Low Regard for Bears Continues

Three new opinion sources on the coming Bears season see difficult times ahead but do understand why GM Ryan Poles took the course he took.

Bears fans can break out the party hats and noisemakers.

The team is not regarded as the worst in football in two recent power rankings by well-respected sources. In fact, in another poll they aren't even judged to have one of the worst five offseasons in the league.

They're next to last in one and a robust 28th in another as the disrespect for what GM Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus have done continues.

Already ranked last by Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr and 30th by NFL.com, the Bears have come in 31st in the Pro Football Focus power rankings and 28th in Peter King's poll for Pro Football Talk.

At least PFF acknowledges the mess dumped in Poles' lap while ranking the Bears next to last.

"New general manager Ryan Poles inherited an ugly situation in Chicago and has done what he can to set the team on the right track in his first offseason," PFF's Sam Monson explained. "The only issue is that very little of that has had an immediate impact on the short-term prospects of quarterback Justin Fields, who flashed big talent as a rookie but has pass protection and a receiving corps that rank among the league’s worst on paper."

Again the lack of support for Fields comes in high as a reason for ranking the Bears low, and it's also true in King's poll.

"I ranked the Lions over the Bears," King said. "Feels like the first time that's been possible since Joe Schmidt roamed the middle of the field."

King urges Bears fans to be patient because he sees a possible way out next year because of a better cap situation and because Luke Getsy is working with Justin Fields in the offense.

"Baby steps, Bear fans," King says.

On the positive side, ESPN's Bill Barnwell has ranked the Bears offseason better than the offseason of nine other teams. They are ranked 23rd overall.

Under what went right, Barnwell praised the commitment to clearing cap space for the future but acknowledged what is to come this year.

"The short term isn't exactly going to b exciting for fans, but Chicago should be able to start meaningful retooling next season when it could have close to $100 million in cap space," Barnwell wrote.

On the negative side, he criticized Poles for not spending at least some money for a better offensive line and signing players like Dakota Dozier because they are "...one of the worst units in football this season."

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