One thing that usually hangs over a general manager and coach preparing for Year 3 with a 10-24 record would be the certainty that if the season starts slowly, the pressure will become immense.
That’s not to say Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus won’t or should not feel pressure with the 2024 season approaching. They will. But what might otherwise appear to be a win-or-else predicament after two seasons with some very rocky moments looks different.
There has been a calm over training camp, not a nervous energy. The Bears have accomplished absolutely nothing. They don’t hand out a participation trophy for going 4-0 in the preseason. But they feel like they’re in a different spot — and they should be after a 5-3 finish to last season and an eventful offseason headlined by the selection of quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
Poles, who mentioned winning the NFC North and never giving it back when he was hired, looks like he’s in charge of a team that should challenge for a playoff berth. The Bears have had just one winning season in the last 11 years and haven’t won a postseason game since January 2011. Optimism at the time of roster cutdowns in these parts can easily turn to pessimism by October and a focus on the draft by November.
But the roster looks upgraded in a lot of areas, and the Bears are a little more than a week away from seeing if what looks good on paper plays better on grass when they play host to the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 8 at Soldier Field.
Naturally, the GM was asked the cliched question every front-office boss gets before the start of every season: Playoffs, right?
“Obviously, that’s my priority,” Poles said after Wednesday’s practice at Halas Hall. “Let’s get the roster in the best shape possible, because that’s going to give us an opportunity to win games, but it’s always going to be to win championships. To win the division, win Super Bowls, that’s always the goal.
“Getting into the playoffs and winning playoff games would be outstanding, but I think the biggest thing is can we take that big jump from where we were last year to this year, and I think we’re capable of doing that.”
A jump from 7-10, even a modest one, likely would put the Bears in the playoffs. Poles came across as reserved, and that’s the smart play knowing he’s relying on a rookie quarterback, one who flashed playmaking ability in the preseason but almost certainly will encounter valleys along with the peaks in the regular season.
“I expect him to … that’s a great question,” said Poles, taking a minute to collect his thoughts when asked about Williams. “I want him to lean on the talent around him and then when the time is right — and that’s an instinctual thing and I think that plays right into him — that’s when you do the special. Balancing that.
“Sometimes it’s going to get out of whack one way or the other but always come back to that. It’s kind of like that neutral place where he’s at his best, and I think he has that just from studying him and watching years of tape on him. He has that ability, and so I think that’s kind of the big thing. Lean on the guys around him, be instinctual, let those wild plays happen at the right time. We saw it in the preseason a little bit.”
Skill-position talent was a big focus. Williams has the best group of wide receivers the Bears have had in maybe ever. Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett form a nice 1-2 package at tight end, and no one has talked enough about how much offensive coordinator Shane Waldron could lean on running back D’Andre Swift.
But will the offensive line with what looks like one new starter (center Coleman Shelton) — at least to begin the season — be improved enough? Poles is a former lineman. So is assistant GM Ian Cunningham.
“This is probably the best depth I’ve ever had,” he said. “We have more versatility, more depth. Shoot, we have 10 guys, so I feel comfortable. Obviously you want your starting five to be healthy and ready to go, but I feel more confident in the depth of our offensive line than I ever have before.”
The Bears will be at 11 when Larry Borom, on injured reserve with a right ankle issue, is in the mix. And Poles is right from the standpoint probably half the room legitimately can play multiple positions on the line. But there are some questions about the line, just as there are on defense — it’s Montez Sweat and a cast of many others to get after opposing quarterbacks.
Poles still is overseeing a young roster, and it will be interesting to see where the Bears rank on opening weekend. The roster still needs to learn how to win.
“We knew that it was going to take time to really get all the pieces,” Poles said. “And there’s still space for us to improve as well.”
It sure feels different this time around. The energy has been real and consistent. Maybe that’s because the team has devoted two seasons and now all of an offseason to putting the organization on the right track and not the alternative — which can look like an every-man-for-himself scramble for life rafts the moment things get tough.
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