Ryan Poles is the Chicago Bears’ biggest problem

There’s a lot of blame to go around, but especially the architect of this mess.

The Bears made the change at head coach, and they’re still absolutely terrible. On Sunday the 49ers used Chicago as their stepping stone to get back on track after three straight losses, dominating all three phases of the game en route to a 38-13 beatdown that saw the Bears only amass 162 net yards of total offense, while Caleb Williams was sacked seven times.

For all the hand-wringing and consternation, the one man most responsible for the Bears’ issues has been relatively immune from criticism up to this point. General manager Ryan Poles has seemingly been given the vote of confidence to move forward and lead the search for a new head coach in the offseason, but in reality he’s the architect that made Chicago’s atrocious record possible. From bad coaching hires, misallocation of free agent money, and questionable drafting — the only thing Poles really has to his credit is a deft ability make trades, which has allowed him to coast while the Bears have posted a 14-33 record on his watch.

This is not a Caleb Williams problem

Let’s get this one out of the way first. For the myriad issues the Bears have, Caleb Williams is not one of them. There are unquestionably things the Bears’ rookie quarterback needs to work on. He has a tendency to sail deep passes more than he needs to, and right now he’s still getting a feeling for the amount of time he has in the pocket, including what pressures he can actually escape from — but when he’s had time to throw, he’s looked good.

The lingering question is whether Chicago can move quickly enough to support Williams before the pressure gets to be too much. That includes both the weight of expectation on the No. 1 pick to turn the team around, and the physical pressure of playing on a team that’s allowed 56 sacks this season and counting.

Chicago’s offensive line is so bad that Williams has a chance to become the single-season record holder as the most sacked quarterback, on pace to finish with 74. If he is sacked 77 times he would break David Carr’s record, set for the expansion Texans in 2002.

The offensive line is where Ryan Poles deserves the most criticism

The most bizarre eccentricity of Poles’ time in Chicago is his stunning inability to find quality offensive linemen. Being a former NFL offensive lineman it seemed this would be his area of strength, and yet he’s shown no ability to scout talent either through the draft, or in free agency.

This is the Bears’ primary offensive line in 2024:

LT Braxton Jones: 24 pressures allowed, 3 sacks allowed
LG Teven Jenkins: 16 pressures allowed, 6 sacks allowed
C Coleman Shelton: 14 pressures allowed, 1 sack allowed
RG Matt Pryor: 16 pressures allowed, 5 sacks allowed
RT Darnell Wright: 21 pressures allowed, 5 sacks allowed

Jones, Jenkins and Wright were all drafted by Poles. Shelton was signed in free agency by Poles, as was Matt Pryor. Pryor has been their best player on the offensive line. Granted, that’s like saying there’s a “better” kind of food poisoning while you’re hurling into the toilet of a truck stop, but the point remains.

What makes this hurt the most is just how bad the whiff on Darnell Wright was. Taken in the 2023 draft after trading down with the Carolina Panthers, Wright was pilled as a road-grading right tackle — but he’s only average in the run game. What has unfortunately lived up is his struggles as a pass protector, where he lacks the necessary athleticism to win at the position, especially when paired with an mobile quarterback like Caleb Williams.

This was only exacerbated in the 2024 NFL Draft, when Poles seemingly considered the offensive line “fine,” while taking WR Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick. Odunze is a fantastic talent, and his rapport with Caleb is clearly there — but it was a luxury pick with D.J. Moore on the roster considering the dire needs on the OL.

In fact, since Poles became the Bears GM the offensive line has been their weakest element, and yet he’s blown it. All-in-all he’s spent a 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th round pick on the OL in three years — with every single player ranging from bad to terrible.

Misjudging the RB situation

This one is a little more difficult to really parse, because running back effectiveness is often linked directly to how good an offensive line is. Still, Poles made the decision to let David Montgomery leave in 2022 and switch him out for D’Andre Swift.

Montgomery has gone on to be a critical part of the Lions offense and a 1,000 yard running back in a committee. Meanwhile Swift cost the Bears more money, and has seven fewer touchdowns than Monty.

A lack of offensive line paired with bad RB evaluation has been a massive problem for the offense. These are elements that should take pressure off Williams, but instead add to it.

Coaching decisions

Ryan Poles’ big coaching splash was hiring Matt Eberflus, and he was atrocious. We don’t need to spend much more time on that. Everyone knows how bad Flus was. The Bears should have fired him coming into this year to give Williams a fresh start with a new regime, but instead Chicago again held onto a bad coach one year too long.

However, what’s really egregious is backfilling the rest of the coaching staff from a bizarre coaching tree that began with the Carolina Panthers. Interim head coach Thomas Brown, who served as interim offensive coordinator before that was part of Frank Reich’s atrocious staff in Carolina that was largely to blame for Bryce Young’s struggles.

They paired this with Eric Washington, who came through the Bills from the Panthers as well. A former defensive line coach, Washington came from Carolina as well — and has never really shined without stellar defensive talent to coach.

This is a weird tree to build from.

Ryan Poles shouldn’t be immune from criticism

With plenty of blame to go around in Chicago, Poles is the architect of it all. For as much as the trade with Carolina is lauded, landing them Caleb Williams, D.J. Moore, and more — he’s also traded away Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith, not getting their value in return.

In addition he gave up with first pick in the 2nd round in 2023 in order to get WR Chase Claypool, who was demonstrably terrible.

Talent evaluation at almost every level has been terrible under Poles. Caleb Williams is very good, as is Rome Odunze — but both those guys were going to be solid to anyone who watched football. The late-round talent, where real scouts make a living, that’s where the Bears have been bad, and their lack of depth shows that.

Firing Ryan Poles would be a step in the right direction for the Bears. Now we wait to see if they realize that.