The Bears looked like they aced out the Vikings for general manager Ryan Poles in January when they offered Poles the job before he could go back to Minneapolis for a second interview as one of two finalists to replace Rick Spielman.
The Vikings hired the other finalist — Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, a former commodities trader who was the Browns’ vice president of football operations and had interviewed with the Bears.
Regardless of whether Poles chose the Bears over the Vikings (he had not been offered the Vikings job), it was on paper a victory of sorts for the Bears — they hired a candidate someone else wanted. Poles was one of the hottest GM candidates in this year’s cycle, and the Bears made the quick move to keep him from the Vikings. For a franchise that once hired Phil Emery over Jason Licht — and subsequently Marc Trestman over Bruce Arians — that’s pretty good.
Poles and Adofo-Mensah come from different worlds. Poles played on the offensive line at Boston College. Adofo-Mensah played basketball at Princeton. Poles is rooted in football-gene, eye-test talent evaluation under three football-guy GMs with the Chiefs. Adofo-Mensah has a master’s degree in economics from Stanford and grew up in the world of analytics with the 49ers and Browns.
They can both succeed and both fail. Poles is more than a football guy. Adofo-Mensah is more than an analytics guy. Poles hired a defensive-minded coach in Matt Eberflus. Adofo-Mensah hired a Sean McVay protege in Kevin O’Connell. They both were hired when Aaron Rodgers was 38 and not 31 — a factor that can’t be ignored in the NFC North.
Both GMs took unexpected paths in their first draft. Poles, with Justin Fields in a developmental mode, took defensive players with his first two draft picks — cornerback Kyler Gordon and safety Jaquan Brisker in the second round. Adofo-Mensah traded the No. 12 overall pick to the division-rival Lions and moved down 20 spots to No. 32 to get Georgia safety Lewis Cine.
The Vikings are 3-1 with a victory over the Packers already this season. But Poles’ has the early edge in the draft. The Bears have three starters out of 11 draft picks — Gordon, Brisker and fifth-round left tackle Braxton Jones, plus a rotation contributor in defensive end Dominique Robinson and punter Trenton Gill.
The Vikings have one rookie starter of their 10 draft picks in second-round right guard Ed Ingram. Cine had played only two defensive snaps this season when he suffered a season-ending broken leg blocking on a punt return against the Saints in London last week.
Second-round cornerback Andrew Booth has played just two snaps — both on special teams —because of a quad injury. Third-round linebacker Brian Asamoah has played only special teams. Fourth-round cornerback Akayleb Evans has played 32 snaps on defense. Then again, Adofo-Mensah didn’t clear the decks in a total rebuild like Poles has done, so he had fewer openings for rookies. It’s early.
And both rookie GMs are veering toward big decisions at quarterback. For Adofo-Mensah, it’s whether he can win a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins. For Poles, it’s whether Justin Fields is the long-term answer. Regardless of their background, experience or style, all NFL general managers share one thing in common — they have to get the quarterback right.
1b. There’s no telling if Poles would have been offered the Vikings job, but, for the record, it didn’t matter to him.
“It felt right here,” Poles said in January. “I was excited about this opportunity. They offered the job and it felt right, so I was good with it. I have no regrets in terms of not going to see the other team.”
2. Nobody has to write an apology to Matt Nagy, but the notion that Fields, Darnell Mooney, Cole Kmet and others would suddenly blossom when they were no longer shackled by the Nagy offense hasn’t come to fruition.
Even with a minimum workload, Fields is completing 50.7% of his passes — the lowest in the NFL among quarterbacks who have started three or more games. Mitch Trubisky was benched with the Steelers on Sunday, with a 59.5 completion percentage, 5.6 yards per attempt and a 73.7 passer rating — all below his Bears numbers. Allen Robinson has nine receptions for 95 yards and one touchdown with Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford on the Rams.
Even if you factor in that all are in the early stages of a new offense, those numbers are below expectations. So the answer to the “Was it Matt Nagy or …” question is pretty clear: “Both.”
3. Did You Know? The 98 rushing yards on nine carries by Giants quarterbacks Sunday (Daniel Jones, 6-68; Tyrod Taylor 3-30) were the most quarterback rushing yards allowed by the Bears since 1976, when Broncos’ backup Norris Weese — an early replacement for injured starter Craig Penrose, had 12 carries for 120 yards in a 28-14 victory at Soldier Field.
4. There’s not a lot to like about the Bears’ offense right now, but there was nothing fluky about Khalil Herbert’s 23-yard gain on a well-executed third-and-20 screen pass in the second quarter.
That was the Bears’ first conversion of a third-and-20 or longer since 2007, when Garrett Wolfe gained 32 yards on a third-and-27 screen pass in Week 17 against the Saints.
5. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson has missed the last two games with a quad injury he suffered in practice, but will be needed more than ever against the Vikings and Justin Jefferson, who had 10 receptions for 147 yards in a 28-25 victory over the Saints in London last week. Jefferson has had 100 or more receiving yards in three of four games against the Bears (8-135, 8-104, 5-107).
Then again, when the Bears played the Vikings without their entire starting secondary in Week 15 last year, Jefferson was held relatively in check (4-47, one touchdown) by a defensive backfield of Kindle Vildor, Teez Tabor, Thomas Graham, Deon Bush and Marquis Christian.
6. Will jet lag be a factor in the Bears-Vikings game? The Vikings declined the bye week after playing in London last week. Five teams previously have played the week following the overseas trip — they are 2-3 (2-2-1 against the spread), with the Dolphins losing to the Falcons 30-28 last year.
7. The Bears’ failure to react when Fields’ fumbled after he was sacked by linebacker Azeez Ojulari was reminiscent of the defense’s failure to react to Aaron Rodgers’ fumble when he was sacked by Julius Peppers in the fateful 2013 season finale against the Packers.
Guard Cody Whitehair and the linemen in the area of the play and wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown were given “loafs” in film review, Eberflus said. But upon review it wasn’t as egregious as it looked.
“That one’s a little bit harder [Sunday], because it’s coming from behind,” Eberflus said. “Typically when you have a fumble and I’m a defender, you know we’re punching the ball, we’re all pursuing the ball, we can see the ball. I think Cody got caught off guard, as well as the linemen.”
8. The Bears’ rushing defense (183.3 yards allowed per game) not only is last in the NFL through four weeks, but the highest total through four weeks in the NFL since the 2012 Saints (186.8). In the previous five seasons, the Bears were averaging 87.6 rushing yards per game through four games.
9. Josh McCown Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Saints quarterback Andy Dalton, playing for injured starter Jameis Winston, completed 20-of-28 passes for 236 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions for a 108.6 passer rating in a 28-25 loss to the Vikings at Tottenham Stadium in London.
10. Bear-ometer: 6-11 — at Vikings (L); vs. Commanders (W); at Patriots (L); at Cowboys (L); vs. Dolphins (L); vs. Lions (W); at Falcons (W); at NY Jets (L); vs. Packers (L); vs. Eagles (L); vs. Bills (L); at Lions (L); vs. Vikings (W).
