Bear Digest

Ben Johnson already supercharging the Bears says GM Ryan Poles

The NFL combine gave Ryan Poles the opportunity to describe what's going on early in the formation of the Ben Johnson-Bears regime and it sounds electrifying.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ryan Poles at the combine on Ben Johnson.mp4
Ryan Poles at the combine on Ben Johnson.mp4

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Chicago Bears

The Bears have barely begun to work and Ben Johnson already is making Ryan Poles' job much easier, not to mention exciting.

Speaking with the media at the NFL combine, Poles said he already sees great efficiency and depth of thinking from the new coach in forming this team.

None of this probably says much for Matt Eberflus' coaching staff. Then again, it was Poles who hired Eberflus.

Johnson has impressed Poles as having a "clear vision" of where everything is going, particularly with staff and the type of talent he is going to need at each position on offense and defense.

"You can just tell the football IQ is on a totally different level than what I have seen and what I've been a part of before," Poles said.

The place where Poles first saw Johnson's impact was hiring the staff, starting with coordinators Dennis Allen and Declan Doyle.

"You can really tell that through the construction of his staff, very thoughtful in everything that he does, strategic in terms of the setup and who he wants and the chemistry within the building and the different personalities and experiences that everyone brings to the group, which is really important," Poles said.

The energy of the coaching staff is higher now, Poles pointed out, although this is natural with a new group together and not one beaten down by 10-game and 14-game losing streaks like they had under Eberflus.

"These guys are juiced up," Poles said. "It's a totally different feel these days for the group that's in there."

The other way Poles is seeing great efficiency is how the staff and Johnson work with him and his staff to understand the vision for strategy and required player types.

Things are going to have to change for how they do it on offense and defense and this means different types of players in terms of body types and skill sets at various positions to make this work.

"We talked about this a lot within the search, having a clear vision, having a clear vision of what every single position needs to have," Poles said. "Now, it's never going to be perfect. You can't have, like, a prototype at every single position. But as a front office we want to be as close as possible with that.

"So his ability to really give a clearer vision of what he wants and needs to be successful has been really, really good."

Allen and Doyle made it specific what these prototypes are.

"What are some of the changes we're going to need to make offensively and defensively in terms of the traits, characteristics of the players that play in different positions and how they're going to move at different positions within the scheme."

That means some players are going to be out the door, some are remaining. Some have left already, particularly DeMarcus Walker and Gerald Everett. The personnel department has real direction coming from Johnson.

"We also had an opportunity to review the roster, to go through, to see what fits, what doesn't fit, what changes we're going to have to make to be adaptable for players to be highly effective on this new scheme with the new coaches," Poles said.

It's a different and more advanced way of getting the entire regime pointed in the right direction.

If you asked Poles after his first hiring whether these things were all happening under Eberflus, he probably would have said something similar.

The difference this time will become even more apparent when they actually start to add the talent.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.