Poles is by far the best GM the Bears have hired. Honestly, the misses on the players are not what bother me, it's how things unfolded with the coaches. DC getting fired, Luke Getsy not putting it together, then Waldron and finally Eberflus' game managing gaffs. The players appeared to have lost faith in the coaching imho. Love the breakdown Swifty. Appreciate you!
Bears haven’t had a #1 pick in 70+ years and Poles had two of them in his three years as GM. Yet I look at this roster and it’s full of average to below average players. The only players with superstar potential are Jaylon whom he inherited, Caleb, and Moore. So outside of fleecing the Panthers he’s done almost nothing in bringing in superstar talent that you need to win. So stop with the best GM Bears have hired by far nonsense, he’s not even the best Bears GM over the past decade.
Firing him for not drafting OL earlier in the draft would be a mistake. Don’t get me wrong: I said from the beginning that they should have drafted OL instead of a punter but we need to let him correct his mistake.
Something i haven't heard anyone mention is Flores loyalty to Vrabel. Or Vrabel and Poles was on the KC staff together so know each other very well. Vrabel also from the Andy Reid tree as well as Belichick
a nice connie would be vrabel , flores and mcdaniels. however i don’t think we’re can snatch flores without a promotion . would assistant head coach be enough to do that ?
Who was available at OT after 75? Puni has been the best OL in the class. He was taken at 85 but was moved to OG. Poles went with the player that had the most upside long term. This 2024 draft was weak overall. Lots of OTs but the good ones were all drafted by the second round.
Warren isn't doing what he was hired to achieve. We still are in stadium limbo. The whole point was to avoid the Ted Phillips problem. A non-football guy running football operations. He was supposed to be the business guy. Also it's disingenuous calling Floyd a bust. He has had a good career outside Chicago.
Poles is young and is currently being force fed some humble pie. If they walk from him and go a different direction, I won't be able to argue with it. On the other hand, he is a bright young first time GM, and he is probably having his biggest learning experience of his career right now. I would like to see what he does next year.
Ryan Poles has done an excellent job it’s Kevin Warren and the McCaskies that’s the problem if Harbaugh wanted to come here that should tell us everything
Poles needs to be held accountable for his choices as GM. How much of this is a partnership with Ian making these big decisions, not sure. But no amount of shine or rose colored glasses will make this season, and the inevitable outcome of 11 straight losses, good or have positivity. In 3 seasons the roster that Poles constructed has 14 wins out of 48 games. Yes Eberflus absolutely lost 10-14 gamers single handedly with terrible Head Coaching calls and inaction. But once Eberlose was finally fired, Poles' roster absolutely fell apart in dramatic fashion. Caleb will need to be broken down and built back up. Why? Because of the poor decisions that start with Poles. The O-Line this year? Poles. The lack of hard hitting running back depth and trading Herbert? Poles. Gerald Everett AND Marcedes Lewis being on the roster? Poles. The 2nd OC being fired 9 games into the season? Yep, Poles had a huge hand in that. Coaching turmoil? Yep, Poles let Eberflus hire how many coaches that needed to be fired for poor conduct? I like Vrabel, but he'd be insane to want to have Poles onboard as his GM. Its time to move on. I will give Ryan Poles this credit: He didnt abuse the cap and took care of our draft capital. The picks he made with that draft capital? .... not the greatest. But he didnt mortgage the future to get guys or make major trade ups. The next Bears GM should have a good start to fix the O-Line and staff it with competent NFL starting talent. Not try to be cute or think you'll get an All Pro Oline from mid and late round picks and cast offs.
This video was amazing. Honestly! All the research you did and all the information you gave us is top shelf. And it's all accurate. I totally agree with you when you say that the media and most of this fan base are crazy. I don't know how you think that Ryan Poles should be fired. Anyways, as always, keep killing it!
One of Your Best Ever Breakdowns, Swift! So Bear Fans... How can you dispute this evidence!?!? Well you can't.. I agree Swifty. For many reasons. A great deal of proof here, in this video. Great Job Brother! Yep. That's Right. Good! I'll leave it at this for now. Excellent Video Man! Go Bears & BEAR DOWN!!!
@faridaltaqi9925 I can dispute evidence because there is none. The team is going backwards. They will have a worse record this year than last. There is no evidence. He built this roster. It's underperforming.
@toofast75 We're all entitled to our opinions & it's likely most of us are Bear Fans. So who's perfect as a GM. Who are your favorite or by your opinion, the best GM the Bears have had as of recently? Do you feel we should continue going in circles by hiring & firing Bear Staff, Coaches, Players etc, constantly. We need some consistency. Rebuilds take time. If done right, those actions are measured. I believe we're better off with Poles now than we've been before. I could go on & on. What's your ideas or solutions to this, Brother?
@@toofast75 Here is another one that either did NOT watch the video (but STILL made a comment) OR watched the video but did not understand it (for some reason).
I haven't been this excited about the Bears since they drafted Jim McMahon, this team is so close to being dominant I can taste it. Poles did this and with better coaching decisions we would beat GB, Det., and Min.. we are so close and I can't wait for next year...
1 thing you didn’t mention which is arguably the MOST important decision the GM can make after selecting the QB… Hiring a coach. Eberflus was a head scratcher when it happened, we passed up on top tier coaching talent (Harbaugh) and we’ve been through way too many coordinators in historic failure. I like Poles, I agree with most of what you said in this, I’d like to give him 1 more shot on a coaching hire and let him rise or fall on that decision/outcome.
Here is the issue with that. Eberflus was interviewed BEFORE Ryan poles. So its impossible for us to know if that was actually poles decision. Also various reports that Poles wanted to Fire Flus last year. its all speculation though...
I’m good with Ryan and Paul still although I’m super frustrated at the same time at the overall team effort lately. Honestly, there’s only a few holes on this roster and they’re only in place because he had limited time to get this roster right I expect this year most of the holes will be filled and then next year will be drafting. Best position available
I’m not sure what that Redbirds education did for you, Swifty, but your reliance on stats analysis that leads to FACTS is why I watch. Hmmm . . . Accounting or Business major, I think. I use the same analytics in my job for the last 42 years. KUDOS to Mr. Knowledge over Narrative!
And what stat is that? That our win percentage (4-11 so far) this season is currently .363636363636 repeating? Or that our 3 year total win percentage is .291? We have a roster that is transcending having the OC and Head Coach being fired? No, since Eberlose was fired this roster has landed with a resounding thud.
@@lexustech48 this is true, hence why Flus is Poles’ final wrong that he has to right. Swift just got done explaining to us how Ryan Poles and Ian Cunningham has literally built an entire football team from the ground up in 3 years time. For someone to do something like this in the right way instead of patching a bunch of holes at DI or WR and overpaying them makes you have to believe in something. He just trusted in the wrong coach. It’s kind of ironic how good the other 3 teams in our division are this year while we sit here in purgatory.. yall can have the north this year but once we get this coach right then we’ll take it from there.
Swift, I think you did a fabulous job with this. I agree (you might say with what. I say everything in this video. Well done my friend ( well we would be friends if we actually met each other. But anyway I think we draft pics 1-4 players we need after this year and that’s both interior lineman and a couple more late draft wide receivers and cornerback . Thanks again and BearDown
You have to grade on a scale. His massive failure of constantly not properly upgrading the O line, patch working the line doesn't count, and his hire of flus and wanting to bring him back this year when there were obvious red flags from last year are weighted so much more. Everyone knew to reset the coaching staff when they drafted CW, except him. He also was heavily involved with the Shane Waldron hire. He ignored Nate Davis history and red flags coming out of Tenn and many ppl inside halas even and still signed him. I was high on him, but his misses are piling up. And his misses have been much more catastrophic than some of his hits have been positive. Not too mention hanging on to Velus Jones 1 year too many. I think the talent on this roster has been overestimated by him. You can see it. I think he has to go. He's gonna get CW killed and ruin another QB
@SwiftSportsNetwork yes but we didn't have a good coach, and he was the reason for that. Also how good and resilient are the players the Bears have when the team collapsed after the Commanders loss? That's a direct reflection on him.
