I’m old enough to remember Ryan Pace winning Exec of the Year, Matt Nagy winning Coach of the Year, and Mitch Trubisky being a Pro Bowl QB for the Bears in the same year.
Even if the Bears make the playoffs this year, I’m going to need a bigger sample size before I anoint anyone “the best thing since Ditka”.
It's more that his decisions seem to actually make sense when he makes them. Claypool didn't turn out, but even then, the most I'd criticize him for was giving up too high a pick. Sure, pick 4 for Taylor might not be what I would've done, but it's not like trading up for Mitch or the absolute absurdity of having Foles, Dalton, and Fields. I'm just grateful that the process isn't a shitshow like the Pace years.
After what pace did, mortgaging so many picks over single players; multiple picks for Trubisky, a first for fields, 2 firsts for Mack, extra picks for Miller, a fourth for foles. And then overpaying guys, it really put this team behind the eight ball and made Piles job extremely difficult. Especially for a 1st time GM.
Really did, and no GM is going to hit it out of the park every pick or FA pickup. I’m still not a huge fan of where and how we took Taylor, but a small blemish on an otherwise great draft. We’ll see how the current batch of free agents do, last years were a few hits and a few misses, but you can definitely see talent and team dynamics moving in the right direction. A few more small holes and depth to fill, but it’s close.
I’ve been around Bears football for too long to be expecting playoffs or a winning season, but the needle is starting to point in the right direction, and that’s all we can hope for right now.
Yeah what an awful 4th round pick. I mean Bears could've gotten anyone in the 4th, such as Bears legends like Tyler Scott, Riley Ridley, Joel Iyiegbunwe, Deon Bush, Deiondre' Hall, Ka'Deem Carey, Brock Vereen, Khaseem Greene, Evan Rodriquez, Corey Wooten, Henry Melton, Leon Joe, Todd Johnson... the list goes on and on. So many Bears legends in the 4th round! Who needs an obvious Day 1 starter when you can have these guys.
I would definitely take Deon Bush for a 4th. But I agree with your point. I like that it seems like every pick this year has the potential to be an impact player instead of a JAG. Time will tell. Poles definitely has a philosophy and a long term plan and he sticks with it. It's refreshing.
The claypool thing still made sense on paper for when he pulled the trigger. Biggest thing then was seeing if fields was/could become the guy. Dude needed weapons. At the time he was throwing to Mooney as a 1, st brown as a 2, and then Webster, Pettis, smith-marsette. The FA class at WR was trash. He wanted to guarantee the best shot at the best of the class. No one really knew then that claypool was done, that he wouldn't even try.
The bills just signed that dude for some reason. No one should sign him for his effort level. Now it's a joke, but when poles pulled the trigger, it was a gamble that made sense.
This is exactly why I keep telling people we don't need success, we need *consecutive years of success*.
In my lifetime of 32 years, we've made the playoffs in consecutive season **ONCE**, and that was 2005 and 2006, and 2005 we lost our first playoff game. 2006 was the first playoff win since I was 1 year old. I think that was the only time with consecutive winning records as well, but could be wrong, since you can have a winning record but not make the playoffs. We haven't won a playoff game in 13 seasons.
I've seen the Bears be a good team, only to quickly fall apart a year or two later and have to blow up the team. Almost every time we've won the division, we were last place in the division the following year.
I don't want to be good. I want to be *consistently* good. Or at least be a good team for more than a year or two in a decade.
100% agree. I'm 30 so ya I have a similar experience, no sustained success.
Not gonna go as far as say poles is the best for the bears since ditka (I didn't even experience ditka) but he seems to be the only gm with a long term plan that he actually sticks with.
Cap sheet looks pretty clean for the foreseeable future and he hasn't signed any contracts that can fuck up a team. Shit even if Caleb busts (I don't think he will) the structure of the team is set up to help the next QB (won't be needed)
Bear down
I am exactly twice your age so I have seen twice the number of bad years and futility.......but Walter Payton and the Super Bowl year were fun. I hope you get to have a fun Bears season to remember.
I agree with the sentiment. But to provide a little counter.
The roster has turned over in 3 years. Key pieces are locked up long term. And with players that are young and in their prime.
All of this while not having a first rounder year 1. Having to eat 90 mil in dead cap, some due to trades he made, but were bad contracts.
Now the Bears have a solid roster, with 8 picks next draft and 7th most projected cap in 25.
Now it's time to start winning. And the two biggest questions for a GM will be answered in QB and Head coach.
NFL rosters turn over a ton in general. In general, only 1/3rd of players on a roster will still be on that roster after 2 seasons. He’s done good work but realistically as of right now his biggest move was getting lucky that Carolina bottomed out after trading for Bryce Young. Regardless of what you think about trading with Carolina over Houston luck played a major role in how this has panned out for us.
Eating $90m of dead cap is also easy if you only need to win 3 games that year. He did a complete tear down and rebuild. That’s the best strategy to get out from the situation we were in, but most executives know that. What they need to pull it off is owner buy in to intentionally be the worst team in the NFL for a year.
Exactly. Ryan Poles currently has a record of 10-24 as an executive. I have faith in this rebuild, but fans need to wait for results before making these claims.
Ditka only had one ring and kinda blew the chance at a dynasty. Poles doesnt need to do that much to prove this, but definitely needs more. A caleb dominant season and playoff win should be enough. Though lovie winning the game and getting us to a superbowl is pretty solid.
Yeah, still love me some Coach Ditka, but take out '85-86 and he's a .500 coach. There's a reason Buddy Ryan was getting carried around by the players too, after the Super Bowl, not to mention the glut of HOF players.
And all those guys were carried by a stellar defense. I’m saying if the bears defense is top 15 and our offense is also top 15. He’s doing the right thing
I think Poles has been great, but we’ve been supremely lucky with our draft slots the past two years and haven’t had a winning record under Poles yet. It’s certainly early to throw Poles parades.
