Is It Time for Bears Fans to Worry?

Analysis: While the postseason Bears press conference definitely went better than the last few disasters, there were moments of concern.

As Bears season-ending press conferences go, this had the a real air of professionalism.

It was refreshing when no one talked about collaboration or said "Have we gotten the quarterback situation completely right? No," but there were still enough things to cause concern.

Attempts by Bears GM Ryan Poles Tuesday to reassure Bears nation about Matt Eberflus' coaching and his own efforts in a nightmare season had the backstop of time.

Whatever Poles said, he and Eberflus only had one season to perform their rebuild.

Poles' trade of what essentially was a first-round draft pick—the last one—for Chase Claypool needs more time to take hold.

Quarterback Justin Fields needs more time in the offense and behind an offensive line to get better.

Eberflus laid a foundation in his first year, now they move forward and build on the foundation.

Eberflus' HITS principle needs more time to work as younger, talented players come into the defensive scheme.

All points were made during the explanation for a 3-14 record on Tuesday and because of the element of time, it's difficult to argue against any of these.

On the other hand, there were scary moments in the press conference for Bears fans and even the ticking clock and a new calendar won't

calm fears these generate.

They were more serious issues than the fact the GM brought a Legos building block as a prop to a press conference—note to Poles, leave the kids' toys at home in the future.

Here are the five scariest moments for Bears fans from the season-ending Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles press conference.

5. The Blue Chipper

Cole Kmet was referred to by Poles as a blue-chipper who rose up this year.

Sure, the seven touchdown catches spoke to his improvement.

After hearing former tight ends coach Clancy Barone talk for a few years about Kmet's need to get better as a blocker, then to see him play a vital part in the run blocking for the league's top rushing attack, it's definitely an improvement. But a blue-chipper? 

Save that term for when a team is actually winning and big catches are made in big games. Then they'll have real blue-chip players.

The Bears had no blue-chippers. 

The closest was Eddie Jackson, who really could have been a Pro Bowl player if not for an injury and if there really was a Pro Bowl.

4. Offensive Line

Poles lauded the efforts of offensive linemen Braxton Jones, Teven Jenkins and Riley Reiff at points in his press conference. Coaches have raved about Sam Mustipher's ability to step in when the Lucas Patrick injuries kept him from playing center. 

So the league-high 55 sacks Justin Fields absorbed were all his fault for holding the ball to long or maybe they were Cody Whitehair's fault? 

That's not logical, especially because Fields' running was praised by Poles.

Poles' great expertise is supposed to be offensive linemen, because he was one. Commending practically all the linemen in a group that led the league in rushing when their quarterback scrambled for 672 of his 1,143 rushing yards is totally pointless.

They need offensive line help, maybe in free agency.

3. Putting Wins and Losses Aside

Poles talked about the need to win the tight games next year, which was a positive. However, dismissing losses in Year 1 goes a bit too far.

Talking about a "mentor" who he quoted as saying 'What does success look like if you took wins and losses and you put that to the side for a second?'

The answer to that question is easy. It doesn't look like anything because in the NFL you can't put losses aside.

The Detroit Lions once went nine years in 10 with double-digit losses. Imagine if you had said something like that in Detroit during a lost decade.

It's about winning and winning as fast as a team can in the NFL. Never talk about putting winning aside.

As Lombardi was said to have said even though someone else said it first: Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

As Jerry Glanville said, NFL stands for Not For Long. There isn't time for coaches to put wins aside.

This could all be dismissed as Poles realizing he had no money to improve the roster after cleaning up Ryan Pace's salary cap mess last year, and he needed to buy time for his coaches until he could supply them with more talent.

However, Poles went a bit too far when he talked about other GMs calling the next morning to commend the team's "toughness," and to say "you can feel your guys on tape."

That's the kind of loser talk Bears fans have heard for decades. They always heard how the other teams really felt it on Monday after they had played the Bears—and of course had beaten the Bears by 20 points.

"Keep doing what you're doing," Poles said the other GMs told him.

Of course they did. They'd love that.

Winning is what matters. It always matters and there is no putting it aside.

Doug Pederson did it in his first year with the Jaguars, a team that drafted first two straight years. The Bears had a .176 winning percentage.

2. Quarterback

While it was reassuring to Bears fans to hear Poles felt Fields was his quarterback starter for next year, and the transparency was definitely appreciated by media, saying this did nothing to help the Bears with the coming draft.

Keeping the media and fans guessing about whether he would really trade Fields and draft Alabama QB Bryce Young was preferable to announcing his course of action because he maintained an edge of uncertainty over other general managers on draft day when no one knew what he really thought of Fields.

Poles did leave a tiny bit to the imagination by saying he'd have to be "blown away," to draft a quarterback at No. 1.  It's fairly definite when he did say "yes," after being asked if Fields would be the starter in 2023.

Bears fans have already seen what happens on draft day when another GM has the goods on what their GM thinks about a player. It was 49ers GM John Lynch playing Ryan Pace for the fool in the Mitchell Trubisky trade.

It's better to keep the people who matter, those other GMs, guessing. 

1. Wide Receiver

Poles called three positions "premium positions" for when they begin looking for better personnel this offseason. 

Wide receiver wasn't among them. He said offensive line, defensive line and cornerback were premium positions.

When Poles doesn't recognize receivers for Fields as a premium position, then there can be a problem.

Poles was asked if the Bears had to have a No. 1 wide receiver.

"I think you can have a collection of guys that work really well," Poles said. "I think you can have a tight end mixed in with the group. Obviously you would love a No. 1. I hope one of these guys on our roster or if someone's available can develop into that guy. We'll see. But we're always trying to develop into that guy. We'll see. But we're always trying to look for playmakers and hopefully one of the guys that we have in our locker room now will elevate to that position."

"Hopefully" isn't good enough. 

If they want Fields to throw like a starting quarterback, then they need to get him a legitimate No. 1 receiver instead of a group they hope can produce one. They have the money and the draft capital.

Hearing this from Poles after he had signed Byron Pringle and an assortment of journeymen to catch Fields passes this past season just worries everyone they will be back in the same situation next season with no one skilled enough to really scare defenses.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven