Ryan Poles has now officially tied his reputation to Matt Eberflus.

Ryan Poles is going all-in, his future is now tied to Matt Eberflus

As Poles enters his third off-season, he has officially chosen to align himself with Eberflus. He put that to rest in his press conference on Wednesday praising his ability to keep the team together and overcome adversities though a lot of them were self-inflicted by Eberflus' coaching decisions on both sides of the ball, particularly the hiring of Luke Getsy, who never found any rhythm with his play calling in his two years as an offensive coordinator.

And true to his form, Eberflus did not take any responsibility for 7 coaches who were fired on Wednesday and two others during the season. The same man, who blamed players constantly for lack of execution this season, and yet it is a miracle in itself the players did not revolt. But you can bet the players will be more vocal next season when he starts blaming his players again for not executing after a loss.

For Poles, this is by far the most important off-season of his career. By aligning himself with Eberflus, his reputation amongst the fans took a major hit for settling for mediocrity in the name of continuity. The odds of both men getting fired together just went up significantly if Eberflus fails in 2024. If he wants Eberflus to succeed, any holes on this roster must be filled aggressively both via free agency, which means he might have to spend more than he wants to, and in the draft.