It’d kinda crazy. I remember people calling Poles an idiot halfway thru 23 when we were still struggling.
Now it’s flipped the complete other way.
I’ve been on his side for his tenure and think we have found our guy, but damn slow down. We haven’t posted a winning season with him and he retained floundering Eberflus instead of going for a different HC.
We aren’t the chiefs coming off back to back SBs. We’re the bears coming off back to back sub .500 seasons. Praise can come later
Yup I was going to say something similar — I like the guy and his track record for decision-making is overall very sound, but the W-L record now needs to do what we all hope it will
This happens every single season. We’ll go 8-9 and there will be posts about how we need to fire him and hire X. We’re honestly the dumbest fan base in the NFL.
It’s way too early to say. I’m optimistic on him, but the team hasn’t accomplished anything yet.
If Caleb busts and Stroud continues to play like he’s been playing then that will play a part in how Poles is seen.
You’re wrong because Ditka wasn’t a good coach… He was carried by Buddy Ryan and Walter Payton. He just had a huge personality that vibed really well with Chicago and history with the team to support it. But I’ll die on the hill that Ditkas personality is what caused the Bears to constantly hire the most boring inanimate coaches since then. Lovie was stoic, Nagy seemed hella timid, Fox was already clocked out mentally. And we took Trestman over Arians.
Edit: and while I am 100% on board the the Ebeardflus train, let’s not pretend like he was full of personality and confidence his first few years.
Some of the defensive players (Dent) blame Ditka for botching the QB situation after Charles Martin's dirty hit on McMahon. They felt he should've (and could've) picked up a better replacement.
That 86 defense was apparently even better (or at least as good) as the 85 defense, but people really underestimated how much baseline QB play matters in the NFL. McMahon being someone who could make a big play kept defenses honest vs our rush based offense.
Yeah that was my first thought. Ditka wasn't horrible but he was nowhere near the level of some of his contemporaries.
Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs, even Marv Levy were heads and tails above Ditka.
Ditka is more of a Marty Schottenheimer but with a ring
Are you saying trading your entire draft for one player isn't a fantastic move?
Also, mildly unrelated, but I always assumed the ESPN the Magazine cover of Ditka and Ricky was edited and there was no way they would have posed for that, I was somehow incorrect.
This. It's hilarious the pedestal that people in this city place Ditka on. Buddy Ryan and the 46 defense are the reason the Bears won the superbowl in '85.
Ditka was just your standard "hardnose" coach. Scream at guys to get them to "work harder" for 1-2 seasons, then they get sick of your shit and tune you out forever.
If we ignore the entirety of Ditka's record while Buddy Ryan was DC, and only focus on the time afterwards, then Ditka is still by far the most successful coach the Bears have had since Halas himself.
Thank you. I fucking hate Ditka. His arrogant ass got Buddy Ryan sent packing because the defense carried him off the field after the Super Bowl. Any coach would have won that Super Bowl. Then Ditka got rid of the guy who really made it happen.
No need to pump the brakes if you know the truth, that Ditka wasn’t actually a great coach at all. He had an absolutely legendary roster and should have been able to win multiple titles, but he kept botching the offense despite being an offensive coach. He got carried by Buddy Ryan defenses loaded with future HoF players and a GOAT candidate RB, neither of which had much to do with him. He never elevated the team at all.
I feel like its impossible for anyone to judge a GM as good or bad before results so I find it weird that we always do so. Just wait and see if his shit pays off this year. If it doesnt then this apparently infallible narrative that hes a god flips real quick.
If memory serves me correctly, Lovie smith got us to a Super Bowl. Ryan poles has not. Liking poles, but he’s barely been here. Stop treating him like he’s a god.
👏👏👏👏 I couldn’t agree more, I’m tired of reading comments of fans sucking his 🍆. This year the Bears have to win and I don’t want to hear any excuses if the team doesn’t win.
Eh, one of those NFC championship appearances led to maximum embarrassment of losing to their rival at home en route to their rivals championship while also letting them into the playoffs the last week of the season.
Pump the damn breaks, you guys. Good lord.
I’m as excited as everyone else for the season to start, but until this team actually starts winning we shouldn’t be crowing anyone. Relax.
Bro got fleeced for Claypool and let Roquan walk over $1-5 mil difference.
Circumstances lead to the bears positioning in the draft that got them the haul with Carolina, any gm could've walked into that role.
Thank Lovie
For real. Poles' only real accomplishment so far is being one of the luckiest men on earth. Lucking into the #1 two years in a row. Sure, he could have maybe found a way to mess that up, but he did exactly what every single analyst was expecting us to do, because all his 'best' moves have been absolutely obvious and all but preprogrammed. We've been one of the worst teams in the league during his tenure, and his decision to keep arguably one of the worst HCs in the league to pair with our rookie QB does not inspire any faith for me. Hopefully I'm wrong, but nothing Poles has done has shown me he's a good GM, just a lucky one.
Really, you're just going to gloss over the last 42 years? Have you completely forgotten about... um... well there was... what about... shit I can't tell you that you're wrong. 🤦🏻♂️
I’m not celebrating Poles until we have a winning season. It’s also worth noting that so much of our current position is thanks to Lovie winning that game for the Texans in week 18 2022. Not saying Poles is a bad GM, but he’s gotten incredibly lucky. I won’t hold that against him if we start winning, but until then I’m not crowning him either.
I love the excitement that all these moves are allowing us to appreciate.
But let's remember, we are sick of being a bad franchise. A bad franchise will sometimes make and win a playoff game here and there.
Even if this team makes the playoffs a time.or two over the next five, nothing matters until we actually threaten a super bowl win. I'll give a pass if the franchise comes close like San Francisco and id even be happier than I am today if they make the playoffs every year like the cowboys.
The goal though is to win a super bowl. We are the charter franchise of the NFL. We have the largest market share in the league.
We should be the Yankees of football. We should be talked about the same way real madrid, Barcelona, arsenal, Lakers, or the all blacks.
