The Chicago Bears were humiliated on Sunday.
There’s no other way to put it.
There was plenty of hype heading into this one as Ben Johnson returned home to Detroit to face his former team. The game was competitive for the first 30 minutes.
The second 30 minutes weren’t even watchable.
The Bears trailed 21-14 late in the first half. At that point, the Lions went on a 31- 7 run. Jared Goff looked like he was Rembrandt. The Lions did whatever they wanted through the air. They did whatever they wanted on the ground.
The defense handled the offense with ease. The Bears were outclassed in every aspect of the game.
For the first three years of Ryan Poles’ tenure, we heard about the culture he and Matt Eberflus created. The Bears were assembling a group of high-class individuals who worked hard and shared the Bears’ vision.
By midway through the 2024 season, it was clear that culture was a fabrication. It was a mirage. Matt Eberflus thought his locker room would hold itself accountable. He didn’t think they needed to be micromanaged. He was wrong. “Fire Matt Eberflus, and it will all look better!” Once Eberflus was gone, Thomas Brown coached this team hard, but the effort didn’t improve.
“Bring us a coach that will hold the locker room accountable!”
Enter Ben Johnson. Johnson has shown accountability. Johnson has shown attention to detail. Johnson has been everything that the players said they wanted. But that’s the effort they gave on Sunday.
The Chicago Bears’ defense has given up 694 yards and 73 points in their last five quarters of play.
The offense on unscripted drives has scored just 24 points in two games.
The team is averaging 7.5 yards per play on their two opening scoring drives, and just 4.8 the rest of the game.
When Ben Johnson can’t script exactly what the offense needs to do, they fail.
It’s been three different head coaches, four different play callers, five different offensive coordinators, four different defensive coordinators, and a partridge in a pear tree.
At some point, you have to look at the players, and when you do that, you have to look at the man who built the roster.
Here’s looking at you, Ryan Poles.
The Chicago Bears have a Ryan Poles problem. It’s becoming more glaring every day.
The roster has holes, and it’s something that many fans didn’t want to hear about in the offseason.
The Bears hired Ben Johnson, and nothing else seemed to matter.
For the GM, that felt like when Matt Eberflus got a haircut and grew a beard and everyone looked at the new look, but seemed to forget that he wasn’t a very good head coach.
The Ben Johnson hire was fabulous, but it doesn’t change the shortcomings of the GM.
Ryan Poles’ winning percentage is a mere 28%. That averages out to 4.8 wins per season. He’s yet to have a winning record. We’ve heard the excuses.
3-14 didn’t matter because he tore down the roster.
7-10 didn’t matter because he didn’t have the right quarterback.
5-12 didn’t matter because he didn’t have the right coach.
When Mitch Trubisky was the Bears’ quarterback, we heard similar issues.
Mitch doesn’t have any weapons!
Mitch doesn’t have the right coach!
Mitch doesn’t have a good enough offensive line!
At some point, you have to realize that Mitch was the problem. If everything had to be perfect for the quarterback to succeed, you have the wrong quarterback.
If everything needs to be perfect to have a successful season, you have the wrong GM.
We’ve all seen the results. Ryan Poles has yet to draft a Pro Bowler. The team’s best defensive player is Jaylon Johnson, who was drafted by Ryan Pace. Chase Claypool for the 32nd pick. Nate Davis is given $20 million guaranteed.
Dan Wiederer wrote a piece in November of 2024 that painted a very poor picture of Poles. Ty Dunne (forget the Caleb Williams part) wrote two different pieces painting a similar picture of a GM that doesn’t listen to his staff, is unqualified for the position he has, and has his priorities in the wrong place.
I’ve said for months that Ben Johnson is arguably the most exciting coaching hire the Chicago Bears have ever made, but their general manager was going to limit the success this team was going to have.
The Chicago Bears have drafted four players on day two (rounds 2 and 3) in the last two seasons. Three of those players were healthy scratches against Detroit. The production from Poles’ draft selections just isn’t there.
The Bears have largely maxed out their cap space moving forward. If they want to be able to make significant additions, they are going to have to send many of Ryan Poles’ acquisitions packing. Those names include D’Andre Swift, DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Montez Sweat, and Tremaine Edmunds.
I’m not saying all those names will be gone at the end of the season; I’m simply saying those are the names that will have to go to create space. Those names are supposed to be the leaders in the locker room.
But after Sunday’s debacle in Detroit, Ben Johnson called out players for their lack of effort. He used the phrase “when the ball isn’t in their hands,” which immediately narrows it down to the offensive skill position players. It doesn’t take too big a leap to suspect that the main person he’s pointing his finger at is DJ Moore.
No block, no rock.
Is it FAFO time for Moore? We will have to see how Ben Johnson handles this moving forward. If there is a standard being set in the locker room, how a coach handles situations like this is critical to making sure the team all stays on the same page.
What’s the solution? Ryan Poles had two years left on his contract, and the Bears decided to tack an additional three years onto that with an extension. Ryan Poles is under contract for five more years.
The Bears ate probably $15 million of Matt Eberflus’ contract to send him packing. Would they be willing to eat probably $15 million more to send away Ryan Poles? Would they be willing to do it a full year before his contract extension even begins?
That seems doubtful, but the Bears had never fired a coach midseason until last season, so it’s possible that things could change.
The Poles defender may sit here and talk about all the assets he’s acquired at the top of the draft, and that’s true. Poles is a rare GM who has been gifted the first pick in the draft twice (once thanks to the Houston Texans and once thanks to the Carolina Panthers), and he’s also selected a total of four times in the top ten. One would hope that some of those players would turn into something.
The Chicago Bears have a significant lack of blue-chip players. Jaylon Johnson is one. Joe Thuney is one. That’s where the list ends. Johnson is most likely out for the year, and Thuney will be 33 this season. Neither of those players was drafted by Ryan Poles.
With the Bears pushing towards the ceiling of the salary cap, they are going to have to find blue-chip players in the draft. So far, Poles is 0 for 34 in finding one in the draft. Yes, there’s a chance that Caleb Williams could become one, or Rome Odunze, or Darnell Wright. But at present, they aren’t there.
Ryan Pace’s fourth year was 2018. Pace had drafted two blue-chip players at this point (Eddie Jackson and Roquan Smith), had built the best defense in the NFL, and had surrounded Mitch Trubisky with a solid offensive line and some decent playmakers. The Chicago Bears won the division in his fourth year. In Ryan Poles’ fourth year, the Bears are 0-2 and being outclassed.
For a GM who wasn’t good enough, Ryan Pace has certainly had more success at this point in his tenure than Ryan Poles.
There’s plenty of hope for the future of the Chicago Bears right now, thanks to the arrival of Ben Johnson.
Sure, there’s plenty to be concerned about with Caleb Williams’ performance through two games, the lack of a running game, the struggles of the defense, but the bottom line is that the general manager is the biggest concern of them all.
Ben Johnson can be great. Caleb Williams can be fantastic. But if the rest of the roster is lacking in talent and depth, the Bears will be a team stuck in the mud and being held back by their overmatched general manager.
The Chicago Bears have a Ryan Poles problem, and it’s a shame that George McCaskey, once again, failed to recognize that he had the wrong person in charge.
I want to be hopeful for this franchise, but it’s really hard to believe when they continue to reward inadequate performances with contract extensions.
Perhaps one day, there will be nothing but positivity surrounding this team, but that day is not today.
