Bears GM Ryan Poles knows No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams can’t do it alone. “The infrastructure has to be there, and I think we’ve done that part to have the talent around our quarterback now,” Poles said.
Nam Y. Huh/AP
From the time they enter Halas Hall, Bears general managers, coaches and offensive coordinators hear all about the franchise’s lackluster quarterback history, but with the possible exception of Jerry Angelo, we never see that they feel our pain.
The arrive. They see the black-and-white photos of Sid Luckman in the building. They try to address the problem. It doesn’t work out, for whatever reason. And they’re gone. We’re still waiting to hear from Ryan Pace where he went wrong with the Mitch Trubisky pick.
But two years into his tenure at Pace’s successor, general manager Ryan Poles expressed a bit of the frustration Bears fans have been feeling for years. Poles is about as unflappable and even-tempered as anyone who’s ever stepped foot at Halas Hall. But when asked about Caleb Williams’ inquiring about the Bears’ quarterback history, Poles for a moment showed that he’s fed up, too.
“The history’s the history,” Poles said. “Look, I’m done talking about it. You go back so much all the time and those days are over. So we’re bringing players in here that want to really just change everything up and do things a different way.
“Obviously, we love our history here. But it hasn’t been smooth recently and it’s time to change. We’ve got to stop going back all the time.”
We’ll see soon enough if those days are “over with.” But Poles has given the Bears the best chance since Jim McMahon was drafted in 1982 to do something about it.
Poles took the biggest step toward that goal Thursday night, when he made USC quarterback Williams the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The 6-1, 214-pound Williams, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2022, was the consensus No. 1 overall player in this draft and arguably is the best quarterback prospect since Stanford’s Andrew Luck in 2012.
And it was a long time coming.
“It feels great,” Poles said. “It’s a guy that has all the tools. It’s going to take hard work. It’s going to take getting in sync with his teammates. There’s a long road ahead to develop the places where he needs to develop to win games and bring a championship here. But the beautiful thing is we have the right people here. We have the right teammates. I feel really good about it.”
But Poles didn’t just settle for the good fortune of having the No. 1 overall pick to get Williams. He’s been fixated on giving his quarterback the support he needs to succeed.
Poles insisted on getting wide receiver DJ Moore from the Panthers last year in the deal for the No. 1 overall pick that eventually turned into Williams. He traded for six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen in March.
For a general manager who started his first season on the job with a wide receiver corps of Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Dante Pettis, Byron Pringle, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and rookie Velus Jones last season, the Moore-Allen combination is a duo he could have settled for. But he didn’t. With the No. 9 overall pick in the draft on Thursday night he took Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze — ranked among the top five players in the draft by ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. and other draft analysts.
With tight ends Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett and running back D’Andre Swift coming off a Pro Bowl season, the Bears suddenly have the makings of an offense under first-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron that belies their futility. The Bears have finished in the bottom half of the NFL in scoring in 25 of the last 31 seasons.
It starts with Caleb Williams. But Poles know it will take much more for the sustained success the Bears haven’t seen since the Ditka era.
“The infrastructure has to be there, and I think we’ve done that part to have the talent around our quarterback now,” Poles said. “Our entire organization is going to have to be on the same page on how we handle this — how we develop Caleb.
“But I also think we have a really good approach with all our players and I think that’s maybe different than it was in the past. The way we take it really serous in terms of a nutritional standpoint, to performance to mental skills to how our coaches team. I think we’ve made some really good strides.
“But everyone is going to take everybody and everyone has to be on the same page. We’ve got to adjust to the strengths and weaknesses that the player has.”
The Bears’ offense has a long way to go, but Poles has provided fuel for a giant leap. The Bears have upgraded at wide receiver. They’ve upgraded at running back. They replaced Luke Getsy with Shane Waldron. And they believe Caleb Williams can do things that Justin Fields could not.
“He’s got special instincts, awareness,” Poles said. “Especially in the pocket — to manipulate the pocket, get in and out of the pocket. A feel for space [that] is special. That’s his secret sauce.
“Then once we speed things up and start to identify different coverages and there’s an adjustment to go through as well. We’re really excited to work with the tools he has.”
Now comes the hard part. But there’s no denying Poles has the Bears on a path to success. A long, long way from the roster he inherited in 2022.
“I’m pumped. I’m pumped. We’ve done good work,” Poles said, about as excited as he gets. “It’s one thing to bring talent in, but it’s another to bring talent [where] they’re good people, and they’re great teammates.
“We’re looking today at what the roster looks like and it’s been a journey. I know it hasn’t been that many years [two], but it feels like it’s been a lot of years. So we’ve done good work. But … we’ve got to win.”