Yes the GM scale only reads the W-L column. It’s how the NFL works outside of Chicago. Sad reality is that Chicago team owners only weigh the ticket receipts.
Me, too, but I am from the world where top-drafted rookie QBs warm the bench if the O-line isn't ready to protect our future asset. Ty Bagent can take all these hits instead while Caleb watches what is possible and also what not to do.
@@momo7gatothat would have been ideal, except picture this , next war we’d have been stuck with both shane and everdflus and be wasting all that money on allen knowingly .because what would the expectation be with an udfa qb? that would be basically a tanking year again and they’d be retained .
Sry swifty but this is the one time I have push back. The fact that he stood behind flus when they wanted to let him go was a super bad choice. An nate Davis they said not to sign him because of issues with loving the game. He still signed him. An honestly past kyler an rome an CW his picks aren't very good. An the line is awful. His evaluation of players is not good. Yea he's saved us money but we need to spend plain an simple
Poles didn't hire Eberflus, cheap ass McCaskey family did. It is the spoiled ownership that inherited this Franchise that needs to be ejected. If I am a high quality HC there is no way I choose this ownership to work for. It is we fans that must reject the team to make our point that we aren't coming to the game or buying the merchandise.
Poles picked him when he was given the option to explore other candidates and he also chose to bring him back this year when there were obvious red flags from last year
@@toofast75 Wrong, McCaskey and Ted Phillips turned HC search over to outside consultant who had links to Indianapolis Franchise. Poles mistake was retaining him once decision made to draft Caleb.
@gyterdoneJP7315 yes I understand that. He was given 3 finalists picked by outside firm and Bill Polian when he was hired. He was also given the opportunity to explore other candidates as well after he was hired. He declined, maybe because he was new and didn't want to ruffle any feathers and also because him and flus share the same agent.
You are by far the most thorough and sane Bears podcaster on YT. I am a lifelong Bears fan and I am sick of the negative, fickle and frankly childish media and podcasters covering the Bears. I am tuning out any podcasters who cater to emotion rather than facts - this goes for local and especially national media (e.g. ESPN). We have not hit on the right coach to take us to the Super Bowl but we have an opportunity to do so this year and to continue to stack the roster with a large number of picks in 2025. We have a ton to build on. But we need to hit on a few pro bowl players, not just very good players.
Thank you Swifty for doing the research and showing us bears fan the facts. You showed how Ryan Poles has done wayyyy better and more than any GM we have had. Poles doesn’t play on the field the players have to be accountable
Thanks for the video Swift. I think Poles has done a good job when it comes to players and building a team. But that isn’t the only responsibility a GM has. He is also the one who assembled the coaching staff. His Achilles is his sentimentally. He hired Flus and Luke Getsy. He failed to fire Flus in the offseason. He hired Shane Waldron. Also not to mention the whole offensive staff that was fired with Getsy. I don’t even want to get into whatever happened with Alan Williams. You can say those coaches were Flus, but he hired Flus and signed off on all those hires. He talked angrily about breaking the cycle on Pat McAfee this summer and not making the same mistake as the previous GMs. So instead of a QB going through 2 OCs in the first two years he’s making Caleb go through 4: Waldron, Brown, Beatty and whoever we hire next season. I’ve been making excuses saying these hires weren’t his choices, that Flus was thrust upon him. But what are we to believe if he goes to the podium and says those were all his decisions, including keeping Flus? Poles talked about building a culture, but even Thomas Brown brought up the division in the locker room in his first HC presser. Reports from legitimate sources like Courtney Cronin have reported on the problems inside the locker room. He talk about the teams resilience before this weeks game. What resilience they let one bad “Fail Mary” derail the whole season. Poles claimed this was gonna be a hard team to make and the oline depth was the deepest he’s seen. But even you have to admit it’s all a mess. It makes me feel lied to as a fan because I had blind faith in him. But King Poles sits on a throne of lies. I really don’t believe he should be fired. But it looks like he abdicated his coaching hires to Trace Armstrong. For that reason he can’t have carte blanch when he hires the next HC. There absolutely has to be oversight to make sure he doesn’t hire another one of Armstrong’s clients. Thanks again for all the content you provide!❤
Thanks Swifty! This video is everything that needed to be said as an argument to keep Poles and I agree. I’m so tired of the fire everyone ideology. And one thing that baffles me is if everyone is mad at Poles for this roster being so bad as they say, why was the expectation so high going into this season? I personally did not think we were gonna see the playoffs yet this year and if we would have I would’ve been wrong. But Poles has done pretty good and still isn’t done. We gotta stop throwing the baby out with the bath water when it comes to this team just because everything doesn’t go our way all the time. Building a solid roster takes time. Great video!
@@edwardjacobsr.9902 You legit just commented what I’ve been screaming for the past two days. My mind is 🤯 to how everyone wants him gone so quick after assembling a talented roster that’s not even done yet
Swift, this is getting embarrassing. Poles is a bust. If Lovie Smith hadn’t gifted him the #1 overall pick, Poles would have nothing to hang his hat on. He’s been an embarrassment ever since trying to sign Ogunjobi while letting Daniels and Monty walk. He got rid of Ro to sign Edmunds to a comparable contract despite not being half as good. I get you’re a fan, but you’re not being objective. It’s not that “other fans can’t see the big picture.” We can, but we can also see the track record, which would be abysmal if not for Lovie Smith and Davis Mills.
look I'm a bears fan... I'm a supporter of yours... but don't toot Poles horn so hard look who we drafted... caleb, Odunzes, Darnell, Kyler, brisker, Dexter, tyrique .... etc like ok yeah he drafted all these guys they are all starting NFL players... well duh we r the team that drafted them. and we have none better.. but none of them are GREAT.. poles been here since 2022... his drafting hasn't produced not 1 pro bowler so it's not all that impressive to say our 1st - 3rd rounders are starting... they r just starters it doesn't mean they were home run picks I hope they become that .. but RN they aren't.. so just drafting a starter and not whiffing doesn't mean they r legit great because we know their name and they r starting. like talk shit about past GMs... well at least we can say they drafted guys like Hester... urlacher... roquan... etc so for now yeah everyone's expendable
Poles is disciplined and has a system. When one has a system then the system can be tweaked as experience is gained… and he is young and learning. Poles is golden and the parrots in the media are real busy sqwaking. There are so few media content creators that are doing some awesome work (Swifty you are definitely one of them).
I already knew your spin before the video was even posted😂 And that's the reason I dont watch your videos much. 90% of the time it will be a positive spin which appears to me to lack objectivity
Or you lack the ability to understand context. I've hated every GM the Bears ever had. Poles is different. You'll realize that once we start winning. Remember this.
Bottom line, this team has 4 wins this year and will most likely have a top 10 pick in the draft for the 3rd year in Poles's tenure here in 3 years. He's the architect of this roster and has to have accountability here.
@@tccrypto8392 play fake person please shut up and furthermore it's crazy that we all said it's going to take this rebuild 3 to 4 years two and a half years into the rebuild we are ready to fire the man who brung this team out of the depths of hell thanks for the previous general manager
I'm going to continue to ride with him because obviously this man saw something in this year's draft with offensive lineman that we are not seen or refusing to recognize
@@tccrypto8392 I feel nice and the media and fake people like you see what I see this is the general manager that actually made going to change the direction of this team into being a playoff contending team every year and according to a person a national media that's not what they like from the bears the national media and fans alike have to have the bears to be a bad team every year
@@juliusblackwell342 And what did he see? An Ivy league Tackle prospect that was injured and has looked completely lost out there? Or signing Coleman Shelton who is absolutely getting destroyed without monster guard play from Teven or Pryor? Or trading a 5th round pick for Ryan Bates who was injured for most of the year AND it turns out he has an arthritic should and elbow? Poles is absolutely terrible at building an offensive line.
