely 0 benefit of the doubt for the move for claypool because they should’ve never been on that situation to begin with. That’s on poles.

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

Right and the issue with this entire line of reasoning is that poles is the one that got himself in this position by not adding anything to the WR to begin with.

It’s not like they had a good WR get injured and then he had to make a desperation mid season move because of it. Poles went into the year with Mooney and idk who was even #2. He was asked by the media what helps a young qb, he said ‘a great wr.’

Poles put himself in that situation. He deserves absolutely 0 benefit of the doubt for the move for claypool because they should’ve never been on that situation to begin with. That’s on poles.

Ok? And? We all agree it was a shitty move. Did he learn from it? That’s the question imo
Was that Poles first season or 2nd? I can’t remember

Edit: It was his first year as GM.

 

[DC]

Lots of great stuff in this thead.

I’ll just say this: He’s young. And we know he didn’t pick Matt Fucking Eberflus. If he’s worth his his salt, he was trying to fire him last season but wasn’t allowed.

Well , now he gets his coach.

 

[playthrough2001]

Lots of great stuff in this thead.

I’ll just say this: He’s young. And we know he didn’t pick Matt Fucking Eberflus. If he’s worth his his salt, he was trying to fire him last season but wasn’t allowed.

Well , now he gets his coach.

What’s cool is it’s all Bear fans having a reasonable discussion without those idiots that claim to love the Lions chiming in with their inane BS.

Every thread should be marked “Bear Fans Only” unless we’re interested in discussing interspecies relationships.

 

[GoDJtop10]

What’s cool is it’s all Bear fans having a reasonable discussion without those idiots that claim to love the Lions chiming in with their inane BS.

Every thread should be marked “Bear Fans Only” unless we’re interested in discussing interspecies relationships.

And no other posters in this thread trolling. It makes for a great Chicago Bears football discussion.

 

[Washington]

And no other posters in this thread trolling. It makes for a great Chicago Bears football discussion.

Agreed, and that is very rare in these parts. People have been allowed to opine as they wish with no personal attacks. I thanked the OP for the thread early on even though I knew we did not quite share the same opinion on Poles.

 

[onebud34]

This is a fun thread. I appreciate not having the idiot Lions fans in here.

I tend to base my opinion not on being a positive or negative person. I call a spade a spade and base it on what I have witnessed. As a Bears fan since the 60s, it is very hard to be positive though. I went into last year really positive and the season was pathetic. I was completely sold on CW and after seeing how inaccurate he was throwing downfield, I am now skeptical. I knew he held the ball long like Fields, but he took it to another level which was very alarming. I know he had shit for coaching which falls on Poles, and I am hoping BJ can perform some real magic.

I guess maybe I was the exception, I saw all the hype. But I figured this team wouldn't do anything till Eberflus and his system were gone. It was a losing culture and he's never really been a part of that. I do question some of the moves Poles made. Of course there is Claypool and the Allen trade, and the Davis signing.

I'm cautiously optimistic with BJ, but I do know that this is the first HC hire where Sweaty Teddy was not involved in years. So that in itself is a positive. There has been a premium put in the trenches, which I don't thing the previous HC valued (especially Oline).

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

We often think of George as just the guy representing the McCaskey family/the face of ownership, and don’t give much credence to his football opinions but he nailed this one when he said (paraphrased), “Ryan is young and I want to give him time to grow into the job and learn from his mistakes”.

That was it. That is what we were NOT willing to give him when we were all calling for his head a few months ago. We held this young guy to a standard of doing to soup to nuts gut job rebuild while getting everything right the first time around… or ship him out! A lofty standard that few first time GM’s would ever be able to live up to. That is also the mark of a losing franchise (which we have been for a while now) when you don’t invest in people nor give them room to learn and grow into the job.

That is what Poles has done — he has gained experience, learned valuable lessons and has grown into the job. Credit goes to George for allowing that to happen. Credit goes to Poles for taking advantage of the long leash/second chance to get it right.

This!!!!
If it was up to a lot of Bears fans we’d be firing a guy every time he makes a bad move. If we did that it would never end. Even the old timers make mistakes. It’s how you learn from those mistakes that’s important.
Will he learn and get better? We will know soon enough.

 

[Washington]

I guess maybe I was the exception, I saw all the hype. But I figured this team wouldn't do anything till Eberflus and his system were gone. It was a losing culture and he's never really been a part of that. I do question some of the moves Poles made. Of course there is Claypool and the Allen trade, and the Davis signing.

I'm cautiously optimistic with BJ, but I do know that this is the first HC hire where Sweaty Teddy was not involved in years. So that in itself is a positive. There has been a premium put in the trenches, which I don't thing the previous HC valued (especially Oline).

I hear ya! It is hard to be positive knowing we are dealing with a dysfunctional organization from the top down and last year the Bears proved that point right. We can only pray that BJ will resemble a real NFL head coach. I am stoked about the play calling but understand it will be quite limited at first. I still have lots of apprehensions about CW though.

 

[onebud34]

I hear ya! It is hard to be positive knowing we are dealing with a dysfunctional organization from the top down and last year the Bears proved that point right. We can only pray that BJ will resemble a real NFL head coach. I am stoked about the play calling but understand it will be quite limited at first. I still have lots of apprehensions about CW though.

It seems like the Bears are a year behind due to holding onto the HC for an extra year. I don't expect SB aspirations, but competitiveness and players held accountable.

As far as CW, the deep passes were my concern. But it was a total shitshow last year. And it's crazy that at times he seemed like the only player out there wanting to win.

 

[Washington]

It seems like the Bears are a year behind due to holding onto the HC for an extra year. I don't expect SB aspirations, but competitiveness and players held accountable.

As far as CW, the deep passes were my concern. But it was a total shitshow last year. And it's crazy that at times he seemed like the only player out there wanting to win.

CW's deep passes are my biggest concern. I feel he needs to learn to throw the ball away more versus taking sacks but I believe he was just trying to make stuff happen to your point. The guy really gave it his all. It had to be incredibly frustrating to him. I think he is in far better hands now with BJ.

 

[playthrough2001]

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