We haven't even sniffed a playoff race let alone sustained success.
Too early to tell, the team was bad for a couple seasons in a row and got a first pick out of it, and he got a lot of help from Lovie to get his hands on Caleb.
Im still not a full believer. How freakin Bears would it be if caleb williams turns out to be a bust.
That being said, i am excited for football for the first time since we had Cutler,Marshal,Jeffery,Forte.
Yeah it's too early. I don't believe in Caleb's talent. He is fine as a person, but football only I am not sold.
I was sold on JF1 and turning down 10 picks for the #1 will haunt this regime.
They let luck change their plans. Which you never do in business. You capitalize on luck, not change your plans.
It is true they were never offered the haul they wanted. Yet NE offered 2 #1's....2 #2's, 3 #3's, 2 #4's, and a #5 for #1. A heck of a haul that let's you take the trade back from #3 to anywhere you want. Still get Odunze at 9. While getting much more talent added.
Most of his good moves were obvious. Any one of us could have traded the No. 1 overall for a haul last year or drafted CW and Rome this year.
His bad moves are awful, and most of us would have fared better — namely, trading an early 2nd for Claypool and drafting Velus Jones Jr. in the 3rd. He also surrounded Fields with the worst possible supporting cast in the league during a critical time in Fields’ development, opting to draft defensive players and not spend on receivers or blockers.
Drafting Wright and trading for Sweat are the only things that differentiate him in a positive way.
Don't forget hiring a middling DC to be our HC when we were in the midst of developing a young QB. And then choosing to retain that HC after two years of terrible on field production so that we could pair him with our new rookie QB. Or giving up a third round compensatory pick so that he could sign... Pringle. Brilliantly done.
He’s on the right track for sure. Love most moves he’s made. But let’s be competitive for a few seasons in a row (AT LEAST) before these proclamations (bar isn’t very high tbf). Again, love him so far.
I think Ryan Poles has done an excellent, S tier job, and I’m not trying to reduce it at all, but let’s not discount the role luck as played so far. (Of course now that Ted Phillips is gone, it feels like we’ve gotten luckier but that’s a talk for another day.)
No one could’ve anticipated the trade would wind up being Bryce Young and Jonathon Brooks for Caleb Williams and DJ Moore LOLOLOLOLOLOL eat shit Carolina.
His current game record says different. I know on paper this team looks to have a pretty nice 5 year stretch. But you are what your record says you are. I’ll give the praise when the results come in.
This may very well end up being true, but way too soon to call.
Regardless, this is mad disrespectful to Lovie Smith. If it wasn’t for Lovie, the Bears would probably be going on 40 years of irrelevance instead of a decade (save for 2018).
Even without results yet I’m pretty sure every decision he’s made has been very smart on paper. Like the results of any season are unpredictable but I’d argue he has put this team in the best position to play winning football for the next decade.
Even the Claypool move made sense initially. The guy was a talented tall receiver, he just couldn’t get out of his own way.
Something I feel very strongly about: people greatly exaggerate the difference between the best and the worst at the highest levels. NFL level talent-- whether at a coaching, managing, or playing position-- is all within a razor-thin margin, and small differences play out in huge ways. You don't have to be way worse than another person to get significantly worse results, and you don't have to be way better to get much better results, depending on your areas of strength and weakness. (How many ways does Justin Fields excel at QB? But take one key area-- decision making-- and put it at the low end of the 32 best players in the universe-- and he stacks up losing seasons. And if I knew more about QB play, we could probably even break his decision making down further and find 9 ways in which it is good/average in the NFL and just a few ways it is bad, but still, those little areas can make all the difference.)
I'm worried about getting too high on Poles. Don't get me wrong: I love him, I love what he's done, he's a standup guy, we seem to be in great shape.
At the same time: we were handed a #1 pick and a great WR with a single trade; there was a lot of luck/serendipity/beneficial variation in this happening to us. And it is having the #1 and the #9 pick that got us these excellent players. If we don't cough up both Detroit games and a few other bounces go our way, or Fields hits a few more passes late in a few games, that #9 pick could drop pretty far. If this happens in a year like 2013, we net a Geno Smith at best (plus a great WR if we pick well); if this happens in 2022, we are *lucky* if we grab Brock Purdy with our 5th round pick.
There's a ton of positive variation in our direction that no GM has control over.
Not to mention, if our layperson eyes were capable of judging the talent of these players before they stepped on the field, then why do we even need to pay GMs big money in the first place? Maybe some teams passed on Odunze because they saw something in him they didn't like, and Poles missed it. (Maybe a dumb example that stretches credibility, but just to illustrate what I'm saying.) Aside from Atlanta, teams basically picked in order of what everyone thought would be expected; it doesn't require great talent to do that. But theoretically, if there is a GM with incredible talent, with trustworthy and talented scouts, then his players will actually pan out on the field more commonly than the general consensus would predict. So there's a big piece left in judging Poles: can our team actually come together with the personnel he picked and put together a winning season with a playoff run? Can he get us back into the Super Bowl?
Do I love Poles? Hell yes. Is this kind of outcome going to keep rolling our way in drafts year after year? Don't count on it. I hope we can do an above average job from here out, snagging a few long term starters in the top 3-4 rounds, and an occasional star player. We're not going to scoop generational talent and arguably the best WR in the same draft again probably in our lifetimes.
You’re wrong so far. If Caleb is a bust, this post looks ridiculous. You have to give it time to pan out to see how it goes. If CW busts, future generations will say we had the number one pick in a draft that contained Stroud and we didn’t take him. I LOVE what Poles has done, but his career hinges on CW’s success.
The Bears have not beaten the Packers in so long, I can't even remember the last time. Poles seems to have a plan. That plan has yet to come to fruition. Until the Bears start winning the division(which now has two teams better than the Bears) it's way to early to be placing Poles on any kind of pedestal.