@lexustech48 and so we should get rid of a general manager who probably pulled off one of the best trades in NFL history what would you prefer to have a team that has many holes to fill or a team that just has an offensive line to fix which possibly can get fixed this offseason I don't understand you people we went through 7 years of a terrible general manager and I didn't hear no one calling for that man neck the way y'all have been calling for the current general manager's neck since he became the general manager there is something wrong with this picture need I say the quiet part out loud I guess I am the white man that was running a team into the ground for the last 7 years y'all had nothing terrible to say about him because he got Khalil Mack which was the only thing he ever fucking done in Chicago then we get a general manager who has seemingly turned this team around with the exception of the head coach and the offensive line and yet for some reason this man can't get his proper due to fix his mistakes just throw the baby out with the bathwater because we like beingthe dumb fan base that likes to allow the media to tell us how we should feel about any given situation pertaining the bears
Braxton is terrible. Sweat has under performed. Kyler Gordon is just a nickel back. Amegadjie is turnstile. Austin Booker has done nothing. Edmunds has been a bust. Swift, you are so biased and put a positive spin on garbage. It's the positive spin you did with J Fields all over again.
Reportedly he wanted Harbaugh and Warren wouldn't even let him in the building. My fear is Warren's thin skin and ego will be a major hurdle in us getting a top respected coach like Vrabel which we desperately need!
@@ba2ooka19 This is where I feel that the owners are using Warren as their influence on decision-making. The McCaskeys SWEAR that they know how to run an NFL team but we fans know that is not true at all.
I am from the world where top-drafted rookie QBs warm the bench if the O-line isn't ready to protect our future asset. Ty Bagent can take all these hits instead while Caleb watches what is possible and also what not to do. Whose decision is that on?
No GM is 100% perfect on draft picks/signings. The best hit it on 1's 2's and a few others from other rounds. Poles has done that while getting more picks and good starters in trade. Getting rid of him is indeed nuts Swifty.
Best overall take on Poles performance I have seen. Glad you are not going with the current narrative and conviction to do the homework. I am in complete agreement. Poles has done an amazing job. I have grown tired of listening to the media and fan complaints about Poles. I still do not believe that Poles hired Eberflus. I think it was an arranged marriage and he became the fall guy. He will never publicly state what truly happened or it will kill his career. He just took the hit and will keep rolling. Taking the hit for not getting rid of him at the end of last season as well. Heck, they had to have a 3 hour conversation with George after the team lost 6 in a row. I do not know what makes the fan and media think that George would have agreed to firing him in the offseason if he did not want to fire him after he had ruined this season and lost the locker room. In your free agent analysis, you did not mention the signing of Swift or Everett. What are your thoughts on them?
I support keeping Ryan Poles as GM, one head scratcher you didn’t mention was trading Roquan Smith for a second rounder before signing Tremaine Edmunds which wasn’t bad, but we had the best linebacker before the the trade.
Say I buy a car off a dude who mistreated it, never changed the oil, has bad tires and cracked windshield and no air con. And he was the mechanic. The motor leaks oil and it sucks. But I decide to fix it up. I buy new tires and chrome rims, buy a new windshield, fix the air con, even get a ceramic coat finish to make it look nice. But I don’t even do anything for the engine. Soon the engine starts to leak more oil and there’s a knocking sound coming out of it. So I take it to the same guy I bought it from to fix it. That’s what Poles did to this team. Instead of fixing the o-line first he bought all the bells and whistles and made this team look shiny and kept the same coach. He should’ve traded down, get hopefully a 1st or 2nd rd pick for next year and drafted lineman, kept JF for at least one more year to see how he does behind this impressive o-line. If he doesn’t do good we have the capital to go after a qb in next years draft but I’ll tell you what, we would be better than we are now. If we were 8-9 last year we’d make at least the wild card this year. And as far as keeping Flus, he should’ve fired him and gone after Harbaugh and insisted to anyone who didn’t agree that this was what’s best for the team. But he caved and this is what’s best we got. Not saying his picks are busts or avg. it’s just that he didn’t address the foundation of what makes a team great. And you said this yourself, “Detroit has one of the best o-lines in the NFL.” And they are on top of not only our division, but the whole conference. Even the NFL!
Swifty, you talk about how well Poles has drafted for the Bears - all of his moves combined have gotten us to a total of 4 wins in year 3 of his leadership. How can you justify that he's done a great job when the ultimate stat to be measured by is wins and losses? If we are so talented, why do we have only 4 wins and how is that NOT on Poles? Is there a limit to how many years he has to turn this thing around if 3 years isn't enough? If we don't have a winning record next year, is Poles culpable at that point? How about after year 5? When is Poles responsible for the success of this team as our GM exactly? We need to fire Poles and send the coaching staff packing along with him. Bring in a new GM who will hire Ben Johnson and let Johnson pick his own staff. We can't continue to cycle GM, Coach, QB, so it's time to purge 2 of them at the same time. Poles is not a good talent evaluator - he has a great secondary coach.
Swifty coming through with the FACTS yet again! To me, Poles has been the BEST GM that Da Bears has had in my lifetime of +50 years. He has done WAY MORE good than harm to the team. He is the very first one who has been openly concerned with not just merely winning an occasional Super Bowl, but to establish a yearly playoff contender, even long after he retires. I think he was right in seeing the talents in Eberflus as a defensive coach but we all found out hard that it did not extend to being head coach. Poles definitely could not foresee the Alan Williams DC fiasco coming. Many fans and pundits say that the talent on the roster is too good to be losing like this, but they easily have forgotten that (1) this is the first season that much of the team has even played together and (2) Ryan Poles built this roster. I feel that Poles has at least to the 2026-2027 season to see his moves finally come to fruition. 🐻🐻🐻🐻⬇⬇⬇⬇
Poles has bought himself some time with the Caleb pick, of course. I want to see how he spends high round draft picks in the trenches in the 2025 draft. We will own the second round! A very valuable position.
Great info. I agree he is probably one of the best GM’s we have had. Nobody hits on every deal. However, I think we cannot validate him by comparing him to past Bears GM’s…. We need to compare him to GM’s across the league.
And Bears fans are so happy we got Caleb. Well how do you think Caleb feels right now about being in Chicago? I’m sure that once or twice he’s cried on his mother’s shoulder after all those losses. He’s miserable, defeated, dejected, paranoid in the pocket and beat up badly. 3 car crashes is what he compared his abuse to. I’m betting he’s leaving as soon as he can. And if he doesn’t that’ll be on Poles. And then we’d lose that pick and the qb.
Great factual analysis. The reason that large market teams are perpetually bad is that the fan base and media in large market cities force premature changes and bring such massive negativity to the team and players, it is hard to withstand and tune it out. If we win that Washington game which we should have, this year would have gone very differently - but yet the Bears would still not be a playoff team or a team that would go beyond a wild card game. We would still have Eberflus as a coach when it seems clear that he is a good coach but not one that could take us to a Super Bowl. No way would I fire Poles. We need to use the massive number of picks Poles has acquired for 2025 to stack our offensive and defensive lines and maybe pick up a hidden gem powerhouse running back that could compete with the best running backs in the NFC. We need to get the right coach for Caleb and with the personality to take us to a Super Bowl. I actually like Kingsbury as he has had head coaching experience and a great relationship with Caleb. He has also led Daniels to a great rookie year behind a stellar offensive line and great running game - exactly what we need to compete in the NFC North.
Can you provide historical context on other teams that have suffered thru a deliberate tank season and which teams recovered the fastest. This roster is shell-shocked from Poles’ tear-down and “trust the process”…the results of 3 seasons of losing has infected the mentality of the entire roster. They don’t hate losing. Light at the end of the tunnel is very dim.
I never trust the sports media in Chicago. Sports pundits like W&S are more interested in drumming up controversy because it draws attention and thus views. Then to put out a thorough, detailed, compelling, and informative discussion on the current state of the Bears. Besides you Swift, and Adam Mason making very informative, and intelligent content. It feels like all these other Chicago sports media are just old men yelling at the imaginary kids to get off their lawn.
