Super Bowl GM Says #1 Pick Wasn't Bears' Luckiest Moment

When looking at how the 2023 off-season is unfolding, it's hard to deny the Chicago Bears have had some remarkable good luck thus far. Timely injuries helped them put together a franchise-record losing streak to reach 3-14. Then they watched the Houston Texans, the actual worst team in football, winning two of their last three games, including a late 4th quarter comeback over Indianapolis to hand over the #1 overall pick. Even now, over a month later, people still can't believe the Texans did that.

It set the stage for GM Ryan Poles to do almost anything he wants over the next three months. He can take the best player on his board. He could also trade the pick. This is a gigantic opportunity to reshape the landscape of the entire Bears franchise. One person, though, thinks Poles' biggest stroke of luck wasn't getting the first pick. It was hanging onto his top lieutenant. Howie Roseman, award-winning GM of the Philadelphia Eagles, made it clear the organization was beyond fortunate to keep assistant GM Ian Cunningham in the building for another year. Roseman made his opinions on his former colleague clear to Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“I miss that guy tremendously,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “That guy’s a star. He’s a star evaluator. He has a great sense of how to build a team.”

“In my humble opinion, the Bears are renting him — because he’s got a tremendous future,” Roseman said. “He’s inquisitive. He wants to know about everything, every part of it. He’s going to make a great GM.”

The Chicago Bears almost lost Cunningham last month.

He was interviewed by multiple teams for their open GM positions and was reportedly a finalist in both Tennessee and Arizona. The Titans went with Ran Carthon instead, but it appears the Cardinals were ready to offer Cunningham the job. However, he turned it down. There aren't any clear details why, but the Bears aren't complaining. Poles was overjoyed at the news. He said in recent interviews he always knew Cunningham's stay in Chicago would be short. The guy is too good at what he does. The goal was to make as much use of his talents as possible in a brief window. Getting a second off-season with him is a boon.

Cunningham comes from a glowing background. His early years were spent with the Baltimore Ravens as a scout before transitioning to Philadelphia. He has worked under two of the best general managers in the league this side of the millennium in Roseman and Ozzie Newsome. Poles wanted to bring those influences to the Chicago Bears. It was evident right away he did good when the Eagles filed a grievance with the NFL about not letting executives leave for a new team until after an off-season was over. That is how upset they were at losing Cunningham. It will be exciting to see what he does in off-season #2.