Watching the Super Bowl earlier this month filled plenty of Chicago Bears fans with hope. The Cincinnati Bengals were a team many picked to finish last in their division going into the 2021 season. They'd gone 4-11-1 the previous year. Their young quarterback was coming off a torn ACL. Defensively they were still unproven. A few months later, they were 10-7, stunned #1 seed Titans and AFC-commanding Chiefs in the playoffs, and came minutes away from beating the Rams for a Lombardi trophy. If they could do it that quickly, so can the Bears. Well, not everybody is brimming with such optimism. That includes new GM Ryan Poles.
One thing about the 36-year old that is already apparent is he has no fear about speaking his mind. Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian revealed to Adam Jahns of The Athletic just how blunt Poles was with the Bears' interview team back in January. When offering his roster assessment, there was no beating around the bush. While there are some players he likes, it sounds like Poles is not convinced this team is close to contending.
“This isn’t going to change overnight, by the way,” Polian told The Athletic in a phone conversation earlier this month. “There is a lot of work to be done here. Coach Nagy made it clear in his departure and virtually everyone we talked to, this team has, depending how the quarterback turns out, six to eight players that you can win with — win because of in the National Football League. That’s not enough. There’s a lot work to be done, as Ryan (Poles) pointed out, and it won’t happen overnight.”