I think if Poles still is the GM, it’s going to be hard for him to hire the best head coach, unless they extend Poles contract. Maybe that will happen?
Most of the Bears fans base is lacking what a playoff team looks like. This fan base needs to learn what a solid team looks like. Being judgemental when the fan has no knowledge of what they are looking for is more crazy.
Brian Gutekunst and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah have both done extraordinary jobs with the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings respectively. Adofo-Mensah was hired the same year that Poles was. Both teams are not only winning, but dominating the division. Poles has made moves that I like and I was with him up until recently. His handling of the coaching staff overall has been very poor. His neglect of the offensive line is offensive. At the end of the day, the measuring stick must be wins and losses. This team is not getting better. If Poles must be fired in order to acquire a good head coach, then it must be done. Decisions cannot be made based off of previous general managers for the Chicago Bears. This team has been bad a long time and that is why.
Good job bro. I was almost sucked in by the overwhelming media attack on Poles. Thanks for reminding me of how bad it was before he got here and how, slow as it may be, he is building for the future. Fans who think that a Superbowl contender is just a sinhle coach or gm hire away are delusional. No doubt you need to get those right. But it takes years of the right draft picks and player acquisitions. How many potentially great coaches are sitting at home because they never got the roster they needed to succeed!
Better offensive line & defensive line talent will turn this system around. Play calling will straighten this team. Finding the right Head Coach my vote is Dave Tumb special teas coach in Kansas City
Swiftly, you have glossed over the Eberflus hire, which is right up there in terms of GM job responsibilities. I do think Poles is an excellent strategist but is just average when it comes to player evaluations. This team now has holes on both lines and needed upgrades at running back, linebacker, and safety. Also need two new tight ends. I'm for retaining him and giving him a short extension so that we don't scare off the most talented head coach candidates. That said, he should not be given full authority (Warren should have veto power as his job will be on the line if Poles swings and misses again).
I don't want Warren anywhere near the football decisions. He's a lawyer and a politician. Thin skinned, arrogant, and egotistical. He's the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reason Jim freaking Harbaugh is not our HC. Poles reportedly was very interested, but Warren wouldn't even let him in the building! Huh?
Problem is there were various reports that poles wanted to fire Flus last year. Unfortunately, we don't know for sure whose decision that is (Warren/McCaskey/Poles) and unless you were a fly on the wall at halas hall, its just speculating.
Poles stood behind Flus.. its really hard to say whether he really was or whether the McCaskets forced his hand. Warren still hasnt finished his job either. Harbaugh doest mix overtly with Warren. We are just a really good coach taking this to the playoffs. I like Caleb. I hope we can just sit him and let the Bagent man finish off the season. I think Brown should be oc if Caleb wants it.
Right there with you on most of your takes Swifty, but I have to respectfully disagree on the Mack/Sweat comp. I really like Montez, but Khalil is world class and if I had to choose, even at his age, I'd rather have Mack. Poles being a first time GM is also in a learning process. I think Eberflus is his biggest misstep to this point but even with his personnel misses, he's an upgrade over any GM I can remember in Chicago and don't want him going anywhere! I don't see him repeating terrible mistakes.
I do agree that Poles has been our best GM since Jerry Angelo, but I have to disagree with Swift on some of Poles' moves. First, he promised to fix the trenches, but yet very first draft he selected 2 DB (Gordon & Brisker) and a WR (Jones). Then in 2023, Poles should have drafted Jalen Carter as he was the 3 Tech DT that Eberflus needed for his defense. He could have addressed the O-Line with the 2nd and 3rd instead of Dexter and Pickens. We all know Caleb is the most important player for this franchise and needs all of the help. I say give Poles this next draft to prove himself, but the on very thin ice.
Poles has done a awesome job. The calls for his firing is rather curious to me. We have a large amount of draft picks. Top 5 in cap space, but the kool-aide you'll were sipping in the preseason. Not knowing we had a rookie Qb and the O-line wasn't fixed. I'm into solutions not standing on the sideline and complaining
Good thoughts, I still disagree that Poles is the way to go. He should've addressed the trenches before skill positions. Also, you didn't mention that he seriously damaged Caleb by retaining Eberflus which lead to getting Waldron. Poles is directly responsible for Caleb having to deal with at least 3 different Play Callers and 2 Head Coaches in his first two seasons already. Poles also just got lucky with the Carolina trade getting us Caleb, most of that credit goes to Lovie.
Poles is not the problem and the fans know this hopes were to high this year that’s all they will get over it. June July people will be singing a different tune 😂and I get it yup it hurts but I trust Ryan Poles
I usually agree with you, but I disagree with a few things this time. In terms of first round hits, obviously Urlacher should have been listed as a hit. I also think Leonard Floyd and Kyle Long were very solid NFL players. In terms of free agents, factoring in cost I consider Edmunds, Swift and Everett to be busts. Byard and Walker are pushes at best. Poles strong point is in structuring contracts to stay out of salary cap hell. As an evaluator of talent he gets a B-
The issue is not Poles being good, it's Warren probably wants his own guy as GM, the question is will it happen now does Poles get a reprieve for 1 more year.
Truth be told, the Bears haven’t hit the draft out of the park since ‘84 (Marshall, Rivera, Gayle). Hopefully, 2024 class pans out. The bar is sooooo-looooow.
I really appreciate your perspective on Ryan Poles, very informative and it's nice to hear some positivity regarding this team. Great video!
Poles is by far the best GM the Bears have hired. Honestly, the misses on the players are not what bother me, it's how things unfolded with the coaches. DC getting fired, Luke Getsy not putting it together, then Waldron and finally Eberflus' game managing gaffs. The players appeared to have lost faith in the coaching imho. Love the breakdown Swifty. Appreciate you!
Poles is the best GM the Bears have had, but hasn’t had a winning season 😂 give me a break
@@wrigIey name the last GM that had a winning season
@@Eric-sm8hxthe dude who Poles replaced? Who was named 2018 executive of the year? Remember him?
Bears haven’t had a #1 pick in 70+ years and Poles had two of them in his three years as GM. Yet I look at this roster and it’s full of average to below average players. The only players with superstar potential are Jaylon whom he inherited, Caleb, and Moore. So outside of fleecing the Panthers he’s done almost nothing in bringing in superstar talent that you need to win. So stop with the best GM Bears have hired by far nonsense, he’s not even the best Bears GM over the past decade.
@ you will eat your words just watch
Firing him for not drafting OL earlier in the draft would be a mistake. Don’t get me wrong: I said from the beginning that they should have drafted OL instead of a punter but we need to let him correct his mistake.
Great video for a guy who has been a first time Gm.
Something i haven't heard anyone mention is Flores loyalty to Vrabel. Or Vrabel and Poles was on the KC staff together so know each other very well. Vrabel also from the Andy Reid tree as well as Belichick
a nice connie would be vrabel , flores and mcdaniels. however i don’t think we’re can snatch flores without a promotion . would assistant head coach be enough to do that ?
I really wish poles had drafted an OT that wasn’t broken. He could’ve done so much better than Kiran.
Who was available at OT after 75? Puni has been the best OL in the class. He was taken at 85 but was moved to OG. Poles went with the player that had the most upside long term. This 2024 draft was weak overall. Lots of OTs but the good ones were all drafted by the second round.
Does anyone know of any tackles taken after Kiran that are good right now?
The glazing on this channel just never stops 😂
Warren isn't doing what he was hired to achieve. We still are in stadium limbo. The whole point was to avoid the Ted Phillips problem. A non-football guy running football operations. He was supposed to be the business guy. Also it's disingenuous calling Floyd a bust. He has had a good career outside Chicago.
