ClutchPoints
Ryan Poles is in his fourth year as general manager of the Chicago Bears. The Bears have started with back-to-back painful losses against the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, and it appears the team is on a treadmill to nowhere — once again.
Poles has been the architect of this team since the start of the 2022 season. They have finished in last place in the NFC North in each of those seasons and their 0-2 start gives them a head start on getting to the cellar again.
Poles hired Matt Eberflus as head coach and he lasted until the final weeks of the 2024 season. Eberflus’ expertise coming in was on the defensive side of the ball and it showed in the way he handled the Bears offense.
The Bears ranked 28th on offense in 2022, averaging 307.8 yards and 19.2 points per game. There was some improvement the following year as the Bears ranked 19th with 323.2 yards and 21.2 points per game.
The performance was notable because the Bears acquired D.J. Moore from Carolina to become the team’s best receiver, and he developed a rapport with quarterback Justin Fields.
However, Poles determined that Fields was not an adequate quarterback for the Bears and he drafted Caleb Williams from USC with the No. 1 pick overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Remember, the Bears still had Eberflus as head coach at the time and he was charged with turning Williams into a sure-fire NFL quarterback — and doing it right away.
The HBO Hard Knocks cameras documented how Eberflus and the Bears coaching staff tried to help Williams get the most out of his ability. Eberflus attempted to accomplish this by cheerleading Williams and telling him how great he was going to play. The specifics of teaching him the position were non-existent, other than teaching him how to slide when running with the ball. Williams admitted that he had no clue as how to do this, so Eberflus brought in a Slip ‘N Slide to help him learn this skill.
The performance of the Bears offense in Williams’ rookie year was one of utter regression. The Bears ranked 32nd in total offense as they average 284.6 yards and 18.2 points per game. Their offensive ineptitude and multiple end-of-game failures were the main reasons the team finished with a 5-12 record.
Eberflus was fired before the year was over, and that put Poles in a position to hire a new head coach. He decided that Ben Johnson was the man who would turn things around for Williams and the offense after he had done a brilliant job with the powerful Detroit attack. The Lions led the league by averaging 33.2 points per game and were 2nd to the Ravens as they averaged 409.5 points per game.
Williams did not have awful numbers in his rookie season as he completed 351 of 562 passes...
