Bears

Hub Arkush: Give GM Ryan Poles credit for sticking to his plan

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles speaks during a news conference, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022, at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.

Dawdle in the Twittersphere or get your news from any URL or Instagram account regardless of creditability and you know there is already growing dissatisfaction among a number of Bears critics and fans.

My first question on the day general manager Ryan Poles arrived was whether or not the plan was to reload and compete immediately or rebuild.

“Everyone once the Super Bowl is played goes back to 0-0 and has the ability to improve their roster, make changes,” Poles answered. “We all know it’s fluid on a yearly basis so we’re going to attack it. Our goal is always going to be in contention and win games.”

The nuance is plain in Poles’ answer, but so is the misdirection.

If you’re capable of contending, why would you rebuild instead of reload?

Thirty-eight days later news broke Khalil Mack was being traded for a meager return of draft capital but significant salary cap savings. The teardown was underway.

Since then, the following players have all found new homes:

QB Andy DaltonOL Elijah Wilkinson
RB Ryan NallDL Bilal Nichols
RB Damien WilliamsLB Joel Iyiegbuniwe
WR Damiere ByrdLB Khalil Mack
WR Jakeem GrantDB Artie Burns
WR Allen RobinsonDB Deon Bush
TE J.P. HoltzDB Xavier Crawford
OL Alex BarsDB Teez Tabor
OL James DanielsP Patrick O’Donnell
OL Germain Ifedi

And Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, Alec Ogletree, Jimmy Graham, Tashaun Gipson, Jason Peters, Jesse James, Marquise Goodwin, Christian Jones and a handful of other backups remain without new teams.

In their place the Bears have added:

QB Trevor SiemianOL Lucas Patrick
RB Darrynton EvansDL Justin Jones
FB Khari BlasingameDL Al-Quadin Muhammad
WR Equanimeous St. BrownLB Matt Adams
WR Byron PringleLB Nicholas Morrow
TE Ryan GriffinDB Dane Cruikshank
TE James O’ShaughnessyDB Tavon Young
OL Dakota Dozier

“Rebuild or reload” is a mutually exclusive choice with no right or wrong answer. The only guarantee is waffling in the middle will fail.

For those of you upset the team hasn’t added an expensive play-making receiver or premium offensive linemen, you can’t have it both ways.

At least give Poles credit for making a choice and trying to execute it properly.

And before you start critiquing, realize Poles and company are just getting started.

They still have just 62 players under contract and 28 open roster spots. With only six draft picks, no more than 20 to 22 or so will be added through the draft and with undrafted rookie free agents.

Beyond the team’s own, there are still a handful of quality veteran free agents out there and there will be a bunch more when June 1 gets here and more cap casualties hit the street.

More veteran free agents are coming, we just don’t know if they’ll be placeholders or upgrades.

The question isn’t how many games will the Bears win this year.

The question is what kind of talent is Poles acquiring and how many can be projected to be part of a contender when it is rebuilt. And Poles, Matt Eberflus and the rest of us will get just our first hint of that when the club meets for its first veteran mini camp Tuesday at Halas Hall.

Realistically, the players to put under the microscope are Morrow (26 years old), Muhammad (27) and Jones (25).

Hicks is recognized as one of the best free agent signings of the last decade, a wildly talented youngster who, for whatever reason, hadn’t put it altogether and then became a Pro Bowler here.

I’m not projecting that for any of them, but Morrow, Muhammad and Jones have that potential.

The other place to focus will be on returning sophomores Teven Jenkins, Larry Borom, Khyiris Tonga and Thomas Graham Jr., each of who showed brief flashes of being quality NFL starters as rookies.

Along with Justin Fields, David Montgomery, Khalil Herbert, Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, Trevis Gipson, Roquan Smith, Jaylon Johnson and Eddie Jackson, if all or most of those 16 can become high-end starters, Poles could find himself about halfway to a successful rebuild.

And that would be a pretty good start.

All 16 won’t, but how many do will be our first real indication of where the organization is really at.

I’m not thrilled about it either, but that’s the reality of who the Bears are right now. They are rebuilding, and accepting that and crossing your fingers is the only chance you’re going to get to enjoy it.

Hub Arkush

Hub Arkush

Hub Arkush was the Senior Bears Analyst for Shaw Local News Network and ShawLocal.com.