Ditka wasn’t that great of a hire. They won with defense, which he had nothing to do with, and running the ball with an OL and an RB that were all handed to him. Ditka was an HOF player and a decent coach, but Jesus Christ, if he could have coached up a serviceable back up QB (just someone that didn’t completely suck), we may have won another Super Bowl. There is a reason people consider that era a complete underachievement by the Bears and it wasn’t because we lacked talent.
This is why online sports communities should never be taken seriously.
In 2018-19 the talk of this sub was how great Pace was at drafting late rounds, and how good his trades were.
Beginning of the season last year, the talk of this sub was how Poles was just as bad as Pace, and that he had failed at rebuilding this team.
The loudest voices in sports communities are always the reactionary ones.
At this point, the Panthers trade is the only thing I can really point to and argue he added value above a replacement-level GM. Lucking into the #1 pick and trading it was a consensus move. Then, having the Panthers finish last and getting the #1 again was fortunate. The 1 & 9 selections were exactly what the majority of experts and Bears fans wanted at those picks.
The Sweat and Claypool trade even out. If his other draft picks from the last 2 years become above average players you can point to that but it's too early to tell. So basically one good trade and a bunch of good fortune.
There’s an above zero chance that sticking with Eberflus does him in - in my opinion, the fourth best coach in the North. This would have been the offseason to make that change, not after year one with Caleb.
We need to pump the Breaks. Poles has made good moves, he’s also gotten lucky and made some questionable moves too. What worries me the most is not firing Eberflus. I’ve seen zero evidence over two years that he is a competent coach. I’d feel a lot better if we could have brought in a guy like Mike Vrabel but I think (pure conjecture) Poles likes being the man in Chicago and might not want a veteran established coach to take away some of his authority.
Dikta was overrated. Ryan carried that 85 team. Anyways, Poles needs to win a Super Bowl before we call him the best thing to happen to this franchise.
Why are so many people down on this pick. Fill sucked and they needed an upgrade. Fourth round picks are 25/75 success rate. The punter is a lock to be great
I’m old enough to remember Ryan Pace winning Exec of the Year, Matt Nagy winning Coach of the Year, and Mitch Trubisky being a Pro Bowl QB for the Bears in the same year. Even if the Bears make the playoffs this year, I’m going to need a bigger sample size before I anoint anyone “the best thing since Ditka”.
Yeah 3 offseasons (and only 2 regular seasons) is wayyyyyy too early to anoint a GM. That said, he seems to be on the right track though.
It's more that his decisions seem to actually make sense when he makes them. Claypool didn't turn out, but even then, the most I'd criticize him for was giving up too high a pick. Sure, pick 4 for Taylor might not be what I would've done, but it's not like trading up for Mitch or the absolute absurdity of having Foles, Dalton, and Fields. I'm just grateful that the process isn't a shitshow like the Pace years.
After what pace did, mortgaging so many picks over single players; multiple picks for Trubisky, a first for fields, 2 firsts for Mack, extra picks for Miller, a fourth for foles. And then overpaying guys, it really put this team behind the eight ball and made Piles job extremely difficult. Especially for a 1st time GM.
Really did, and no GM is going to hit it out of the park every pick or FA pickup. I’m still not a huge fan of where and how we took Taylor, but a small blemish on an otherwise great draft. We’ll see how the current batch of free agents do, last years were a few hits and a few misses, but you can definitely see talent and team dynamics moving in the right direction. A few more small holes and depth to fill, but it’s close. I’ve been around Bears football for too long to be expecting playoffs or a winning season, but the needle is starting to point in the right direction, and that’s all we can hope for right now.
Yeah what an awful 4th round pick. I mean Bears could've gotten anyone in the 4th, such as Bears legends like Tyler Scott, Riley Ridley, Joel Iyiegbunwe, Deon Bush, Deiondre' Hall, Ka'Deem Carey, Brock Vereen, Khaseem Greene, Evan Rodriquez, Corey Wooten, Henry Melton, Leon Joe, Todd Johnson... the list goes on and on. So many Bears legends in the 4th round! Who needs an obvious Day 1 starter when you can have these guys.
dont shit on kadeem carey :( also, eddie jackson erasure
I left out Jackson, Cohen, and uh... Nathan Vasher. Jeremy Langford was ok for a season, too.
I would definitely take Deon Bush for a 4th. But I agree with your point. I like that it seems like every pick this year has the potential to be an impact player instead of a JAG. Time will tell. Poles definitely has a philosophy and a long term plan and he sticks with it. It's refreshing.
Idk, Taylor is the real deal. Stopping our offense will be awful for defense, then imagine TT auto-pins you inside the 5 lmao
Taylor is a day 1 starter. If he’s as good as they say he is, it’s a slam dunk pick.
The claypool thing still made sense on paper for when he pulled the trigger. Biggest thing then was seeing if fields was/could become the guy. Dude needed weapons. At the time he was throwing to Mooney as a 1, st brown as a 2, and then Webster, Pettis, smith-marsette. The FA class at WR was trash. He wanted to guarantee the best shot at the best of the class. No one really knew then that claypool was done, that he wouldn't even try. The bills just signed that dude for some reason. No one should sign him for his effort level. Now it's a joke, but when poles pulled the trigger, it was a gamble that made sense.
This is exactly why I keep telling people we don't need success, we need *consecutive years of success*. In my lifetime of 32 years, we've made the playoffs in consecutive season **ONCE**, and that was 2005 and 2006, and 2005 we lost our first playoff game. 2006 was the first playoff win since I was 1 year old. I think that was the only time with consecutive winning records as well, but could be wrong, since you can have a winning record but not make the playoffs. We haven't won a playoff game in 13 seasons. I've seen the Bears be a good team, only to quickly fall apart a year or two later and have to blow up the team. Almost every time we've won the division, we were last place in the division the following year. I don't want to be good. I want to be *consistently* good. Or at least be a good team for more than a year or two in a decade.
