A year ago, Bears general manager Ryan Poles pushed back against the notion that he was setting up Justin Fields to fail by giving him a sub-standard supporting cast. Fields’ receivers in the opener against the 49ers were Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis, Byron Pringle and Ihmir Smith-Marsette. His big additions on the offense line were fifth-round draft pick Braxton Jones and free agent center Lucas Patrick.
“I’m not going to overreach and do crazy things to get a name or anything,” Poles said prior to Week 1 last year. “I understand that to do it all right away, that’s hard to do with some of the resources that we have. So over time, we’re going to continue to do that. That’s always in our head: to put the quarterback in the best situation.”