Poles is young and is currently being force fed some humble pie. If they walk from him and go a different direction, I won't be able to argue with it. On the other hand, he is a bright young first time GM, and he is probably having his biggest learning experience of his career right now. I would like to see what he does next year.
Swift, you listed the core Lions players when Holmes took over incorrectly.
Please fix video
Ryan Poles has done an excellent job it’s Kevin Warren and the McCaskies that’s the problem if Harbaugh wanted to come here that should tell us everything
Yeah Warren built this shit o line
spot on
Poles needs to be held accountable for his choices as GM. How much of this is a partnership with Ian making these big decisions, not sure. But no amount of shine or rose colored glasses will make this season, and the inevitable outcome of 11 straight losses, good or have positivity. In 3 seasons the roster that Poles constructed has 14 wins out of 48 games. Yes Eberflus absolutely lost 10-14 gamers single handedly with terrible Head Coaching calls and inaction. But once Eberlose was finally fired, Poles' roster absolutely fell apart in dramatic fashion.
Caleb will need to be broken down and built back up. Why? Because of the poor decisions that start with Poles. The O-Line this year? Poles. The lack of hard hitting running back depth and trading Herbert? Poles. Gerald Everett AND Marcedes Lewis being on the roster? Poles. The 2nd OC being fired 9 games into the season? Yep, Poles had a huge hand in that. Coaching turmoil? Yep, Poles let Eberflus hire how many coaches that needed to be fired for poor conduct?
I like Vrabel, but he'd be insane to want to have Poles onboard as his GM. Its time to move on. I will give Ryan Poles this credit: He didnt abuse the cap and took care of our draft capital. The picks he made with that draft capital? .... not the greatest. But he didnt mortgage the future to get guys or make major trade ups. The next Bears GM should have a good start to fix the O-Line and staff it with competent NFL starting talent. Not try to be cute or think you'll get an All Pro Oline from mid and late round picks and cast offs.
Did you ACTUALLY watch this video?
Because Swifty has addressed ALL of your complaints on Poles.
This video was amazing. Honestly! All the research you did and all the information you gave us is top shelf. And it's all accurate. I totally agree with you when you say that the media and most of this fan base are crazy. I don't know how you think that Ryan Poles should be fired. Anyways, as always, keep killing it!
Yeah i got him graded B as a GM, which is good as a GM in the NFL. now his 1st trade ever was a bust Chase but i get why he did it
One of Your Best Ever Breakdowns, Swift! So Bear Fans... How can you dispute this evidence!?!? Well you can't.. I agree Swifty. For many reasons. A great deal of proof here, in this video. Great Job Brother! Yep. That's Right. Good! I'll leave it at this for now. Excellent Video Man! Go Bears & BEAR DOWN!!!
Well read the comments, ppl are finding ways 😆 🤣 😂
@faridaltaqi9925 I can dispute evidence because there is none. The team is going backwards. They will have a worse record this year than last. There is no evidence. He built this roster. It's underperforming.
@toofast75 We're all entitled to our opinions & it's likely most of us are Bear Fans. So who's perfect as a GM. Who are your favorite or by your opinion, the best GM the Bears have had as of recently? Do you feel we should continue going in circles by hiring & firing Bear Staff, Coaches, Players etc, constantly. We need some consistency. Rebuilds take time. If done right, those actions are measured. I believe we're better off with Poles now than we've been before. I could go on & on. What's your ideas or solutions to this, Brother?
@@toofast75 Here is another one that either did NOT watch the video (but STILL made a comment) OR watched the video but did not understand it (for some reason).
If u look to more recent comments, i just listed why i dont think poles deserves a shot at hiring the coaching staff for next season
Thank you Swifty
Completely with you on this! Next year will show how right you are.
Swifty... Respect. I trust your knowledge
Appreciate the trust brother!
Agree with most but Edmunds has been a disappointment, not a hit.
Definitely
I keep expecting a breakout game from him.
Thank you Swift! The media has gon crazy, behaving like people behave on social media, everything is to the extreme without looking at the facts.
Just because he’s the best Bears GM in the last 50 yrs, it doesn’t mean he is doing a good job.
The mob is fickle brother. Bear Down.
I haven't been this excited about the Bears since they drafted Jim McMahon, this team is so close to being dominant I can taste it. Poles did this and with better coaching decisions we would beat GB, Det., and Min.. we are so close and I can't wait for next year...
1 thing you didn’t mention which is arguably the MOST important decision the GM can make after selecting the QB…
Hiring a coach. Eberflus was a head scratcher when it happened, we passed up on top tier coaching talent (Harbaugh) and we’ve been through way too many coordinators in historic failure.
I like Poles, I agree with most of what you said in this, I’d like to give him 1 more shot on a coaching hire and let him rise or fall on that decision/outcome.
Here is the issue with that.
Eberflus was interviewed BEFORE Ryan poles.
So its impossible for us to know if that was actually poles decision.
Also various reports that Poles wanted to Fire Flus last year.
its all speculation though...
I’m good with Ryan and Paul still although I’m super frustrated at the same time at the overall team effort lately. Honestly, there’s only a few holes on this roster and they’re only in place because he had limited time to get this roster right I expect this year most of the holes will be filled and then next year will be drafting. Best position available
I’m not sure what that Redbirds education did for you, Swifty, but your reliance on stats analysis that leads to FACTS is why I watch. Hmmm . . . Accounting or Business major, I think. I use the same analytics in my job for the last 42 years. KUDOS to Mr. Knowledge over Narrative!
Appreciate it brother
And what stat is that? That our win percentage (4-11 so far) this season is currently .363636363636 repeating? Or that our 3 year total win percentage is .291? We have a roster that is transcending having the OC and Head Coach being fired? No, since Eberlose was fired this roster has landed with a resounding thud.
@@lexustech48 this is true, hence why Flus is Poles’ final wrong that he has to right. Swift just got done explaining to us how Ryan Poles and Ian Cunningham has literally built an entire football team from the ground up in 3 years time. For someone to do something like this in the right way instead of patching a bunch of holes at DI or WR and overpaying them makes you have to believe in something. He just trusted in the wrong coach. It’s kind of ironic how good the other 3 teams in our division are this year while we sit here in purgatory.. yall can have the north this year but once we get this coach right then we’ll take it from there.
Swift, I think you did a fabulous job with this. I agree (you might say with what. I say everything in this video. Well done my friend ( well we would be friends if we actually met each other. But anyway I think we draft pics 1-4 players we need after this year and that’s both interior lineman and a couple more late draft wide receivers and cornerback . Thanks again and BearDown
Appreciate you brother!! Bear Down
You have to grade on a scale. His massive failure of constantly not properly upgrading the O line, patch working the line doesn't count, and his hire of flus and wanting to bring him back this year when there were obvious red flags from last year are weighted so much more. Everyone knew to reset the coaching staff when they drafted CW, except him. He also was heavily involved with the Shane Waldron hire. He ignored Nate Davis history and red flags coming out of Tenn and many ppl inside halas even and still signed him. I was high on him, but his misses are piling up. And his misses have been much more catastrophic than some of his hits have been positive. Not too mention hanging on to Velus Jones 1 year too many. I think the talent on this roster has been overestimated by him. You can see it. I think he has to go. He's gonna get CW killed and ruin another QB
Facts 💯!
Your scales are heavily weight by wins or losses. It's a sad reality. You know if we had a better coach and a better record you'd feel different.
@SwiftSportsNetwork yes but we didn't have a good coach, and he was the reason for that. Also how good and resilient are the players the Bears have when the team collapsed after the Commanders loss? That's a direct reflection on him.
Yep!
Yes the GM scale only reads the W-L column.
It’s how the NFL works outside of Chicago.
Sad reality is that Chicago team owners only weigh the ticket receipts.
Swift you are the man!! Thank you for all of your hard work!
Appreciate it! Bear Down!
Poles will do well this draft I’m very excited he should trade out the top 7 Kenneth Grant is his name let’s start there
Past GM D+ Pole A-... It's a no brainer. Keep Poles and keep building out this roster!
