Justin Fields has issues that deserve criticism in their own right, but the Chicago Bears General Manager inherited Fields; he did not draft him. In the eyes of the ownership group, this will spare Ryan Poles his job when the team continues to struggle this season. However, beyond quarterback, there are reasons to wonder if Poles knows how to build a winning team.
He has not built a strong offensive line despite being a former lineman. Some can say he caught tough breaks, but Poles has also done a poor job of building this unit.
5. Ryan Poles is not investing draft capital in the Chicago Bears offensive line
As we noted with Poles experience on the line, you thought maybe he would go above and beyond to build up this unit. So far, he has done the minimum needed. In his first free agency, he had to clear the books, sure. However, he spent his first three picks on skill players with Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, and Velus Jones.
Briser is fine, but he is a box safety. Jones is a bust, and Gordon is hurt after failing on the outside. Now, he is just the slot when healthy. The Chicago Bears passed up on Cam Jurgens, who is starting for the Eagles, Josh Ezeudu, who has started for the Giants, and Luke Goedeke, who just shut down DeMarcus Walker with the Bucs.
None of these teams would trade those assets for Kyler Gordon now. Abe Lucas, a starting right tackle for the Seattle Seahawks coming off a great rookie season, went one pick after Velus Jones. Bernhard Rainmann, who starts for the Colts, and Dylan Parham who starts for the Raiders went shortly after Jones.
Even when Ryan Poles took swings late in the draft, he took Zach Thomas, who is out of the NFL, over Jamaree Salyer, a starter for the Chargers. We all know about John Michael-Schmitz being passed over, and the team added luxuries such as Tyler Scott, Roschon Johnson, and Noah Sewell over potential depth for the offensive line.
It is okay to swing and miss, but adding a fifth linebacker over offensive line depth seems crazy. No wonder the line is so thin already.
4. The Chicago Bears needed to move on from Cody Whitehair
Cody Whitehair is off to the worst start in his NFL career. It was pretty clear to see coming from anyone outside the building, which is why it is appalling to see Ryan Poles be so naive inside the building. When you look at Whitehair, his career will be underrated and now lose a lot of its legacy because the end is getting ugly.
Still, he did a lot for this team over the years. He has moved positions when they asked him to and has fought through injury. The issue is that he is now 31 years old, and fighting through those injuries has caught up to him.
He missed time in 2020 and had his worst season, and then in 2021, he looked like he was rusty and coming off a bad year. He missed time again in 2022, and at that point, it was obvious that we would never see the 2019 Whitehair again. Ryan Poles not only stuck with Whitehair despite an enormous cap hit, but he moved him to center as the unconditional starter with no competition.
In classic Bears fashion, the Chicago Bears moved Whitehair from center back to guard just a week or so before the season. He should not have even been trusted on the roster, let alone trusted as the answer with no reason to bring in depth.
3. Why the Chicago Bears even sign Lucas Patrick
The Chicago Bears made a huge mistake signing Lucas Patrick. They signed him because Luke Getsy was familiar with him. It sounds like the team signed Byron Pringle because Ryan Poles scouted him with the Chiefs or Al-Quadin Muhammad because Matt Eberflus liked to coach him. These relationship signings do not work.
The issue with Patrick is that he has been so injured that the Bears have not been able to see him struggle enough to want to replace him. They also thought he would be their reliable depth option despite not being reliable enough to play a full game since signing with the team.
Patrick missed most of training camp, spent the offseason transitioning to guard, and now he is the starting center. No wonder the line is bad. Still, anyone and everyone thought this offseason was a good time to not only cut Patrick and Whitehair, but also spend money on multiple options, so that they had depth, but also draft linemen because competition brings out the best, and injuries do happen. The lack of resources invested is rivaled by the decision to stick to emotional decisions.
2. The Chicago Bears should have pushed Braxton Jones this summer
Braxton Jones was a pleasant surprise as a rookie and perhaps the one feather in the cap of Ryan Poles and his draft pedigree. Still, in the grand scheme, Jones was below average. It was just that a fifth-round rookie started and played every snap, and was not awful that made it impressive.
This is fine, but that should not have been the only answer at tackle. Right now, the only option if the team wants to move on from Jones is Larry Borom. Jones has not been that bad, although a few penalties and a bad loss to Joe Tyron-Shoyinka show that he has not been good, either.
It is fine to start him this year, but there needed to be a backup plan. A veteran who has experience and could not only push but teach Jones would have been great. Even a day-three pick on a swing tackle to push Larry Borom would have made sense.
Going into the season with Jones as plan A and no plan B in sight was a bold call, to say the least. It has not crushed the team, but it speaks to the issues in team-building.
1. The Chicago Bears did not handle the guards well
There are some truths to the reality that Nate Davis and Teven Jenkins had issues that Ryan Poles could not have predicted. A personal issue for Davis has taken a lot of time away, and Jenkins suffered an injury late in the offseason.
However, signing Davis was questionable at first because he was a right guard, and so was Jenkins. So, from the start, Ryan Poles was shifting things. Davis has had personal issues that kept him off of the field, but he also struggled in week one. This has not been an upgrade.
Jenkin's injury could not have been predicted, but Ryan Poles has been down on him the entire time and changed his positions for the second straight offseason. The issue here is that he had no depth ready to go. The plan was just to move Whitehair and start Patrick, even though everyone knew that was a bad idea. This goes back to the lack of depth.
Even if four draft picks were dedicated to the line instead of Kyler Gordon, Noah Sewell, Velus Jones, and Roschon Johnson, the group would be so much better. These were all luxury additions at positions where the team has depth. Ryan Poles has had a couple of tough breaks, but he has not done well enough to build up this line.