Ryan Poles Openly Admitted His Plans For The Bears Moving Forward

Nobody can say Ryan Poles is old-fashioned. The guy was educated by one of the NFL's most progressive organizations. He has fully embraced the new age of analytics and constantly works to find possible ways to enhance the Chicago Bears' ability to find and develop talent. However, it feels like the 37-year-old carries an old soul inside him. Rather than follow the popular NFL trend of pairing his young quarterback with the hottest offensive coach on the market, he chose Matt Eberflus instead.

His reasoning was simple. Poles felt Eberflus had the clear vision, teaching ability, and high standards needed to elevate a football team to consistent success. One thing driving the GM forward is an understanding of his environment. The Bears are not the Chiefs. What succeeded in Kansas City likely won't fly in Chicago. They are two very different cities with different fanbases. Poles understood right away that it would take a different sort of team to find success here. That meant embracing the original vision of George Halas many years ago on how to build a winner in Chicago.

Poles explained this to Brian Levenson on the Intentional Performers podcast.

"I think that identity? We tap into that. We want a, you use the word 'grit.' Just that old school, gritty, tough football team. We want that back. I think that's part of this city. You can't get to the playoffs in Chicago without, you know, in cold, nasty weather in December and January. So if you don't have a team that has that quality to it, it's going to be hard to survive. You can't ask to host playoff games in the environment where the weather's terrible and you crumble under that. You have to take that on and embrace it. So that definitely is a part of what we're trying to build here and one of the core pieces is just that tough, old school Chicago football team and locker room. We're heading that way, which is great."

Ryan Poles is showing his practical side here.

People may call it being stuck in the past, but facts are facts. One thing has remained consistent about successful Bears teams over several decades. They were always tough, physical, and aggressive. It was true in the 1960s during Halas' last hurrah, then again in the 1980s under Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan, and finally in the 2000s under Lovie Smith. The schemes changed, but the identity did not. Yes, the Bears need to get with the times of having a great quarterback and passing game.

Nobody ever said gritty teams never have good quarterbacks. The Pittsburgh Steelers proved that for years with Ben Roethlisberger. Buffalo is proving it with Josh Allen. Don't forget Bears football was invented when Sid Luckman was carving out his Hall of Fame career. That is what Ryan Poles wants. He seeks a resilient team that can withstand the physical and mental demands of football in January and February. Every acquisition since his arrival last year was made with that in mind. The puzzle is coming together one piece at a time.