My only concern is Caleb’s physical and mental health as a result of the volume of sacks.
Me, too, but I am from the world where top-drafted rookie QBs warm the bench if the O-line isn't ready to protect our future asset. Ty Bagent can take all these hits instead while Caleb watches what is possible and also what not to do.
@@momo7gatothat would have been ideal, except picture this , next war we’d have been stuck with both shane and everdflus and be wasting all that money on allen knowingly .because what would the expectation be with an udfa qb? that would be basically a tanking year again and they’d be retained .
Sry swifty but this is the one time I have push back. The fact that he stood behind flus when they wanted to let him go was a super bad choice. An nate Davis they said not to sign him because of issues with loving the game. He still signed him. An honestly past kyler an rome an CW his picks aren't very good. An the line is awful. His evaluation of players is not good. Yea he's saved us money but we need to spend plain an simple
Who said not to sign Nate? These are random twitter rumors you are taking as fact??
swifty, Montez sweat is not kalil Mack caliber ! not even close
I totally agree that Ryan Poles has a talent at drafting players. We can't afford a miss (Velus) at head coach.
Poles didn't hire Eberflus, cheap ass McCaskey family did. It is the spoiled ownership that inherited this Franchise that needs to be ejected. If I am a high quality HC there is no way I choose this ownership to work for. It is we fans that must reject the team to make our point that we aren't coming to the game or buying the merchandise.
Bull Shit = Poles did pick him - and Yes the McCasky's are cheap
Poles picked him when he was given the option to explore other candidates and he also chose to bring him back this year when there were obvious red flags from last year
I recently had a whole rant with facts and data on how I think that the owners have been ruining the team since at least 2011.
@@toofast75 Wrong, McCaskey and Ted Phillips turned HC search over to outside consultant who had links to Indianapolis Franchise. Poles mistake was retaining him once decision made to draft Caleb.
@gyterdoneJP7315 yes I understand that. He was given 3 finalists picked by outside firm and Bill Polian when he was hired. He was also given the opportunity to explore other candidates as well after he was hired. He declined, maybe because he was new and didn't want to ruffle any feathers and also because him and flus share the same agent.
The locker room is broken. Idt there’s any fix the remaining games
Knowledge over narratives... Thanks Swift!
Appreciate you brother!
Once again...great analysis, Swifty...I'm not sold on Braxton though
You are by far the most thorough and sane Bears podcaster on YT. I am a lifelong Bears fan and I am sick of the negative, fickle and frankly childish media and podcasters covering the Bears. I am tuning out any podcasters who cater to emotion rather than facts - this goes for local and especially national media (e.g. ESPN). We have not hit on the right coach to take us to the Super Bowl but we have an opportunity to do so this year and to continue to stack the roster with a large number of picks in 2025. We have a ton to build on. But we need to hit on a few pro bowl players, not just very good players.
Thank you Swifty for doing the research and showing us bears fan the facts. You showed how Ryan Poles has done wayyyy better and more than any GM we have had. Poles doesn’t play on the field the players have to be accountable
Ian Cunningham.
If it wasn't for Ian we wouldn't have drafted Rome. Poles wanted to trade up.
That's who they're looking at Louis Riddick or Mike tannenbaum
Thanks for the video Swift. I think Poles has done a good job when it comes to players and building a team. But that isn’t the only responsibility a GM has. He is also the one who assembled the coaching staff.
His Achilles is his sentimentally. He hired Flus and Luke Getsy. He failed to fire Flus in the offseason. He hired Shane Waldron. Also not to mention the whole offensive staff that was fired with Getsy. I don’t even want to get into whatever happened with Alan Williams.
You can say those coaches were Flus, but he hired Flus and signed off on all those hires. He talked angrily about breaking the cycle on Pat McAfee this summer and not making the same mistake as the previous GMs. So instead of a QB going through 2 OCs in the first two years he’s making Caleb go through 4: Waldron, Brown, Beatty and whoever we hire next season.
I’ve been making excuses saying these hires weren’t his choices, that Flus was thrust upon him. But what are we to believe if he goes to the podium and says those were all his decisions, including keeping Flus?
Poles talked about building a culture, but even Thomas Brown brought up the division in the locker room in his first HC presser. Reports from legitimate sources like Courtney Cronin have reported on the problems inside the locker room.
He talk about the teams resilience before this weeks game. What resilience they let one bad “Fail Mary” derail the whole season. Poles claimed this was gonna be a hard team to make and the oline depth was the deepest he’s seen. But even you have to admit it’s all a mess. It makes me feel lied to as a fan because I had blind faith in him. But King Poles sits on a throne of lies.
I really don’t believe he should be fired. But it looks like he abdicated his coaching hires to Trace Armstrong. For that reason he can’t have carte blanch when he hires the next HC. There absolutely has to be oversight to make sure he doesn’t hire another one of Armstrong’s clients. Thanks again for all the content you provide!❤
Thanks Swifty! This video is everything that needed to be said as an argument to keep Poles and I agree. I’m so tired of the fire everyone ideology. And one thing that baffles me is if everyone is mad at Poles for this roster being so bad as they say, why was the expectation so high going into this season? I personally did not think we were gonna see the playoffs yet this year and if we would have I would’ve been wrong. But Poles has done pretty good and still isn’t done. We gotta stop throwing the baby out with the bath water when it comes to this team just because everything doesn’t go our way all the time. Building a solid roster takes time. Great video!
@@edwardjacobsr.9902 You legit just commented what I’ve been screaming for the past two days. My mind is 🤯 to how everyone wants him gone so quick after assembling a talented roster that’s not even done yet
1000% man I just do NOT get it. But I have people calling me a moron and a Homer for speaking logically. It's a crazy world.
Swift, this is getting embarrassing. Poles is a bust. If Lovie Smith hadn’t gifted him the #1 overall pick, Poles would have nothing to hang his hat on. He’s been an embarrassment ever since trying to sign Ogunjobi while letting Daniels and Monty walk. He got rid of Ro to sign Edmunds to a comparable contract despite not being half as good.
I get you’re a fan, but you’re not being objective. It’s not that “other fans can’t see the big picture.” We can, but we can also see the track record, which would be abysmal if not for Lovie Smith and Davis Mills.
I appreciate ur excellent evaluation of Ryan Poles.!! He is one of the best in NFL.
I think that was a very honest analysis, even though people don't want to hear it. Good job!
look I'm a bears fan... I'm a supporter of yours... but don't toot Poles horn so hard
look who we drafted... caleb, Odunzes, Darnell, Kyler, brisker, Dexter, tyrique .... etc
like ok yeah he drafted all these guys they are all starting NFL players... well duh we r the team that drafted them. and we have none better.. but none of them are GREAT.. poles been here since 2022... his drafting hasn't produced not 1 pro bowler so it's not all that impressive to say our 1st - 3rd rounders are starting... they r just starters it doesn't mean they were home run picks
I hope they become that .. but RN they aren't.. so just drafting a starter and not whiffing doesn't mean they r legit great because we know their name and they r starting.
like talk shit about past GMs... well at least we can say they drafted guys like Hester... urlacher... roquan... etc
so for now yeah everyone's expendable
He's drafted pro bowlers. Just wait. That comment is so ridiculous. How many players become pro bowlers in years 1 or 2?!?!?
Poles is disciplined and has a system. When one has a system then the system can be tweaked as experience is gained… and he is young and learning. Poles is golden and the parrots in the media are real busy sqwaking. There are so few media content creators that are doing some awesome work (Swifty you are definitely one of them).
I already knew your spin before the video was even posted😂 And that's the reason I dont watch your videos much. 90% of the time it will be a positive spin which appears to me to lack objectivity
Or you lack the ability to understand context. I've hated every GM the Bears ever had. Poles is different. You'll realize that once we start winning. Remember this.
New thumbnail is sick
Poles is new to at his job he deserves more time
Bottom line, this team has 4 wins this year and will most likely have a top 10 pick in the draft for the 3rd year in Poles's tenure here in 3 years. He's the architect of this roster and has to have accountability here.
