Ryan Poles’ GM tenure should begin with one thing in mind

The Chicago Bears started the offseason off by firing the general manager and head coach. The Ryan Pace/Matt Nagy tenure was a disaster and they finally moved on. Following that was an extensive search for a general manager. It came out on Tuesday that they are going with Ryan Poles.

In the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday, a video surfaced of George McCaskey picking Poles up at the airport. Fans had their mixed reactions to the video that had nothing to do with football but seeing him in town gave pause.

Of course, seeing that he is for sure the guy, we have to hope that he has a better tenure in town than those who came before him. In order for that to happen, he needs to make sure that they get outstanding play from the quarterback. Right now, that is Justin Fields.

Fields is not a draft pick of Poles but he certainly knew that Fields was in place before taking the job as the general manager. Unless he can somehow land a quarterback that is significantly more gifted (and developed) than Fields, developing him needs to be the top priority.

Ryan Poles really needs to concern himself with the development of Justin Fields.

In 2021, Justin Fields displayed some serious talent on the field. He also was exposed at times because he was a rookie playing on a bad team. He also had Matt Nagy’s horrid offense to work with and that hasn’t worked out for pretty much anyone.

Poles needs to place a great head coach with a great offensive coordinator to get the most out of Fields. They can’t win the Super Bowl with bad quarterback play so this needs to get done. Even if it means punting on the 2022 season and just letting Fields learn, it is worth it.

There is no doubt that Poles knows the gifts that Fields possesses. He was a highly touted quarterback prospect and everybody knew it. As mentioned before, he didn’t have the best rookie season but we all know why. We really need to see Poles correct it.

This doesn’t have to end badly. Just because it has ended badly for the last 50 years doesn’t mean that things can change. The National Football League is a quarterback-driven league and the best of the best go far in the postseason. If Justin Fields, under Ryan Poles, can develop into one of those top guys, the Bears can turn this ship around.