The Chicago Bears have historically been pretty good about investing in key positions in the draft. Premium positions, as they call them today. For better or worse, they’ve drafted seven quarterbacks in the 1st round since 1982. They’ve drafted seven offensive tackles since 1981. Perhaps the most heavily addressed area has been the defensive line, with 10 1st-rounders since 1979. There is one underlying problem. Amidst those moves, the Bears have gone through some pretty sizable dry spells that ended up biting them. Ryan Poles, for all of his efforts, is part of that problem.
The first drought ran from 1995 through 2002, a span of eight years during which they didn’t spend a 1st-round pick on any defensive linemen. Over time, you notice the impact up front starts to wane.
| Year | Pick | Player | Position | Team Sacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 21 | Rashaan Salaam | Running Back | 15 |
| 1996 | 13 | Walt Harris | Cornerback | 23 |
| 1997 | — | No selection | Traded to Seattle | 43 |
| 1998 | 5 | Curtis Enis | Running Back | 31 |
| 1999 | 12 | Cade McNown | Quarterback | 38 |
| 2000 | 9 | Brian Urlacher | Linebacker | 34 |
| 2001 | 8 | David Terrell | Wide Receiver | 17 |
| 2002 | 29 | Marc Colombo | Offensive Tackle | 44 |
Well, somehow the Bears have managed to top themselves. As of writing this, the franchise has gone without a defensive line addition in the 1st round since 2016, a span of 10 drafts. Akiem Hicks and Khalil Mack masked the problem for a few seasons, but over the past four years, it has become an increasing concern.
| Year | Pick | Player | Position | Team Sacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 2 | Mitchell Trubisky | Quarterback | 42 |
| 2018 | 8 | Roquan Smith | Linebacker | 50 |
| 2019 | — | No selection | Traded to Oakland | 32 |
| 2020 | — | No selection | Traded to Oakland | 36 |
| 2021 | 11 | Justin Fields | Quarterback | 49 |
| 2022 | — | No selection | Traded to NY Giants | 20 |
| 2023 | 10 | Darnell Wright | Offensive Tackle | 30 |
| 2024 | 1 | Caleb Williams | Quarterback | 40 |
| 2024 | 9 | Rome Odunze | Wide Receiver | – |
| 2025 | 10 | Colston Loveland | Tight End | 24 |
| 2026 | 25 | Dillon Thieneman | Safety | ? |
The Chicago Bears have gotten away from what made them great.
It isn’t a coincidence that the 1980s Bears defense was so dominant. A huge part of why was that the organization constantly invested top draft picks in it. Dan Hampton, William Perry, and Al Harris were all 1st round picks. If you looked around the league last year, almost every defense that ranked top 10 in sacks had at least one 1st round pick up front.
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- Atlanta Falcons (Jalon Walker)
- Cleveland Browns (Myles Garrett and Mason Graham)
- Detroit Lions (Aidan Hutchinson)
- Minnesota Vikings (Dallas Turner)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (T.J. Watt)
- Houston Texans (Will Anderson)
- Los Angeles Rams (Jared Verse)
- Seattle Seahawks (Byron Murphy)
- New Orleans Saints (Cameron Jordan and Bryan Bresee)
It isn’t rocket science. History says that when you invest top picks in certain areas of the roster, they tend to get good. That is why what the Chicago Bears have done is so frustrating. Ryan Poles shouldn’t get all the blame for this problem. However, he absolutely deserves blame for letting it go on so long. He has made five 1st round picks as GM. None have been defensive linemen, and only one was defense at all.
Ryan Poles talks all the time about opportunities.
In fairness, he made the obvious right call with Caleb Williams at #1 in 2024 and Colston Loveland at #10 in 2025. However, there is room for criticism for his decisions at #9 in 2023 and 2024. He had Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter on the board, but elected to trade out of that spot with Philadelphia, opting for right tackle Darnell Wright instead. Nobody criticizes that much because Wright turned out to be an excellent pick. However, the decision to draft Rome Odunze #9 the next year looks more questionable in hindsight.
Now, the wide receiver has shown flashes of brilliance over his first two seasons, but they’ve also been marred by health issues and drops. Meanwhile, Verse, Turner, Murphy, and Laiatu Latu have all become productive pass rushers for their respective teams. How much of a difference would one of them have made across from Montez Sweat? Poles has been fairly good at getting a feel for where the board is trending each year, but his decision to lock in on Odunze two years ago may have been his biggest missed opportunity.
The Bears are certainly paying for it.