@@tccrypto8392 play fake person please shut up and furthermore it's crazy that we all said it's going to take this rebuild 3 to 4 years two and a half years into the rebuild we are ready to fire the man who brung this team out of the depths of hell thanks for the previous general manager
I'm going to continue to ride with him because obviously this man saw something in this year's draft with offensive lineman that we are not seen or refusing to recognize
@@tccrypto8392 I feel nice and the media and fake people like you see what I see this is the general manager that actually made going to change the direction of this team into being a playoff contending team every year and according to a person a national media that's not what they like from the bears the national media and fans alike have to have the bears to be a bad team every year
@@juliusblackwell342 And what did he see? An Ivy league Tackle prospect that was injured and has looked completely lost out there? Or signing Coleman Shelton who is absolutely getting destroyed without monster guard play from Teven or Pryor? Or trading a 5th round pick for Ryan Bates who was injured for most of the year AND it turns out he has an arthritic should and elbow? Poles is absolutely terrible at building an offensive line.
@lexustech48 and so we should get rid of a general manager who probably pulled off one of the best trades in NFL history what would you prefer to have a team that has many holes to fill or a team that just has an offensive line to fix which possibly can get fixed this offseason I don't understand you people we went through 7 years of a terrible general manager and I didn't hear no one calling for that man neck the way y'all have been calling for the current general manager's neck since he became the general manager there is something wrong with this picture need I say the quiet part out loud I guess I am the white man that was running a team into the ground for the last 7 years y'all had nothing terrible to say about him because he got Khalil Mack which was the only thing he ever fucking done in Chicago then we get a general manager who has seemingly turned this team around with the exception of the head coach and the offensive line and yet for some reason this man can't get his proper due to fix his mistakes just throw the baby out with the bathwater because we like beingthe dumb fan base that likes to allow the media to tell us how we should feel about any given situation pertaining the bears
Excellent breakdown Swifty!
Mmm, Poles is better than Pace, but he's made a lot of mistakes. Davis, Edmunds, Claypool. Not great.
Man....sorry I missed this live...been looking fwd to this for days. BEAR DOWN!
Plank in da house!!@ sorry brother
Yeah Swifty! If they fire Poles who are they going to want to get fired next?
You convinced me with "who would be better?"
Great job man, spot on. Thanks
Braxton is terrible. Sweat has under performed. Kyler Gordon is just a nickel back. Amegadjie is turnstile. Austin Booker has done nothing. Edmunds has been a bust.
Swift, you are so biased and put a positive spin on garbage. It's the positive spin you did with J Fields all over again.
Poles biggest mistake is not replacing Flus with a new head coach for Caleb what a disaster rookie season for him and the team.
Reportedly he wanted Harbaugh and Warren wouldn't even let him in the building. My fear is Warren's thin skin and ego will be a major hurdle in us getting a top respected coach like Vrabel which we desperately need!
@@ba2ooka19 This is where I feel that the owners are using Warren as their influence on decision-making. The McCaskeys SWEAR that they know how to run an NFL team but we fans know that is not true at all.
I am from the world where top-drafted rookie QBs warm the bench if the O-line isn't ready to protect our future asset. Ty Bagent can take all these hits instead while Caleb watches what is possible and also what not to do.
Whose decision is that on?
Great stuff!!
No GM is 100% perfect on draft picks/signings. The best hit it on 1's 2's and a few others from other rounds. Poles has done that while getting more picks and good starters in trade. Getting rid of him is indeed nuts Swifty.
Best overall take on Poles performance I have seen. Glad you are not going with the current narrative and conviction to do the homework. I am in complete agreement. Poles has done an amazing job. I have grown tired of listening to the media and fan complaints about Poles.
I still do not believe that Poles hired Eberflus. I think it was an arranged marriage and he became the fall guy. He will never publicly state what truly happened or it will kill his career. He just took the hit and will keep rolling. Taking the hit for not getting rid of him at the end of last season as well. Heck, they had to have a 3 hour conversation with George after the team lost 6 in a row. I do not know what makes the fan and media think that George would have agreed to firing him in the offseason if he did not want to fire him after he had ruined this season and lost the locker room.
In your free agent analysis, you did not mention the signing of Swift or Everett. What are your thoughts on them?
I support keeping Ryan Poles as GM, one head scratcher you didn’t mention was trading Roquan Smith for a second rounder before signing Tremaine Edmunds which wasn’t bad, but we had the best linebacker before the the trade.
Say I buy a car off a dude who mistreated it, never changed the oil, has bad tires and cracked windshield and no air con. And he was the mechanic.
The motor leaks oil and it sucks.
But I decide to fix it up. I buy new tires and chrome rims, buy a new windshield, fix the air con, even get a ceramic coat finish to make it look nice.
But I don’t even do anything for the engine.
Soon the engine starts to leak more oil and there’s a knocking sound coming out of it. So I take it to the same guy I bought it from to fix it.
That’s what Poles did to this team.
Instead of fixing the o-line first he bought all the bells and whistles and made this team look shiny and kept the same coach.
He should’ve traded down, get hopefully a 1st or 2nd rd pick for next year and drafted lineman, kept JF for at least one more year to see how he does behind this impressive o-line. If he doesn’t do good we have the capital to go after a qb in next years draft but I’ll tell you what, we would be better than we are now. If we were 8-9 last year we’d make at least the wild card this year.
And as far as keeping Flus, he should’ve fired him and gone after Harbaugh and insisted to anyone who didn’t agree that this was what’s best for the team. But he caved and this is what’s best we got.
Not saying his picks are busts or avg. it’s just that he didn’t address the foundation of what makes a team great.
And you said this yourself, “Detroit has one of the best o-lines in the NFL.” And they are on top of not only our division, but the whole conference. Even the NFL!
Swift, please get others talking about this! If we lose Poles it will be a disaster
Thank you Sir for being balanced and fair on this...
Swifty, you talk about how well Poles has drafted for the Bears - all of his moves combined have gotten us to a total of 4 wins in year 3 of his leadership. How can you justify that he's done a great job when the ultimate stat to be measured by is wins and losses? If we are so talented, why do we have only 4 wins and how is that NOT on Poles? Is there a limit to how many years he has to turn this thing around if 3 years isn't enough? If we don't have a winning record next year, is Poles culpable at that point? How about after year 5? When is Poles responsible for the success of this team as our GM exactly?
We need to fire Poles and send the coaching staff packing along with him. Bring in a new GM who will hire Ben Johnson and let Johnson pick his own staff. We can't continue to cycle GM, Coach, QB, so it's time to purge 2 of them at the same time. Poles is not a good talent evaluator - he has a great secondary coach.
Swifty coming through with the FACTS yet again!
To me, Poles has been the BEST GM that Da Bears has had in my lifetime of +50 years. He has done WAY MORE good than harm to the team.
He is the very first one who has been openly concerned with not just merely winning an occasional Super Bowl, but to establish a yearly playoff contender, even long after he retires.
I think he was right in seeing the talents in Eberflus as a defensive coach but we all found out hard that it did not extend to being head coach. Poles definitely could not foresee the Alan Williams DC fiasco coming.
Many fans and pundits say that the talent on the roster is too good to be losing like this, but they easily have forgotten that (1) this is the first season that much of the team has even played together and (2) Ryan Poles built this roster.
I feel that Poles has at least to the 2026-2027 season to see his moves finally come to fruition.
🐻🐻🐻🐻⬇⬇⬇⬇
Poles has bought himself some time with the Caleb pick, of course. I want to see how he spends high round draft picks in the trenches in the 2025 draft. We will own the second round! A very valuable position.
Great info. I agree he is probably one of the best GM’s we have had. Nobody hits on every deal. However, I think we cannot validate him by comparing him to past Bears GM’s…. We need to compare him to GM’s across the league.
And Bears fans are so happy we got Caleb.
