Super Bowl Reaffirms George McCaskey Made An Actual Smart Decision

George McCaskey gets plenty of flak for his football decisions as team chairman. That is completely fair. Since he took over in 2011, he's made some all-time bad ones. Firing Lovie Smith after a 10-6 season ranks up there. Hiring Marc Trestman as his replacement over Bruce Arians. Hiring John Fox in 2015 over Dan Quinn. It's not a fun list to review. Still, one thing is proving undeniable. For all his missteps, McCaskey's process of finding a new GM during the 2022 off-season was sound and detailed. That led him to Ryan Poles.

Now as the Bears and other teams watched the Kansas City Chiefs win their second Super Bowl in four years, the organization can feel even more confident. Poles was at the heart of building the core of that team with guys like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones. He understands what it took to construct that roster and what is required to build a team that can win every year. Having a Hall of Fame QB makes life easier, but there is no question the Chiefs have done a masterful job loading and reloading that roster.

Poles aims to follow that same blueprint.

Nobody can say George McCaskey approached the process wrong.

He was thorough and didn't rush. The list of candidates was large, and he let the process play out. When it became clear Poles was in demand, he went the extra mile to get his guy by picking him up at the airport personally. The new GM came in with a plan. He wanted to tear the roster down and rebuild it through the draft. This was going to be a team that drafted, developed, and paid its own players. To his credit, the Bears have stuck by that process thus far. Several of their rookie acquisitions played well in 2022, including Jaquan Brisker (2nd round), Braxton Jones (5th round), and Jack Sanborn (UDFA).

The Bears enter 2023 with loads of cap space and the #1 overall pick. Poles has a chance to alter the landscape of the organization and make a statement. That is what George McCaskey wanted. He was open to change. Whatever it takes to make Chicago a winner again. Nobody can ask more of the man than that. Time will tell if Poles can pull off something similar to Kansas City. Having Justin Fields become a franchise quarterback would be a big help. Still, the process was correct. Time to see if it works.