5 fears or frustrations Chicago Bears fans will always have
By Todd Welter
Chicago Bears can quickly get frustrated with new leadership
New leadership always brings new hopes for future Bears glory. That is until the new Bears leadership makes a bad offseason move. Then it is a five-alarm house on fire panic.
Poles’ first major signing was defensive tackle Larry Ogujabi. The deal had to be voided because he failed a physical. Then Poles signed restricted free-agent guard Ryan Bates to an offer sheet. The Buffalo Bills matched the offer and the fan base was not pleased.
It did not help Poles’ cause that he did not front-load Bates’ offer to force the Bills into declining to match. In essence, Poles negotiated Bates’ contract for Buffalo and left the Chicago Bears without a starting guard.
The bigger fan frustration comes when new management fails to sign or trade for players fans feel can help the Bears win. The narrative is being spun that Poles is not doing enough to surround Justin Fields without any talent to succeed.
There is a belief that Fields is being set up to fail.
This is bad. Darnell Mooney is a great player -- 1k yards last year in a horrible offensive system -- but he's more suited to be a #2 WR than a #1. Kmet and Montgomery are solid. Outside of that there's no weapons, and the offensive line is awful. Justin Fields is set up to fail. https://t.co/v5JCRpQHZz
— Sayom! (@SayomGD) May 2, 2022
While Fields has the talent to elevate the play of those around him, Bears fans have seen this play out before. Jerry Angelo could never sufficiently add a dynamic wide receiver around Jay Cutler. Phil Emery did but he could not provide an adequate defense–or a head coach.
Poles has a long-term plan on building up the roster to win a Super Bowl. So did Angelo, Emery, and Pace. Only Angelo built a team that went to the Super Bowl.
Poles is the first general manager in a long time that has tried to add more draft picks in his first year on the job. Poles is also clearing up the Chicago Bears salary cap mess. The Bears are poised to go into the 2023 offseason with over $110 million in cap space. He can use that offseason, much like the Miami Dolphins did this year, to surround a young quarterback with better offensive talent.