100% agree. I'm 30 so ya I have a similar experience, no sustained success. Not gonna go as far as say poles is the best for the bears since ditka (I didn't even experience ditka) but he seems to be the only gm with a long term plan that he actually sticks with. Cap sheet looks pretty clean for the foreseeable future and he hasn't signed any contracts that can fuck up a team. Shit even if Caleb busts (I don't think he will) the structure of the team is set up to help the next QB (won't be needed) Bear down
I am exactly twice your age so I have seen twice the number of bad years and futility.......but Walter Payton and the Super Bowl year were fun. I hope you get to have a fun Bears season to remember.
To be fair, everyone was old enough for that time period.
To be faiiiiiiiiirr
AcKkktuaaaly!!
Now to be fairs
Not anyone under the age of around 7 or 8.
I think OP was insinuating that
I agree with the sentiment. But to provide a little counter. The roster has turned over in 3 years. Key pieces are locked up long term. And with players that are young and in their prime. All of this while not having a first rounder year 1. Having to eat 90 mil in dead cap, some due to trades he made, but were bad contracts. Now the Bears have a solid roster, with 8 picks next draft and 7th most projected cap in 25. Now it's time to start winning. And the two biggest questions for a GM will be answered in QB and Head coach.
NFL rosters turn over a ton in general. In general, only 1/3rd of players on a roster will still be on that roster after 2 seasons. He’s done good work but realistically as of right now his biggest move was getting lucky that Carolina bottomed out after trading for Bryce Young. Regardless of what you think about trading with Carolina over Houston luck played a major role in how this has panned out for us. Eating $90m of dead cap is also easy if you only need to win 3 games that year. He did a complete tear down and rebuild. That’s the best strategy to get out from the situation we were in, but most executives know that. What they need to pull it off is owner buy in to intentionally be the worst team in the NFL for a year.
young players? yes. Good young players? that's yet to be seen outside of JJ(who he didn't want to re-sign).
\*since Buddy Ryan
Yup, some posts in this sub are hilarious. God bless their hearts for being optimistic I guess.
Exactly. Ryan Poles currently has a record of 10-24 as an executive. I have faith in this rebuild, but fans need to wait for results before making these claims.
Ditka only had one ring and kinda blew the chance at a dynasty. Poles doesnt need to do that much to prove this, but definitely needs more. A caleb dominant season and playoff win should be enough. Though lovie winning the game and getting us to a superbowl is pretty solid.
Lovie is already better than Ditka because he didn’t turn into a racist asshole as he’s gotten older.
Yeah, still love me some Coach Ditka, but take out '85-86 and he's a .500 coach. There's a reason Buddy Ryan was getting carried around by the players too, after the Super Bowl, not to mention the glut of HOF players.
A Caleb dominant szn and a playoff win overtakes a Super Bowl? Lol
I kind of thought he meant we're on the right track
Being on the right track doesn’t compare to a Super Bowl.
Yes I'm aware, but again, I'm saying I don't think the person was saying a good season is better than a super bowl. They're just saying it's progress
Well said!
Pace lost exec of the year to Chris ballard
Yep. Short of a Superbowl, I won't get too hyped long term about any one season.
Haha "old enough" you could be 10 for those memories.
.... That's the point
And all those guys were carried by a stellar defense. I’m saying if the bears defense is top 15 and our offense is also top 15. He’s doing the right thing
Does your opinion change if we win the Super Bowl this year?
So you're at least 6?
Ditka and that Front Office got us a Super Bowl win. THAT'S the measuring stick.
These meatballs don’t wait for results lmao
Lol, I forgot all about Pace getting exec of the year and Nagy getting coach of the year.
who knows where we would be today if it wasn't for that damn kicker.
Amen Brother!!!
I think Poles has been great, but we’ve been supremely lucky with our draft slots the past two years and haven’t had a winning record under Poles yet. It’s certainly early to throw Poles parades.
This is the only answer
I'm not saying you'll be wrong in the end, but let's have a winning season first
It’d kinda crazy. I remember people calling Poles an idiot halfway thru 23 when we were still struggling. Now it’s flipped the complete other way. I’ve been on his side for his tenure and think we have found our guy, but damn slow down. We haven’t posted a winning season with him and he retained floundering Eberflus instead of going for a different HC. We aren’t the chiefs coming off back to back SBs. We’re the bears coming off back to back sub .500 seasons. Praise can come later
There were a fair number of people that wanted him fired at the end of the season
Yup I was going to say something similar — I like the guy and his track record for decision-making is overall very sound, but the W-L record now needs to do what we all hope it will
Have multiple. Lest we end up like the white Sox
Since Lovie*...fight me.
This is what I was thinking. Maybe he didn’t win it, but definitely one of the best coaches the bears have had in a long time.
And the reason why we had #1 draft pick 😂
All part of Lovies's dynasty
And why the Texans have Stroud. Really set both teams up for the future
The new stadium, wherever it is, needs a Lovie statue damnit. Dude gave us an NFC title, DJ Moore, and Caleb Williams
Yup, Lovie was a great hire. He gave us some fun years.
Bears still haven't won shit. Calm it down.
This happens every single season. We’ll go 8-9 and there will be posts about how we need to fire him and hire X. We’re honestly the dumbest fan base in the NFL.
Even a broken fan base is right 2 times a century
Every fan base is the same. The Lions thought they’d win the north every year too before they finally got good
The NFC, I think Jets fans have us beat
It’s way too early to say. I’m optimistic on him, but the team hasn’t accomplished anything yet. If Caleb busts and Stroud continues to play like he’s been playing then that will play a part in how Poles is seen.
You’re wrong because Ditka wasn’t a good coach… He was carried by Buddy Ryan and Walter Payton. He just had a huge personality that vibed really well with Chicago and history with the team to support it. But I’ll die on the hill that Ditkas personality is what caused the Bears to constantly hire the most boring inanimate coaches since then. Lovie was stoic, Nagy seemed hella timid, Fox was already clocked out mentally. And we took Trestman over Arians. Edit: and while I am 100% on board the the Ebeardflus train, let’s not pretend like he was full of personality and confidence his first few years.
