Bear Digest

Ryan Poles clears last hurdle through cooperation with Ben Johnson

Analysis: Bears GM Ryan Poles has put himself into position for that contract extension and even missing on a running back until Round 7 shouldn't prevent it.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles address the draft after bringing in eight new Bears.
Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles address the draft after bringing in eight new Bears. | Photo: Chicago Bears video

In this story:

Chicago Bears

If there had been doubt, there shouldn't be, and probably shouldn't have been.

The big unanswered question after the firing of Matt Eberflus had been how many more Bears drafts GM Ryan Poles would be conducting because his contract hadn't yet been extended.

After the successful hiring process with Ben Johnson and staff, a free agency when he found ways to fill critical offensive line spots through trades before the necessary signings, and now a draft process with only a few flaws, there would seem to be no reason to think Poles should be denied a new deal.

Indeed, ESPN's Courtney Cronin had reported in February he would be getting one. It's May and people tend to forget these things during the heavy lifting for GMs but proving time is over.

It's impossible to say at this point how these players selected in the draft will perform as rookies so you can't really tie Poles' extension to that, although a case could probably be made for waiting until September to see if Caleb Williams starts off looking more capable of delivering. After all, his signature moment was the trade back with Carolina and then ultimately the drafting of Williams.

Getting the quarterback right was as important as getting the coach right.

However, there is far more to being a general manager than drafting one quarterback, even if it is the game's most important position.

Poles' most important moment was getting Johnson hired and he did this. It may have been Kevin Warren convincing George McCaskey to part with money like a real owner that sealed Johnson to Chicago but Poles had to lay the groundwork and do the convincing.

It was his first real coaching hire, unless you want to count giving him three guys to choose from right after he was hired as an actual coaching hire. He did pick the wrong one of the three, the only one who hadn't been a head coach. That Eberflus situation was a failure more on McCaskey's shoulders and Bill Polian's than anyone else's. They should have kept their noses out of the the coaching then.

The most critical aspect for Poles, possibly the remainin piece of evidence he can guide this team into the future, was how he'd work with Johnson and staff throughout free agency and the draft.  

Consider Johnson impressed.

“I would say just in regard to Ryan and his staff, you know, my first exposure in the draft room with his crew was before the combine, and to see the consistency with which the schedule comes and the structure, everything is working," Johnson said. "There's a flow, there's a rhythm to all the madness behind what we do and how we do it.

"And Ryan really is the brains behind that. He's set it all up and you can tell that this group, this organization's been together for a number of years now because it's been running so smoothly. He’s consistent every single day when he comes in. I think that’s sometimes under looked at times, particularly in this profession."

Eberflus couldn't even call a timeout properly so that wasn't evidence what Poles could do. If Johnson says so, then it is so.

They worked well together and found ways to bring in most of the needed talent, a running back and maybe an edge rusher excluded.

"(I) think that was what was so cool about the last few weeks was getting with Ryan, getting with (assistant GM) Ian (Cunningham), getting with (director of player personnel) Trey (Koziol), getting with (senior director of player personnel) Jeff King and really huddling up and figuring out how we wanted to sequence the whole board," Johnson said. "And to Ryan's credit, he stayed as disciplined as I've ever seen in terms of staying true to how we set it up.

"Sometimes that gets hard. Sometimes you want to pick for need, but we didn't necessarily do that. I feel really good about the direction we went and every decision we made along the way."

Johnson seems convinced, even if the discipline cost them a chance at a running back who they didn't grade worthy of taking when they were drafting.

Warren already seemed to be convinced when he praised Poles after Eberflus' firing and again after Johnson's hiring. Top executives don't constantly praise those beneath them publicly and then turn around and let them go, not even in Dallas or Las Vegas.

Perhaps if the offseason process had gone worse an argument against could be made against, but just because they failed to get a running back doesn't mean it's over. There will be other running backs for Johnson, Poles and staffs to work on together in the future, one that looks positive because of the weapons and talent acquired through an offseason that earned high praise from many analysts.

The Bears won the offseason...again.

At this point there is no sense waiting on what seemed inevitable since that February report.

Poles even was building a case for himself, it seemed, at the very end of the radio interview he did with Dave Kaplan and J. Hood on AM-1000 during last week, calling to mind where the talent level was in 2022 when they had to gut the roster to make up for salary cap mistakes of the past regime.

"I think we actually started ot in the negative, not at zero," Poles said. "It was below zero just to be honest with you. But I'm proud of the resilience that we've had, especially in the front office, just in terms of keep chipping away chopping away and now when you look at the roster compared to when we walked in the door or even that first year, it's something to be proud of."

When the Bears gave Ryan Pace his contract extension, it came in January. At least this time, they allowed more of the job to get done before jumping all in.

They should simply sign the paperwork and move on with Poles under contract for a period coinciding with the deal Johnson has—unless they've already done it and haven't announced it.

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Published
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.