'Like it was meant to be': Bears GM Ryan Poles' rebuild comes together faster than he, or anyone, imagined

There’s no way the Bears wanted to hear what Ryan Poles told them when he interviewed to be general manager in early 2022.

But they had to know it was true.

He broadsided them about the condition of their 6-11 team and pitched a total rebuild. Considering they had just swept out GM Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy, chairman George McCaskey and his inner circle surely saw the same problems.

The predicament for Poles, who also was a serious GM candidate for the Giants and Vikings that winter, was whether he truly believed the Bears were prepared to endure the losses that would pile up in the short term, giving him time to reconstruct properly.

If they were prepared, then Poles had the ambition to take on a task that had toppled many before him: Lifting the Bears from decades of disappointment.

“It was going to be a huge challenge, but there’s a legacy part of this,” Poles told the Sun-Times. “To get the Chicago Bears back on top, it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be a lot of pressure. There’s a lot of noise. But if you get that right, that’s legendary stuff.”

Poles is a long way from earning that prestige, but after two brutal seasons, a lot looks right about the Bears as they head into their opener against the Titans on Sunday at Soldier Field.

They have top-tier talent, including a dozen legitimate Pro Bowl candidates. They’re young and in good shape with draft capital and salary-cap space. They have promise at quarterback with rookie Caleb Williams, the slam-dunk No. 1 pick of draft who has drawn comparisons — including from Poles — to the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.

It’s much better than the understocked, overspent team Poles inherited in 2022. As he analyzed the Bears ahead of his interview that January, demolition was the only option. Predictably, the stripped-down roster went 3-14 in his first season and 7-10 last year.

“The only way, instead of really starting over, was just to continue doing what [they were doing], which was kick the can down the road and build off of a house of cards,” Poles said. “And then we’re right back in the same situation. Do we want to continue down this [road]? At some point it’s going to collapse. It’s not sustainable. Or, are we going to redo the foundation and make it strong to build off of so that we can sustain it and have continuity and keep guys together? It was an easy decision.”

He didn’t have a precise timetable for the Bears being competitive. They were optimistic a year ago, but quarterback Justin Fields never took the next step as a passer, the defense didn’t emerge until it was too late, and coach Matt Eberflus was on the hook for three epic meltdowns, two concerning staff departures and one humiliating loss to the Packers.

However, the overall direction from a personnel standpoint was good. Poles had many key pieces in place and the resources to fill other spots.

Most important, his March 2023 trade with the Panthers was a turbo boost. The Bears traded down from No. 1 to No. 9 and received wide receiver DJ Moore, a 2025 first-round pick and two second-rounders.

And as the Panthers plunged to the NFL’s worst record, giving the Bears a second straight No. 1, the answer to Poles’ quarterback problem landed in his lap. He believes Williams is “a generational quarterback.”

Occasionally, he still lies awake at night marveling at how everything clicked.

“I’ve always felt like with this job, there’s just something — I hate using the word ‘destined,’ but everything has worked out as I expected or better,” Poles said. “Like it was meant to be. . . . I can’t make that stuff up.”

He caught some breaks but also was well-positioned to take advantage of them. Good planning allowed the Bears to welcome Williams into an unprecedentedly good setup for a quarterback chosen high in the draft.

Poles still has boxes to check and can address those next year with a first-round pick and two second-rounders, plus what Over The Cap projects to be the eighth-most cap space in the NFL. But in the meantime, he has supplied enough talent for the defense to be top 10 and the offense to give everything Williams he needs to launch his career.

He’s entrusting all of that to Eberflus — a choice that will be scrutinized sharply this season. Poles acknowledged that firing Eberflus would have been “popular,” especially if he had replaced him with an offensive-minded coach, but he was certain that was the wrong call. His decision to bring him back solidified in November or December. He was confident in Eberflus’ overall operation and expected that if he injected more talent into it, results would follow.

“With the media, it’s just weird how the record is held against Matt, but the progress is given to me,” Poles said. “He’s been in this, coaching his butt off, maximizing the talent that we have. That’s the big thing: Are we maximizing what we have? To me, it was yes.”

That point is debatable, but Poles is betting his employment on it.

“Part of this job in this city is you have to be convicted with your decisions,” he said. “At its core, if you have a good process in place and you stick to that, it’s not really what’s popular. It’s what’s right. And you’ve got to be right. That’s what we’re going to be judged on.”

Every move (and non-move) Poles has made fits his vision of what it will take for the Bears to win their first title since 1985. He’s chasing that glory himself, too, after experiencing it with the Chiefs. Behind his desk at Halas Hall, on the shelves where he keeps his espresso machine, game balls, custom Nikes and other collectibles, the centerpiece is a portrait of a bear. Directly beneath it: a replica of the Lombardi Trophy the Chiefs captured in Super Bowl LIV in 2020, when Poles was assistant director of player personnel.

Poles wasn’t around for the Chiefs’ next two titles. Last season, the Bears were drubbed 41-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in a reminder of how steep the climb is.

However, no matter how far off the goal has felt, he remains fixed on the trophy.

“That’s what we’re after — every day, you walk in and see it,” Poles said. “When you finally get to that place and you actually hold the real one, it does something to you in terms of your obsession with getting back there.”

Even the most hopeful outlook doesn’t put the Bears in reach quite yet. They should be a playoff team in 2024. It’s another leap to winning a Super Bowl.

But at least they seem pointed in that direction. And thanks to Poles’ prudence and good fortune, the roster he has put together today is only the start.