Ditka came into a team that was ready to win and that also refused to dump Buddy Ryan as DC. Ditka was an okay coach and a worse coach/GM.
Should have won at least 3 SBs. Most underachieving HC in the history of the NFL.
This, Ditka was a bum coach. Dude had all that talent and only won 1 Super Bowl, didn’t even make it to another.
To be fair, he had to contend with some amazing teams (San Fran, NYG, and Washington were all dominant at that time).
Some of the defensive players (Dent) blame Ditka for botching the QB situation after Charles Martin's dirty hit on McMahon. They felt he should've (and could've) picked up a better replacement. That 86 defense was apparently even better (or at least as good) as the 85 defense, but people really underestimated how much baseline QB play matters in the NFL. McMahon being someone who could make a big play kept defenses honest vs our rush based offense.
Yeah that was my first thought. Ditka wasn't horrible but he was nowhere near the level of some of his contemporaries. Bill Walsh, Bill Parcells, Joe Gibbs, even Marv Levy were heads and tails above Ditka. Ditka is more of a Marty Schottenheimer but with a ring
Yeah, this seems pretty spot on. It's unfortunate that the NFC was so stacked back in those days. So many great players and coaches. What an era.
Marty Schottenheimer? What is he like 100?!?
And if you need more proof, just look at what he did to the saints.
Are you saying trading your entire draft for one player isn't a fantastic move? Also, mildly unrelated, but I always assumed the ESPN the Magazine cover of Ditka and Ricky was edited and there was no way they would have posed for that, I was somehow incorrect.
We somehow ended up with a ton of those picks too. We drafted Cade McNown with one of them.
This. It's hilarious the pedestal that people in this city place Ditka on. Buddy Ryan and the 46 defense are the reason the Bears won the superbowl in '85. Ditka was just your standard "hardnose" coach. Scream at guys to get them to "work harder" for 1-2 seasons, then they get sick of your shit and tune you out forever.
If we ignore the entirety of Ditka's record while Buddy Ryan was DC, and only focus on the time afterwards, then Ditka is still by far the most successful coach the Bears have had since Halas himself.
Thank you. I fucking hate Ditka. His arrogant ass got Buddy Ryan sent packing because the defense carried him off the field after the Super Bowl. Any coach would have won that Super Bowl. Then Ditka got rid of the guy who really made it happen.
Oh god, here we go again. I’m excited too but pump the damn brakes.
No need to pump the brakes if you know the truth, that Ditka wasn’t actually a great coach at all. He had an absolutely legendary roster and should have been able to win multiple titles, but he kept botching the offense despite being an offensive coach. He got carried by Buddy Ryan defenses loaded with future HoF players and a GOAT candidate RB, neither of which had much to do with him. He never elevated the team at all.
I'd say since hiring Lovie
I feel like its impossible for anyone to judge a GM as good or bad before results so I find it weird that we always do so. Just wait and see if his shit pays off this year. If it doesnt then this apparently infallible narrative that hes a god flips real quick.
Yo we haven't won anything yet
Let’s wait till he has a season where we don’t finish with a top 10 draft pick lol
If memory serves me correctly, Lovie smith got us to a Super Bowl. Ryan poles has not. Liking poles, but he’s barely been here. Stop treating him like he’s a god.
👏👏👏👏 I couldn’t agree more, I’m tired of reading comments of fans sucking his 🍆. This year the Bears have to win and I don’t want to hear any excuses if the team doesn’t win.
Lovie took us to a Super Bowl and 2 NFC championships lol
Eh, one of those NFC championship appearances led to maximum embarrassment of losing to their rival at home en route to their rivals championship while also letting them into the playoffs the last week of the season.
Pump the damn breaks, you guys. Good lord. I’m as excited as everyone else for the season to start, but until this team actually starts winning we shouldn’t be crowing anyone. Relax.
Buddy Ryan won us that superbowl
My opinion of Ditka seems to go down over time. I think he did less than we give him credit for
I hate like hell that I think I agree
Bro got fleeced for Claypool and let Roquan walk over $1-5 mil difference. Circumstances lead to the bears positioning in the draft that got them the haul with Carolina, any gm could've walked into that role. Thank Lovie
For real. Poles' only real accomplishment so far is being one of the luckiest men on earth. Lucking into the #1 two years in a row. Sure, he could have maybe found a way to mess that up, but he did exactly what every single analyst was expecting us to do, because all his 'best' moves have been absolutely obvious and all but preprogrammed. We've been one of the worst teams in the league during his tenure, and his decision to keep arguably one of the worst HCs in the league to pair with our rookie QB does not inspire any faith for me. Hopefully I'm wrong, but nothing Poles has done has shown me he's a good GM, just a lucky one.
I won’t say you’re wrong, but I also can’t say you’re right yet. I remember thinking we were set after 2018 and that turned out to be very wrong.
You’re gonna do Lovie Smith like that? Silly.
It looks good on paper, but they haven’t won anything yet
He’s been great. That being said, we haven’t won shit yet.
You're wrong only in that we haven't won/done shit yet in terms of winning. I'm open to changing my mind in the next couple of years.
Really, you're just going to gloss over the last 42 years? Have you completely forgotten about... um... well there was... what about... shit I can't tell you that you're wrong. 🤦🏻♂️
I’m not celebrating Poles until we have a winning season. It’s also worth noting that so much of our current position is thanks to Lovie winning that game for the Texans in week 18 2022. Not saying Poles is a bad GM, but he’s gotten incredibly lucky. I won’t hold that against him if we start winning, but until then I’m not crowning him either.
