The Chicago Bears have won championships mostly because the men in charge had a knack for identifying great talent. It was true of George Halas during his decades running the team, and again with Jim Finks in the 1970s and early 1980s. In the 40 years since then, the organization hasn’t really found a true elite evaluator. Jerry Angelo was solid but had too many 1st round misses. Phil Emery and Ryan Pace were erratic. Ryan Poles is the latest GM to try changing their fortunes.
He certainly came with a good pedigree. The former Boston College offensive lineman spent over a decade in Kansas City as a scout, learning under Scott Pioli, John Dorsey, and Brett Veach. All three have championship legacies. Poles had been groomed well. Has this translated to a sharp eye for talent since taking over the Bears? Yes and no. Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog contacted four notable people inside the NFL to assess the young GM. The best way to describe the response was tepid.
On GM, Ryan Poles: “Ryan is a middle of the road evaluator but plenty of GMs are. Sometimes people get wrapped up in the process and actually miss the results. In whatever year Ryan is in now, he’s got a top head coach talent and top quarterbacking talent. If they hit, he’ll be in Chicago a long time.”
Ryan Poles only needs to be good enough.
Looking at his track record to this point, it confirms that statement. Ryan Poles hasn’t had any horrible misses to this point. Every pick he’s made in the first two rounds of the draft has ended up becoming at least a decent starter.
- Kyler Gordon
- Jaquan Brisker
- Darnell Wright
- Gervon Dexter
- Tyrique Stevenson
- Caleb Williams
- Rome Odunze
That is a good thing. The problem is that Ryan Poles has also been unable to find any true stars. Nobody he’s acquired to this point has ascended to the elite level. He’s hitting a lot of singles and doubles but no home runs. It is hard to win a championship that way. There’s been no Walter Payton, Dan Hampton, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, or Charles Tillman. The hope is a new, more competent coaching staff led by Ben Johnson can start elevating some of these young guys to where they should be.
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Maybe the perception of Poles will start changing after that.
