Many Chicago Bears fans are waking up on Christmas morning with the firing of Ryan Poles at the top of their holiday wish list.
The firing of Matt Eberflus following the Bears' Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions has proved one thing: Eberflus' in-game coaching negligence was hiding the fact that Poles constructed a terrible roster for the 2024 season.
That should be a major concern for the Bears moving forward. Poles claimed that the 2024 season was the season where the Bears were done with their rebuild. Poles spent his first two seasons tearing the roster down and entering the 2024 season, with his handpicked quarterback, now was the time for the Bears to contend.
As it stands, the Bears further way from contention now than they were at the time Poles took over as general manager of the team following the 2021 season.
The 2024 calendar year has been disastrous for Poles, and for that reason, he deserves nothing but coal this holiday season.
1. Bringing Matt Eberflus back for a third season.
Matt Eberflus' poor game-management skills were not something that surfaced out of nowhere this season. Going back to the 2023 season, Eberflus and the Bears had three games lost where they had over a 90% chance of winning the game. During the offseason, Eberflus blamed those collapses on the quarterback position. This season, with a quarterback who has orchestrated multiple comeback drives in the fourth quarter of games this season, Eberflus had been exposed prior to his firing.
With Justin Fields no longer here to blame, the attention was on Eberflus. Faced with no answers, it's no wonder that Eberflus quickly lost the locker room.
2. Signing D'Andre Swfit
Ryan Poles raced out in front of the other NFL general manager to sign veteran running back D'Andre Swift to a three-year contract. Looking past the fact that Poles refused to match the offer David Montgomery had from the Detroit Lions the offseason prior, he chose the wrong running back. For the impact that Pace thought Swift would provide the Bears' offense, Saquon Barkley or Josh Jacobs would have been the right move.
The NFL seems to be trending back toward a direction of paying running backs but that is for teams ready to contend. The Bears did not fall into that category and Swift's arrival didn't change that. This was an egregious miss on Poles' part.
3. 2024 draft class
There remains plenty to like about the first two selections Ryan Poles made in the 2024 NFL Draft. Caleb Williams is proving to be the answer as the team's quarterback and Rome Odunze is progressing toward being the primary read in the Bears' offense.
The rest of the draft was a disaster for Poles. Kiran Amegadjie was taken in the third round and is not the project the Bears could afford to have on the offensive line given Poles' reliance on veterans who have proven to be injured and ineffective. Nothing against Tory Taylor but this Bears' roster was not a spot where Poles could justify taking a punter in the fourth round. Austin Booker, again, was not a terrible selection in the fifth round but not an ideal choice for a Bears' roster in need of a legitimate pass-rusher this season.