This is the day Ryan Poles dreaded. The end of the Bears’ 2023 season, the beginning of his. The day that once the 00:00 appear on the game clock Sunday afternoon — win or lose — everything (say it twice), every move decided outside of the settlement of a new stadium will be his. All things that happen next for this franchise when it comes to what happens on the football field beginning next July, all on him.
Most NFL general managers live for this, they purposely sign up for it when they shake hands with team owners and presidents when they’re handed the keys. But this situation here and now is different. What Poles inherited and created, that led to what this offseason in the future will probably simply be labeled “The Prequel,” has to be one of the most unforgiving situations in the 103-year existence of this franchise. One that even if all other GMs spread across the NFL landscape hated Poles wouldn’t want for him.
An embarrassment of riches this ain’t. For Poles, it is actually the diametrical opposite. All colliding at once — once that buzzer sounds to end the Packers game. The whether or nots: Of a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, a separate defensive coordinator, selecting a quarterback with the No. 1 draft pick and if so, which one; to continue riding with the QB he already got, of packaging the 2024 top pick like he did last year for volume over a singular position, to snatch up a center or edge rusher or wide receiver for pick 12, to overpay the second most important Pro Bowl-bound defensive player on the team.
What in the “finally living up to everything at the end of the season that was believed of them in the beginning of the season” is this? With Poles all the while knowing that every decision he makes moving forward will be held against him in the Chicago Circuit Court of Public Opinion. The same court that just a few weeks ago was rendering questionable and unfavorable verdicts on whether or not (get it?) he’d even be around once this day arrived.
The biggest problem Poles faces, though, is last season. The inescapable haunt of how at this exact same time last year the Bears were sitting on the concept of promise. Nothing but the concept, not reality, of it. And how that promise bled into expectation entering this season and how that promise straight betrayed the Bears over the first half of the season, specifically the first four games.
So now that the promise has leveled-up to meet but not exceed itself, Poles finds himself in a football vortex of actually seeing growth but growth that didn’t actually grow. Because even though the win total more than doubled itself from last season, the exact same questions and issues still remain unanswered and unresolved (with the exception of finally finding someone to replace Khalil Mack and Roquan Smith to build the D-line around in Montez Sweat) — with more uncertainty about the coaching staff even with the increase in wins.
The enormity of it all. The enormity of his now.
Poles can simply not afford to have a repeat of this season next season. And most, my bad, all of that hinges on the executive decisions he makes between this day and opening day in Lake Forest. None of those decisions can backfire. And if one does, he’s going to be the soloist who must explain to an indignant and overly impatient jury of Chicagoans not only why it did… but why is he still here. The hot term being used now in relation to Poles’ offseason riddles: “Commit or ditch.” Which, beginning Monday morning, is going to feel more like “Do or die.”
ESPN’s new football guru Ryan Clark believes, as he said on Get Up on Friday morning, “The business of football is going to take over in Chicago.” No other recent statement has been made putting into context just where Poles finds himself entering this offseason. The “take over” that is about to be in full effect mode belongs solely to him. Challenging circumstances and situations now become understatements as his every decision intertwines with the next.
It’s Tetris. The Eberflus and Getsy decisions affect Fields which affects the draft position decisions which affect the top draft player selection decision which affects the OC decision if Poles decides to change OCs, which affects whether next season the promise is still a concept or becomes reality. A game he — or anyone in this thankless position — can’t win. It’s no longer symbolism. The proverbial feces is real and not about to hit the fan because it has a new target: Poles.
Even as he seems poised and prepared, nothing could have readied even the greatest sports GM for what Poles is about to enter. To live and die in Halas’ halls. Guess it’s better to be carried by a crew of 6 than judged by a city of 3 million.
