Brad Biggs: GM Ryan Poles says the Bears are ‘in a much better place’ than a year ago. The roster is improved — and younger.
CHICAGO — With all of the heavy lifting the Chicago Bears did since March in rebuilding a roster that had been stripped down during a 14-loss season, general manager Ryan Poles accomplished an interesting feat.
The Bears have gotten younger as they head into the season opener Sept. 10 against the Green Bay Packers. That’s notable when considering the Bears were the seventh-youngest team in the league at the start of 2022, when they carried 13 rookies into the season.
After two waiver claims Wednesday morning and the signing of slot receiver/punt returner Trent Taylor, the Bears average 25.74 years, a tick below the 25.76 from last season, Poles’ first with the organization. That’s hard to imagine after the addition of ageless tight end Marcedes Lewis, who is 39.
The claim of safety Quindell Johnson from the Los Angeles Rams added a 10th rookie to the roster, and the Bears have 12 second-year players, creating a nucleus Poles and coach Matt Eberflus hope lays a foundation for the future.
Eberflus’ system, which puts an emphasis on maximum effort and being smart situationally, has been in place. The schemes on both sides of the ball are unadjusted. It’s about talent acquisition and player development to determine how and when the franchise will rise from the depths.
The Bears were stumbling toward irrelevance for several seasons before hitting rock bottom a year ago. Their problems were multiple, and the longtime quarterback issues are well-known. Put simply, they have suffered from a critical lack of difference makers — blue-chip players who tilt the field on Sundays, players who show up in game-defining moments.
Those are the guys Poles and his staff hunted beginning in March. He traded for wide receiver DJ Moore, signed linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards in free agency and dropped a bunch of money to bring in right guard Nate Davis. He continued to build the offensive line in the draft with right tackle Darnell Wright and added defensive tackles Gervon Dexter and Zachh Pickens. He was more aggressive than in his first year, paying $10.5 million to bring in defensive end Yannick Ngakoue after training camp opened.
“We’re in a much better place than we were last year,” Poles said Wednesday afternoon. “I feel we’ve been able to move the needle and be in a position to go after our goals and to have more aggressive goals in terms of being a championship organization.”
Poles is pretty straight when he takes questions and he was blunt during draft season when admitting it probably wasn’t going to be possible to fill every team need. That’s not a personnel man creating a premade excuse. That reflected the many holes on the roster for a team that finished the season on a 10-game losing streak.
How many of those holes did the Bears not just cover but address with players who can contribute to winning football?
“It’s hard until you start playing,” Poles said. “Just being realistic, man. On paper, 80%, 75%. When the lights come on and we play a real game, the energy levels differ, the speed is different. We’ll be able to evaluate that as we go through the season. I feel good about the progress and I feel we took a chunk out of what we needed to.”
Eleven players remain who were acquired before Poles and Eberflus arrived. That’s not shocking turnover. It happens in the NFL when a new personnel boss and coaches with new schemes take over. It’s not about how fast a team can tear down a roster, it’s whether it can build a consistent winner after the demolition is complete.
One of the talking points Poles kept circling back to when he was hired was being able to put a consistent winner on the field, something the Bears haven’t done in the longest time. It has been since 2005-06 that the team had consecutive winning seasons.
It looks as if the Bears will have 11 new starters against the Packers from Week 1 a year ago. It’s impossible to say what twists and turns are ahead, but the Bears will be more competitive, no question. The passing game has a ways to go, but the additions should aid quarterback Justin Fields. The line looks better. The defense has to be better.
Specifically, where does Poles see improvement?
“If you really break it down, I feel like our defense in terms of takeaways is going to be in a better situation,” Poles said. “I feel like explosive plays and run-after-the-catch on offense is going to be better. I’ll lean that.”
Difference makers will have to emerge for the Bears to win consistently, and it can take a little time for young teams to learn how to win. That Packers game is closing in, and the season will prove just how much better the Bears have become.