Well how do you think Caleb feels right now about being in Chicago?
I’m sure that once or twice he’s cried on his mother’s shoulder after all those losses.
He’s miserable, defeated, dejected, paranoid in the pocket and beat up badly. 3 car crashes is what he compared his abuse to.
I’m betting he’s leaving as soon as he can. And if he doesn’t that’ll be on Poles. And then we’d lose that pick and the qb.
3 years of picks not one pro bowler on the team stop it he sucks
Great factual analysis. The reason that large market teams are perpetually bad is that the fan base and media in large market cities force premature changes and bring such massive negativity to the team and players, it is hard to withstand and tune it out. If we win that Washington game which we should have, this year would have gone very differently - but yet the Bears would still not be a playoff team or a team that would go beyond a wild card game. We would still have Eberflus as a coach when it seems clear that he is a good coach but not one that could take us to a Super Bowl. No way would I fire Poles. We need to use the massive number of picks Poles has acquired for 2025 to stack our offensive and defensive lines and maybe pick up a hidden gem powerhouse running back that could compete with the best running backs in the NFC. We need to get the right coach for Caleb and with the personality to take us to a Super Bowl. I actually like Kingsbury as he has had head coaching experience and a great relationship with Caleb. He has also led Daniels to a great rookie year behind a stellar offensive line and great running game - exactly what we need to compete in the NFC North.
Can you provide historical context on other teams that have suffered thru a deliberate tank season and which teams recovered the fastest.
This roster is shell-shocked from Poles’ tear-down and “trust the process”…the results of 3 seasons of losing has infected the mentality of the entire roster.
They don’t hate losing.
Light at the end of the tunnel is very dim.
I never trust the sports media in Chicago. Sports pundits like W&S are more interested in drumming up controversy because it draws attention and thus views. Then to put out a thorough, detailed, compelling, and informative discussion on the current state of the Bears. Besides you Swift, and Adam Mason making very informative, and intelligent content. It feels like all these other Chicago sports media are just old men yelling at the imaginary kids to get off their lawn.
I think if Poles still is the GM, it’s going to be hard for him to hire the best head coach, unless they extend Poles contract. Maybe that will happen?
GREAT REPORT'''
People forget about fixing the salary cap and continuing to balance it well
Most of the Bears fans base is lacking what a playoff team looks like. This fan base needs to learn what a solid team looks like. Being judgemental when the fan has no knowledge of what they are looking for is more crazy.
Claypool was his biggest miss, then not trading Velus. I agree with you on just about everything else, great depth
Brian Gutekunst and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah have both done extraordinary jobs with the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings respectively. Adofo-Mensah was hired the same year that Poles was. Both teams are not only winning, but dominating the division. Poles has made moves that I like and I was with him up until recently. His handling of the coaching staff overall has been very poor. His neglect of the offensive line is offensive. At the end of the day, the measuring stick must be wins and losses. This team is not getting better. If Poles must be fired in order to acquire a good head coach, then it must be done. Decisions cannot be made based off of previous general managers for the Chicago Bears. This team has been bad a long time and that is why.
Good job bro. I was almost sucked in by the overwhelming media attack on Poles. Thanks for reminding me of how bad it was before he got here and how, slow as it may be, he is building for the future. Fans who think that a Superbowl contender is just a sinhle coach or gm hire away are delusional. No doubt you need to get those right. But it takes years of the right draft picks and player acquisitions. How many potentially great coaches are sitting at home because they never got the roster they needed to succeed!
Appreciate you brother!! So true! It's a process.
Better offensive line & defensive line talent will turn this system around. Play calling will straighten this team. Finding the right Head Coach my vote is Dave Tumb special teas coach in Kansas City
Thank you for seeing what I see.
Poles is 2-13 in the division since his “Taking the North and not giving it back.”
Packers, Lions, Vikings are all better since then.
Swiftly, you have glossed over the Eberflus hire, which is right up there in terms of GM job responsibilities. I do think Poles is an excellent strategist but is just average when it comes to player evaluations. This team now has holes on both lines and needed upgrades at running back, linebacker, and safety. Also need two new tight ends. I'm for retaining him and giving him a short extension so that we don't scare off the most talented head coach candidates. That said, he should not be given full authority (Warren should have veto power as his job will be on the line if Poles swings and misses again).
I don't want Warren anywhere near the football decisions. He's a lawyer and a politician. Thin skinned, arrogant, and egotistical. He's the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd reason Jim freaking Harbaugh is not our HC. Poles reportedly was very interested, but Warren wouldn't even let him in the building! Huh?
Problem is there were various reports that poles wanted to fire Flus last year.
Unfortunately, we don't know for sure whose decision that is (Warren/McCaskey/Poles) and unless you were a fly on the wall at halas hall, its just speculating.
Poles stood behind Flus.. its really hard to say whether he really was or whether the McCaskets forced his hand. Warren still hasnt finished his job either. Harbaugh doest mix overtly with Warren. We are just a really good coach taking this to the playoffs. I like Caleb. I hope we can just sit him and let the Bagent man finish off the season. I think Brown should be oc if Caleb wants it.
Right there with you on most of your takes Swifty, but I have to respectfully disagree on the Mack/Sweat comp. I really like Montez, but Khalil is world class and if I had to choose, even at his age, I'd rather have Mack.
Poles being a first time GM is also in a learning process. I think Eberflus is his biggest misstep to this point but even with his personnel misses, he's an upgrade over any GM I can remember in Chicago and don't want him going anywhere! I don't see him repeating terrible mistakes.
I’m at the point if he stays ok, if the new head coach and GM want to be aligned and they release Poles ok as well
I do agree that Poles has been our best GM since Jerry Angelo, but I have to disagree with Swift on some of Poles' moves. First, he promised to fix the trenches, but yet very first draft he selected 2 DB (Gordon & Brisker) and a WR (Jones). Then in 2023, Poles should have drafted Jalen Carter as he was the 3 Tech DT that Eberflus needed for his defense. He could have addressed the O-Line with the 2nd and 3rd instead of Dexter and Pickens. We all know Caleb is the most important player for this franchise and needs all of the help. I say give Poles this next draft to prove himself, but the on very thin ice.
Poles has done a awesome job. The calls for his firing is rather curious to me. We have a large amount of draft picks. Top 5 in cap space, but the kool-aide you'll were sipping in the preseason. Not knowing we had a rookie Qb and the O-line wasn't fixed. I'm into solutions not standing on the sideline and complaining
Good thoughts, I still disagree that Poles is the way to go. He should've addressed the trenches before skill positions. Also, you didn't mention that he seriously damaged Caleb by retaining Eberflus which lead to getting Waldron.
Poles is directly responsible for Caleb having to deal with at least 3 different Play Callers and 2 Head Coaches in his first two seasons already.
Poles also just got lucky with the Carolina trade getting us Caleb, most of that credit goes to Lovie.
Poles is not the problem and the fans know this hopes were to high this year that’s all they will get over it. June July people will be singing a different tune 😂and I get it yup it hurts but I trust Ryan Poles
You say Poles has turned this organization around but here we are 3 years later and can only win 4 games
If you don't see how we have young talent, draft picks, cap space, a franchise qb and more...idk what to say man.
I usually agree with you, but I disagree with a few things this time. In terms of first round hits, obviously Urlacher should have been listed as a hit. I also think Leonard Floyd and Kyle Long were very solid NFL players. In terms of free agents, factoring in cost I consider Edmunds, Swift and Everett to be busts. Byard and Walker are pushes at best.
Poles strong point is in structuring contracts to stay out of salary cap hell. As an evaluator of talent he gets a B-
The issue is not Poles being good, it's Warren probably wants his own guy as GM, the question is will it happen now does Poles get a reprieve for 1 more year.
Truth be told, the Bears haven’t hit the draft out of the park since ‘84 (Marshall, Rivera, Gayle). Hopefully, 2024 class pans out.
The bar is sooooo-looooow.