Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson met with reporters at Halas Hall on Wednesday, a day after the NFL’s trade deadline.

The Bears weren’t too active before Tuesday’s deadline. The lone move they made came Tuesday when they traded for defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka from the Cleveland Browns and a 2026 seventh-round pick for a 2026 sixth-round pick. Tuesday’s trade came after the Bears lost both defensive linemen Dayo Odeyingbo and rookie Shemar Turner for the season with ACL injuries.

Now the Bears (5-3) will try to build upon the momentum they’ve had over the past six games, where they won five, heading into the second half of the season. Here are three of the most interesting things the Bears said Wednesday.

On trade deadline approach

Tuesday’s trade deadline featured some big names and draft picks getting moved. The Indianapolis Colts swung big by trading two first-round picks for New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, while the Dallas Cowboys sent a first- and second-round pick to the Jets for Quinnen Williams.

Poles said he called teams around the league to check in on players’ availability. There were some discussions around the NFL that the Bears might also swing big after starting 5-3 by trading for players like the Browns’ Mayles Garrett, Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson or the Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby for defensive end help for this season and the future.

But Poles said the Bears wanted to continue to build the roster through the draft, which is why they valued their high draft picks.

“We want to sustain for a long period of time,” Poles said. “We feel like with [Tyron-Shoyinka] we can move the needle a little bit, and we can continue to get better just through execution. But then also continue to build through the draft so that we can sustain it a lot more rather than throwing if it’s money, if it’s draft picks, that timeline starts to get shorter and shorter once you get there.”

Part of that thinking was reinforced by the development of some players under Johnson’s new coaching staff this season.

Poles pointed out the improvements linebacker Noah Sewell has made in his third season this year after Poles drafted him in the fifth round in 2023. He also mentioned the potential defensive end Austin Booker showed during the preseason and his first game back from injured reserve Sunday.

That left Poles and his staff encouraged with what the coaching staff can do moving forward.

“I think they’ve closed a pretty big gap with this new staff,” Poles said. “So that gets me even more excited and gets [Johnson] excited to watch our coaches work with these young players that we draft, that are young now, that we draft in the future, to have a big role on our football team.”

On the state of the pass rush

The Bears will now be without two of Poles’ big offseason solutions to the pass rush for the rest of the season. Poles signed Odeyingbo to a three-year, $48 million contract and selected Turner with the Bears’ third second-round draft pick this season.

The moves didn’t translate to success during the first half of the season. Chicago ranks tied for 21st in the NFL with 17 sacks and 28th with 50 quarterback pressures according to Pro Football Reference. Odeyingbo had one sack and four quarterback hits in eight games, while Turner struggled to make an impact in five games because of injuries.

But Poles and Johnson thought the pass rush was about to turn a corner. They started to play Turner on the edge and Odeyingbo from the inside, where they saw a lot of value for Odeyingbo in stopping the run and creating pressure.

“It’s a shame that we’re not going to be able to see that to the extent that we had hoped,” Johnson said. “But I thought, though eight games that [Odeyingbo] filled a key role for what we were doing on defense.”

They were both also encouraged by the recent uptick in production from top pass rusher Montez Sweat, however. Sweat has had a sack in three straight games and finished with four quarterback hits and one forced fumble during that span.

Poles said Sweat looks more comfortable in defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s scheme compared to the start of the season and has also built up stamina to keep pressure going throughout games. The Bears will need more of that with an injured defensive line for the rest of the season.

“I think there are a lot of factors, but I like where he’s at,” Poles said. “You can just tell around the building, his confidence is really high right now.”

On Poles’ first trade deadline with Johnson

The past few weeks marked the first time Poles and Johnson worked together ahead of a trade deadline. Although the Bears only made one trade, Poles and Johnson each enjoyed the process leading up to Tuesday.

“He was turning over every stone in looking for ways to improve our roster both this year and in future years,” Johnson said. “I thought we had some really healthy dialogue on what we want this thing to look like, as we are building this thing out. It was good.”

Poles called the trade deadline process with Johnson “outstanding.” He said his staff did a good job of evaluating what was available for a potential trade, which Poles then took to Johnson to decide what they wanted to do.

“We want to sustain for a long period of time. We feel like with [Tyron-Shoyinka] we can move the needle a little bit and we can continue to get better just through execution. But then also continue to build through the draft so that we can sustain it a lot more rather than throwing if it’s money, if it’s draft picks, that timeline starts to get shorter and shorter once you get there.”

—  Ryan Poles, Chicago Bears general manager

Those conversations included some perspective while looking at the big picture. Poles hasn’t been shy of making a trade if he thinks it’ll help the Bears moving forward. But Poles leaned on Johnson and Allen, who previously was a head coach with the New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders, to make sure he didn’t let the 5-3 record get in the way of the team’s future.

“It’s the thoughtfulness and the awareness of the big picture,” Poles said. “A lot of times you get into these moments and you get tunnel vision about like right now, what do I need to do? His ability to see short-term and long-term for us to be able to have those conversations is, as a front office person, it’s really awesome to have.”