Did Ryan Poles make the right choice?
When Poles was one of the hottest general manager candidates in the NFL in January of 2022, he turned down a finalist interview with the Vikings to take the job with the Bears. The Vikings hired former Browns vice-president of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
“It felt right here,” Poles said at the time. “I was excited about this opportunity. And they offered the job and it felt right, so I was good with it and I felt great about it. And I have no regrets in terms of not going to see the other team.”
There was a distinct difference between the Vikings and Bears at the time. With veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins and Pro Bowl wide receiver Justin Jefferson in place, the Vikings job involved more of re-tooling after an 8-9 season under Mike Zimmer. The Bears job was a near-total tear-down/rebuild after 6-11 season under Matt Nagy, even with Justin Fields already in place.
Nearly two seasons later, with the Poles’ Bears facing Adofo-Mensah’s Vikings on Monday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Bears are the tortoise to the Vikings hare in the race for success. At this point, the Bears are going to have to make up some ground to make Poles’ choice look like the right one.
The Vikings went 13-4 and made the playoffs in their first season under Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell, are playoff contenders this season at 6-5 heading into Monday night’s game after a 1-4 start. The Bears are 6-22 in two seasons under Matt Eberflus coming into Monday night’s game — 3-8 this season after a 3-14 season in 2022.
As lopsided as that is right now, it’s also a little misleading. Poles clearly established a “long-game” approach — not only with the near-complete teardown of the team he inherited, but also by trading the No. 1 overall pick last year and stockpiling future draft picks.
No doubt, the Bears’ 3-8 record going into Monday night’s game is a disappointment. Coach Matt Eberflus’ status for the 2024 season likely hangs in the balance. And with Kevin Warren in his first season as team president, even Poles’ status for 2024 is not assured.
All bets are off on Eberflus — the Panthers fired Frank Reich on Monday after less than one year on the job, and with a rookie quarterback at that. But, barring a total collapse in the final month of the season, Poles will at least be able to reasonably point to the future as a rationale for staying the course.
The Bears could have two of the top five picks in the 2024 draft — their own pick and the Panthers’ first-round pick that could be No. 1 overall. And Poles’ first two drafts have produced starters or rotation players with legitimate hopes of becoming impact players on a playoff team — right tackle Darnell Wright, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter from the 2023 class; and cornerback Kyler Gordon, safety Jaquan Brisker and left tackle Braxton Jones from the 2022 class.
The Vikings, meanwhile, will have a decision to make on Cousins, who suffered a season-ending torn achilles on Oct. 29 and is in the final year of his contract. They could be starting over at quarterback in 2024.
But O’Connell already has proven adept at adjusting. The Vikings were 2-1 heading into Monday night’s game with newly acquired Joshua Dobbs at quarterback. They were 5-1 without All-Pro wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
The Bears won two games with undrafted free agent Tyson Bagent in place of an injured Fields — a legitimate accomplishment for Eberflus and Luke Getsy. But from the coaching staff on down, the Bears still have some catching up to do.