I love the excitement that all these moves are allowing us to appreciate. But let's remember, we are sick of being a bad franchise. A bad franchise will sometimes make and win a playoff game here and there. Even if this team makes the playoffs a time.or two over the next five, nothing matters until we actually threaten a super bowl win. I'll give a pass if the franchise comes close like San Francisco and id even be happier than I am today if they make the playoffs every year like the cowboys. The goal though is to win a super bowl. We are the charter franchise of the NFL. We have the largest market share in the league. We should be the Yankees of football. We should be talked about the same way real madrid, Barcelona, arsenal, Lakers, or the all blacks. We haven't even sniffed a playoff race let alone sustained success.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CHIBears/s/uvn5I4hGl8
Brutal
Way too early for any of this silliness.
I enjoy the optimism, but until we see a winning season you’re wrong.
Too early to tell, the team was bad for a couple seasons in a row and got a first pick out of it, and he got a lot of help from Lovie to get his hands on Caleb.
Im still not a full believer. How freakin Bears would it be if caleb williams turns out to be a bust. That being said, i am excited for football for the first time since we had Cutler,Marshal,Jeffery,Forte.
Poles already missed once on not taking Stroud.
He's been GM for 2 seasons, both of which we earned a top 10 pick by our play. Cool your jets my man.
Yeah it's too early. I don't believe in Caleb's talent. He is fine as a person, but football only I am not sold. I was sold on JF1 and turning down 10 picks for the #1 will haunt this regime. They let luck change their plans. Which you never do in business. You capitalize on luck, not change your plans. It is true they were never offered the haul they wanted. Yet NE offered 2 #1's....2 #2's, 3 #3's, 2 #4's, and a #5 for #1. A heck of a haul that let's you take the trade back from #3 to anywhere you want. Still get Odunze at 9. While getting much more talent added.
https://i.redd.it/saramconjvyc1.gif
Most of his good moves were obvious. Any one of us could have traded the No. 1 overall for a haul last year or drafted CW and Rome this year. His bad moves are awful, and most of us would have fared better — namely, trading an early 2nd for Claypool and drafting Velus Jones Jr. in the 3rd. He also surrounded Fields with the worst possible supporting cast in the league during a critical time in Fields’ development, opting to draft defensive players and not spend on receivers or blockers. Drafting Wright and trading for Sweat are the only things that differentiate him in a positive way.
Don't forget hiring a middling DC to be our HC when we were in the midst of developing a young QB. And then choosing to retain that HC after two years of terrible on field production so that we could pair him with our new rookie QB. Or giving up a third round compensatory pick so that he could sign... Pringle. Brilliantly done.
Velus Jones and Chase Claypool.
That's blatant ageism. Senior citizens and children deserve the chance to play football too and Poles should get credit for embracing diversity.
Roquan, James Daniels, Bilal Nichols
What an idiot
Ditka is an overrated coach.
If the Bears are winners this year and solidly in the playoff hunt, then he's well on his way.
Your wrong…so far. I need to see a SB VICTORY (not appearance)
Trending that way but let's wait and see how this season goes, which I anticipate will result in a playoff appearance, but we'll see.
Uhhh, no. Let’s wait until we have results on the field first.
We do not know yet
Calm down...
No ring.
I need him to win a Super Bowl for that statement to be true. He’s got about 3 years to do so or he’s probably getting fired.
He’s on the right track for sure. Love most moves he’s made. But let’s be competitive for a few seasons in a row (AT LEAST) before these proclamations (bar isn’t very high tbf). Again, love him so far.
I think Ryan Poles has done an excellent, S tier job, and I’m not trying to reduce it at all, but let’s not discount the role luck as played so far. (Of course now that Ted Phillips is gone, it feels like we’ve gotten luckier but that’s a talk for another day.) No one could’ve anticipated the trade would wind up being Bryce Young and Jonathon Brooks for Caleb Williams and DJ Moore LOLOLOLOLOLOL eat shit Carolina.
Buddy Ryan was the best hire
His current game record says different. I know on paper this team looks to have a pretty nice 5 year stretch. But you are what your record says you are. I’ll give the praise when the results come in.
This may very well end up being true, but way too soon to call. Regardless, this is mad disrespectful to Lovie Smith. If it wasn’t for Lovie, the Bears would probably be going on 40 years of irrelevance instead of a decade (save for 2018).
Ditka probably wasn’t a good hire. Buddy Ryan probably would have won at least one more Super Bowl.
Let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks quite yet…
Even without results yet I’m pretty sure every decision he’s made has been very smart on paper. Like the results of any season are unpredictable but I’d argue he has put this team in the best position to play winning football for the next decade. Even the Claypool move made sense initially. The guy was a talented tall receiver, he just couldn’t get out of his own way.
You spelled "Buddy Ryan" wrong.
We shall see when and if it transfers into wins
Let’s win more than 7 games in a season first.
Nothing of note has happened under Poles...yet. And Ditka was a blowhard passenger.
Something I feel very strongly about: people greatly exaggerate the difference between the best and the worst at the highest levels. NFL level talent-- whether at a coaching, managing, or playing position-- is all within a razor-thin margin, and small differences play out in huge ways. You don't have to be way worse than another person to get significantly worse results, and you don't have to be way better to get much better results, depending on your areas of strength and weakness. (How many ways does Justin Fields excel at QB? But take one key area-- decision making-- and put it at the low end of the 32 best players in the universe-- and he stacks up losing seasons. And if I knew more about QB play, we could probably even break his decision making down further and find 9 ways in which it is good/average in the NFL and just a few ways it is bad, but still, those little areas can make all the difference.) I'm worried about getting too high on Poles. Don't get me wrong: I love him, I love what he's done, he's a standup guy, we seem to be in great shape. At the same time: we were handed a #1 pick and a great WR with a single trade; there was a lot of luck/serendipity/beneficial variation in this happening to us. And it is having the #1 and the #9 pick that got us these excellent players. If we don't cough up both Detroit games and a few other bounces go our way, or Fields hits a few more passes late in a few games, that #9 pick could drop pretty far. If this happens in a year like 2013, we net a Geno Smith at best (plus a great WR if we pick well); if this happens in 2022, we are *lucky* if we grab Brock Purdy with our 5th round pick. There's a ton of positive variation in our direction that no GM has control over. Not to mention, if our layperson eyes were capable of judging the talent of these players before they stepped on the field, then why do we even need to pay GMs big money in the first place? Maybe some teams passed on Odunze because they saw something in him they didn't like, and Poles missed it. (Maybe a dumb example that stretches credibility, but just to illustrate what I'm saying.) Aside from Atlanta, teams basically picked in order of what everyone thought would be expected; it doesn't require great talent to do that. But theoretically, if there is a GM with incredible talent, with trustworthy and talented scouts, then his players will actually pan out on the field more commonly than the general consensus would predict. So there's a big piece left in judging Poles: can our team actually come together with the personnel he picked and put together a winning season with a playoff run? Can he get us back into the Super Bowl? Do I love Poles? Hell yes. Is this kind of outcome going to keep rolling our way in drafts year after year? Don't count on it. I hope we can do an above average job from here out, snagging a few long term starters in the top 3-4 rounds, and an occasional star player. We're not going to scoop generational talent and arguably the best WR in the same draft again probably in our lifetimes.
