Ryan Poles wasn’t naive. He understood the pressure on him going into the 2025 off-season. Many Chicago Bears fans wanted him out, blaming him for the Matt Eberflus fiasco at head coach and overseeing the two longest losing streaks in franchise history. Thanks to good fortune, team ownership opted to give him a second chance to get things right. That meant finding a head coach who might finally change the culture to one ready to win. After months of research and over a dozen interviews, he became convinced Ben Johnson was the guy.
The Detroit Lions offensive coordinator has been spectacular for three years, guiding Jared Goff to a career renaissance. Everyone acknowledged his high intelligence and creativity as a playcaller. The problem is that many people worry about his ability as a leader. He is described as an introvert who might not understand how to communicate properly in front of a locker room. Poles admitted to Waddle & Silvy that it took him all of a few minutes to realize those whispers were complete garbage.
Ryan Poles can at least feel like his process was sound this time.
Everything felt off about the hiring of Eberflus in 2022. His name wasn’t even remotely in demand. Worse still, Ryan Poles was even GM for a week before deciding he was the coach he wanted. He met three guys and made a decision within 48 hours. That was an irresponsible approach that ultimately almost cost him his job. This time around, Poles made sure to lay out a careful approach where he met several candidates and collected information. In the end, he went after the name that everybody wanted. Nobody can say the Bears GM tried to outsmart himself. He did the obvious thing for once. Will Johnson end up being great? That is impossible to know. Still, it feels like the organization did it the right way.
” He did the obvious thing for once”?? Wasn’t taking CW with the first pick doing the obvious thing? Seems Rome at 9 was the obvious thing as well.
@Dr. Steven Sallie I get what you say about people and certainly there are a lot you can say that is undeniable, but I have always tried to be measured with people, give the the benefit of doubt and want them to do well. People can screw up pretty badly, do a lousy job and still turn things around. None of us know the situation Poles was in to hire Eberflus. I don’t know if he had pressure from boss (McCaskey) or time (Combine coming up) or just rookie mistake (trusting Polian and whomever) to do the job. But a… Read more »
Sam: That is one of many reasons I call them male hyenas, they band together and smell/feel the popular winds. And if they are true believers in Poles regardless of the evidence then they are Children of the Corn. Some are both, making them social conformists and a few authoritarians.
Actually, I would respect and understand them more if they happened to be African Americans in support of Poles. But not to the OJ level of not guilty.
Hehateme… U swing with the wind dude. One week u love Poes the next week u hate him, all season. U just go with popular opinion on pretty much everything. They win u love Poles. They lose u hate him. That’s just the type of fan u are. Ur one of those ppl 🙂
Moonshiner.. Poles was advised he could expand his search. He did not expand it. He chose to hire a familiar face/friend. I get that many on here refuse to lay any blame on Poles for literally any if his many mistakes… but it was his choice, just like his long list of other mistakes. I’m not a Poles hater like some others on here, I’m just not an over the top homer who refuses to point out negatives along with positives. I think Poles has also done several good things, which I have also pointed out. He’s a big part… Read more »