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Bears Need to Seize the Moment If Ryan Poles Identifies Trade Value

Whether it's Dexter Lawrence or Maxx Crosby, the key to a trade should be the value the Bears GM sees and not cap constraints or a franchise construction model.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is sacked by Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is sacked by Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

The core question facing Bears GM Ryan Poles right now is whether he wants to make a move for a title bid and risk the future.

It might seem like Poles has already made the decision, because no one is announcing a trade, and certainly the Maxx Crosby situation can be revisited, or Dexter Lawrence can be obtained with a phone call. However, at this time, it's better to wait until the last possible moment, because teams on deadline draft day can get desperate to move someone and demand less in exchange.

If they have decided it's best to wait, as it does appear, Poles is communicating two related messages with inaction. The first is that just like Packers and Lions fans want to believe, the Bears were lucky last year. The second could actually be worse, and it's that Poles wants to make sure he has a team core so strong that they overwhelm opponents without needing to risk a trade.

The former could really be true. The Bears arrived sooner than expected because they won a lot of games late that teams normally can't expect to do, and also the Packers and Lions succumbed to injury issues down the stretch. The Bears had them, too, and had even more games lost on the year, but theirs occurred earlier, and many players returned for the final push. 

Poles and Ben Johnson could actually know they need a lot more talent to get where they need to be and making a move for a big name isn't going to push them over the top but will push them into the ash bin of history. 

This can't be a deal-breaker

Something like this should never stop anyone from making a deal for a player they're convinced is a difference maker..

They'll have other draft picks in the future even if they traded a first-rounder for a veteran star. If you're that poor of a drafter that you can't use one of your later picks to come up with a standout pass rusher, for example, and you have to use a first-rounder to succeed all the time, then you shouldn't be a GM anyway. Crosby, himself, was a fourth-round pick. Talent is there in later rounds and the Bears' coaches excelled last year at developing talent.

Teams make runs like the Bears did last year and remain viable all of the time. And while it's true they had a schedule less challenging than some, New England played a far less challenging schedule and made the Super Bowl. No one is predicting their downfall this year.

The second issue is more likely, more complicated and doesn't say much for Poles.

He doesn't want to risk a trade for Lawrence or Crosby. He doesn't want to do something like the Packers did with Micah Parsons, partly because of what happened to the Packers with their star's torn ACL. They didn't win a game after it. This leaves Green Bay without their two first-round picks, their best defensive tackle, and also Parsons.

The risk was undeniable, but you have to admire the Packers for trying. Teams who feel they are in their Super Bowl window need to make moves to win it all.  Other teams in their windows will.

The Bears seem to have chosen what they believe is a wise route and that is to avoid restructuring several contracts designed to recoup salary cap space. They could have afforded one of those two defensive players by doing restructures, but would have left themselves open to creating too much future dead-cap space.

With too much dead cap, they couldn't add players or extend contracts. They might even find it difficult to get Caleb Williams his second contract.  

However, teams can’t keep the dead cap space down forever while they add and cut players, and Poles even acknowledged this at the combine.

"Like, I can guarantee you, we've been really good with dead money, at some point that's gonna go up too, 'cuz that's just the nature of playing this out over a long period of time and having tough decisions to make," Poles said.

If this is a title opportunity, take it

If the dead cap is going to accumulate, anyway, it isn’t an issue to keep anyone from trying to make a title run—or it shouldn’t be.

The Bears want to keep adding on in the draft. If you want to sit and wait forever for that roster to build up, you could simply be sitting and waiting, period.

If you're unwilling to make the key move for a title when the opportunity arises and the conditions are right while waiting for a better moment, you're inviting disaster in this league. Your core will rot away by the time the right moment occurs in this physically demanding sport. 

As the Bears saw with center Drew Dalman, you can never assume anything. Being aggressive is not bad, and the Eagles showed this two years ago. They continue to show it with moves made while their title window is open.

The Bears need to make a push when it's possible.

NFL stands for not for long, and teams that just sit there waiting to become stronger will see time and the rest of the league pass them by.

If they have truly identified either Crosby or Lawrence as the difference in getting over the hump, they need to take a shot.

It should now be a simple matter of determining whether they regard either this way. They must operate aggressively and not passively.

If NFL stands for not for long, it also stands for No Fear League.

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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.

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