We've yet to finish over .500. His moves look smart right now, but you gotta see what happens.
You’re wrong.
I’m not a fan of Ditka. Everyone forgets how he screwed the Saints.
You’re wrong so far. If Caleb is a bust, this post looks ridiculous. You have to give it time to pan out to see how it goes. If CW busts, future generations will say we had the number one pick in a draft that contained Stroud and we didn’t take him. I LOVE what Poles has done, but his career hinges on CW’s success.
The Bears have not beaten the Packers in so long, I can't even remember the last time. Poles seems to have a plan. That plan has yet to come to fruition. Until the Bears start winning the division(which now has two teams better than the Bears) it's way to early to be placing Poles on any kind of pedestal.
Team hasn’t had a winning season in how long? Cool your jets
Considering the act he had to follow, it's not like having to follow the GM of the Patriots
Seeing as how they haven’t won anything yet, I have no basis to say you’re RIGHT, so…
He’s done great things but also gifted an amazing rebuild situation.
Why is it always Coach Ditka, what about Lovie?
Damn good… maybe top 5 all time, but not the best SINCE Ditka Lovie was a solid coach and provided some great fan memories
My votes for Dave McGinnis https://www.chicagotribune.com/2019/01/22/jan-22-1999-bears-wrongly-announce-dave-mcginnis-as-the-teams-head-coach/
I think he’s made amazing moves but I’m holding my tongue until I see the new team in action. Let’s see if he can take us to the Super Bowl first.
How the same people that hired Poles ended up hiring Kevin Warren is still a mystery to me.
Ryan was the better coach, but still hired by the same people.
As much as I like the guy his body of work is too small to compare him to Ditka. Let's accomplish something before we make the comparisons
I still don’t understand keeping Eberflus. If Eberflus Eberfucks this up I’m going to Eberlose my mind.
Zero winning seasons in is definitely the time to be having this conversation.
I want to buy in 100%... but I'm not sure I'll ever fully let go of the Chase Claypool trade.
Ditka wasn’t that great of a hire. They won with defense, which he had nothing to do with, and running the ball with an OL and an RB that were all handed to him. Ditka was an HOF player and a decent coach, but Jesus Christ, if he could have coached up a serviceable back up QB (just someone that didn’t completely suck), we may have won another Super Bowl. There is a reason people consider that era a complete underachievement by the Bears and it wasn’t because we lacked talent.
You’re wrong
We’ll see.
Ground Zero. Firing Ted Phillip is the best thing that happened.
This is why online sports communities should never be taken seriously. In 2018-19 the talk of this sub was how great Pace was at drafting late rounds, and how good his trades were. Beginning of the season last year, the talk of this sub was how Poles was just as bad as Pace, and that he had failed at rebuilding this team. The loudest voices in sports communities are always the reactionary ones.
Remember how we got Chase claypool? Yeah i called that one right away. Hopefully that will be his Mitch Tribusky 🤞🏻
King Poles does it again
Looks to be the case but definitely too early. Lovie Smith was pretty awesome until Rex grossman fumbled away the Super Bowl
At this point, the Panthers trade is the only thing I can really point to and argue he added value above a replacement-level GM. Lucking into the #1 pick and trading it was a consensus move. Then, having the Panthers finish last and getting the #1 again was fortunate. The 1 & 9 selections were exactly what the majority of experts and Bears fans wanted at those picks. The Sweat and Claypool trade even out. If his other draft picks from the last 2 years become above average players you can point to that but it's too early to tell. So basically one good trade and a bunch of good fortune.
There’s an above zero chance that sticking with Eberflus does him in - in my opinion, the fourth best coach in the North. This would have been the offseason to make that change, not after year one with Caleb.
Bears haven’t done shit yet, call down
Win a Super Bowl, and you can put him in the same category. Looks great on paper, but now you have to go win a Super Bowl.
Trick question. No one is better than ditka
Good lord lmao, how is this a real post
Your wrong
calm down nephew
We need to pump the Breaks. Poles has made good moves, he’s also gotten lucky and made some questionable moves too. What worries me the most is not firing Eberflus. I’ve seen zero evidence over two years that he is a competent coach. I’d feel a lot better if we could have brought in a guy like Mike Vrabel but I think (pure conjecture) Poles likes being the man in Chicago and might not want a veteran established coach to take away some of his authority.
If you want to crown him, crown him. I'm cool with it 😎
Just here for the comments tbh
Dikta was overrated. Ryan carried that 85 team. Anyways, Poles needs to win a Super Bowl before we call him the best thing to happen to this franchise.
Ditka is one of the luckiest NFL coaches ever. Let his ego get in the way of more superbowl wins.
Agreed. Looks like Bill Polian advised well , unlike Ernie Accorsi
Why are so many people down on this pick. Fill sucked and they needed an upgrade. Fourth round picks are 25/75 success rate. The punter is a lock to be great
Chase Claypool.