It is understandable for Chicago Bears fans to be frustrated with the team’s progress. Progress is expected going into the second year of a rebuild. Instead, they sit at 3-7 and remain one of the worst teams in football. However, it is times like this where context is needed. The key to any rebuild is resources. A team must have draft picks and cap space to retool the roster effectively. Bears fans forget that GM Ryan Poles had neither when he took over last year. Let’s start with the most recent successful rebuild.
Brad Holmes took over the Detroit Lions in 2021. After a rough first year, he quickly stacked the roster with young talent and went from 3-13-1, to 9-8, to now 7-2. What made it possible? Assets. Holmes had the 7th overall pick for his first draft in 2021. That same year, he traded Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles for two 1st round picks. That meant he had two 1st round picks in each of the next two drafts. Coming into the 2023 season, he’d put five 1st round talents on his roster. They include Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson, and Jahmyr Gibbs. All became immediate contributors.
Poles didn’t have such luxuries. Former GM Ryan Pace traded the Bears’ 1st rounder in 2022 for Justin Fields. Worse still, Poles didn’t have any valuable player he could deal for one in return. His only course of action was unloading expensive veterans for multiple day two and three picks. He didn’t get into the 1st round until this past off-season.
The Chicago Bears aren’t on a standard timeline.
Pace conducted a rebuild as well when he took over in 2015. He held a 1st round pick in each of the first three off-seasons. Had he done a good job with them, his team probably wouldn’t have gone 6-10, 3-13, and 5-11 in his first three years. Successful rebuilds are often determined by how well you draft in the 1st round. It isn’t a coincidence the Bears got going in the 1980s. From 1979 through 1984, they added Dan Hampton, Keith Van Horne, Otis Wilson, Jim McMahon, Jimbo Covert, Willie Gault, and Wilber Marshall in the 1st round.
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Poles is playing from behind right now. One 1st round pick in two off-seasons makes building a roster core difficult. His efforts should improve next spring. Current projections have the Chicago Bears holding two picks in the top 10 thanks to their trade with Carolina. That will give Poles a golden opportunity to add two potential blue-chip talents to his roster. If things go as planned, the Bears will be a much more formidable team by this time next year. Keep all of this in mind before calling the rebuild a failure.
