The week one loss to the Green Bay Packers was as painful as any experience for a Chicago Bears fan. All summer, the talk was that it was now time to take over the NFC North with Aaron Rodgers out of the division, and the team still lost horribly.
So, the thought is setting in that this rivalry goes far deeper than just quarterback play. The Chicago Bears General Manager is entering his second season, but things are starting to turn against him. There were a few major moves he made that stood out as disasters this weekend.
3. The Chicago Bears could have drafted Jalen Carter
This one may be the most harsh criticism, especially because a lot of his questions were off of the field. Also, the questions off of the field may develop in the long term. However, on the field the Chicago Bears had a chance to trade back from number one, and still take the best player in the draft and they did not do it.
Carter was the consensus best player in the draft at the time, and after one game, it looked like he would go down as the best. Carter had eight pressures in week one, per PFF. To compare, the Chicago Bears had seven, led by DeMarcus Walker and Yannick Ngakoue, who had two a piece.
The Packers ran right down the Bears' throats, and the presence of Carter would have obviously changed this game. This is not even a shot at Darnell Wright, who was fine, but certainly was not a better prospect on the field than Carter. That is the issue. The Bears passed on the most talent, and it cost them in sports where talent is everything.
To supplement losing Carter, the Chicago Bears wound up taking two defensive tackles with Zacch Pickens and Gevon Dexter. They combined to play 35 snaps and did not bring much. So, to pass on Carter, they had to potentially make two more mistakes. This is a residual effect that costs the team.
2. The Chicago Bears whiffed on Velus Jones
This one can officially be marked up as a bust. Heck, it was looking that way about five games into his career but had to wait to call it. After a disaster of a rookie season, the Chicago Bears went out of their way to make sure they had wide receiver depth that would keep Velus Jones off of the field.
However, Ryan Poles stood by Jones and said that he would make the team and have a role. However, he did not win the punt return job and was the fifth or sixth wide receiver at best. The team has no role for him besides kick returns, and that is too small of a part of the game with the new rules to make a player active over.
So, the Chicago Bears made Velus Jones inactive. It is hard to see why they would activate at any time unless Tyler Scott did something to lose his role on special teams or in the offense. So, the third-round pick now has 103 rushing and 107 receiving yards into his second career season.
The pick was mocked at the time, as almost all draft analysts saw Velus Jones as a day three pick. This is another pick where Poles took a person he liked more than a talent he liked. It turns out that talent is what wins in the NFL, and now Jones, the nice guy, is benched while the potential troublemaker Carter wins games for the Eagles.
1. The Chicago Bears traded too much for Chase Claypool
This is another decision that was compounded by Ryan Poles and his inability to seperate talent from the person. Ryan Poles decided to pass on George Piseparateckens, taking Kyler Gordon instead. Most of the talk after the pick centered around Pickens and his questions off of the field.
Still, the Bears needed a wide receiver, so they took Velus Jones. Jones is a bust, which led to Ryan Poles to trade for Chase Claypool. The Pittsburgh Steelers were dying to get rid of Claypool because they just drafted Pickens and had no use for him. Then, they took Joey Porter Jr. with the pick for Claypool, a cornerback who may be better than Kyler Gordon. The Steelers thank the Bears more Pickens and Porter, while the Bears roll with Gordon and Claypool.
This one is getting worse and worse. Claypool needed an off-season to acclimate to the offense but then missed almost all off-season work due to injuries. Then, he showed up in week one and looked awful. Will he ever learn the offense? Does he practice enough? Remember when he had character problems with the Steelers, and they wanted to ship him out of the locker room? Why did Poles trade for a poor character player in Claypool after being so adamant about passing on Pickens and Carter?
Claypool was a disaster in week one, Velus Jones was inactive, and Jalen Carter was the best rookie in the NFL. These are all major issues for Ryan Poles that will come up all season long.