Bear Digest

The Washington Commanders’ secret weapon? Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles.

Chicago’s whiffs during the summer of 2024 could catapult Washington to the Super Bowl
Alan Goldsher|
Not-Chicago-Bear Jayden Daniels leads his Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game.
Not-Chicago-Bear Jayden Daniels leads his Washington Commanders to the NFC Championship Game. | David Reginek-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

I bet Ryan Poles’ phone is blowing up.

The Chicago Bears GM is probably getting texts from Joe Theismann, and Joe Gibbs, and Darrell Green, and Dexter Manley. Heck, it’s possible Sammy Baugh is hitting him up from the great Washington Redskins locker room in the sky.

The general tenor of the texts would be along the lines up, “POLES, YOU DA MAN!!!”

All caps. Lots of exclamation marks. And probably some party emojis thrown in for good measure.

How Ryan Poles Saved Washington

Last night, in one of the more notable playoff upsets of recent memory, the Washington Commanders sent the number-one seed Detroit Lions to Cancun—where they’ll join the remainder of the NFC North’s now-eliminated playoff teams—with a dominant 45-31 victory.

It could be argued that the C’s owe the victory to Poles, the only NFL general manager who had the chance to draft Jayden Daniels as his quarterback but didn’t…and had the chance to hire Kliff Kingsbury as his offensive coordinator but didn’t…and had the chance to not overpay former Commander Montez Sweat as his EDGE, but did.

Worst. Trifecta. Ever.

So bad, in fact, that one wonders if the Commanders’ front office studied up on Chicago’s personnel approach under the Poles regime and thought, “Here’s how we can win: Do everything the exact opposite.”

That wouldn’t be a bad way to run an NFL front office, actually.

The Jayden vs. Caleb Debate, Revisited

For this portion of our discussion, let’s throw the numbers out the window. Been there, done that.

After all, we’re well aware that this season, presumptive Offensive Rookie of the Year Daniels out-statted Bears’ signal caller Caleb Williams in every category other than interceptions. We’re also well aware that Washington and Chicago had mirroring 12-5 / 5-12 records.

These digits have been thrown in our faces time and again. And again. And again.

So let’s take an eye test as we revisit last night's shocker.

Daniels’ fourth-quarter 50-yard lollipop to Dyami Brown was a thing of beauty, a perfect strike that Patrick Mahomes himself would be hard-pressed to duplicate.

While Caleb unquestionably has the skill-set to make that sort of downfield connection, well, he doesn’t. At least not nearly as often as Daniels.

And then there’s this:

Daniels is cool in the pocket, rarely fazed by things like 3rd-and-16 or 4th-and-2. Williams, on the other hand, has developed a case of happy feet, and often seems unsettled when running through his progressions. Granted, that’s what happens when your line allows you to get sacked at a historical rate, but still.

All that said, two things can be true at once: Caleb Williams can be a great quarterback, while Jayden Daniels can be a greater quarterback. Just because the Bears picked the wrong quarterback doesn’t mean they picked a lousy quarterback.

Kliff’s Side

Most every team with an open coaching position has jumped into the Ben Johnson Sweepstakes, but after Kingsbury’s offense blew up the Ford Field scoreboard, one has to wonder if the 45-year-old might be a better head coaching bet than Detroit’s OC.

In the biggest game of his career, Johnson’s Lions topped 30 points for the 11th time this season—as compared to the Bears' 2024 total of two—a perfectly impressive number, but there were a couple of eyebrow-raisers, the most notable being the boneheaded gadget play that led to what could be construed as a game-ending interception:

That was an unnecessary call that had I’m-smarter-than-all-of-you-combined written all over it. Still, Johnson still had plenty of game left to redeem himself. But he didn’t. Wasn’t even close, really.

The Lions’ lack of urgency during the latter half of the fourth quarter was alarming. The play calling seemed molasses-slow, the team didn’t appear to be in any great rush to get to the line of scrimmage, and despite not having any timeouts, all the action was funneled into the middle of the field.

Kingsbury, on the other hand, was both clever and logical throughout all 60 minutes, never getting out ahead of his skis and letting Jayden be Jayden. His game plan, which was loaded with slick RPOs, clever called QB runs, and an accent on spreading around the rock both in the running and passing games. Six receivers topped 20 yards, while three rushers exceeded 45.

It was a surgical display of logic, creativity, and democracy, the kind of display that could land a certain somebody a head coaching gig.

Hail Jayden


Arguably Poles’ biggest gift to the Washington Commanders was his acquisition of Tyrique Stevenson.

The cornerback for whom Poles traded on Draft Day, 2023 will be known now and forever as the dude whose brain-fart-for-the-ages helped make Jayden Daniels immortal:

Without Stevenson, the Bears might have won that game. Without that victory, the Commanders might have missed the playoffs.

So if I’m a Washington fan, I’m sending Ryan Poles a muffin basket.

Published
Alan Goldsher
ALAN GOLDSHER

Alan Goldsher has written about sports for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Apple, Playboy, NFL.com, and NBA.com, and he’s the creator of the Chicago Sports Stuff Substack. He’s the bestselling author of 15 books, and the founder/CEO of Gold Note Records. Alan lives in Chicago, where he writes, makes music, and consumes and creates way too much Bears content. You can visit him at http://www.AlanGoldsher.com and http://x.com/AlanGoldsher.

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