5 best offseason moves the Chicago Bears made in 2022

1. Getting the salary cap under control

The Chicago Bears are getting the salary cap under control this offseason.

Sometimes there are things in life that we don’t want to do even though we have to. One of those things for new NFL general managers is dealing with the past regime’s mistakes.

In an ideal world, every new front office should be given a clean slate that would allow them to start building the team in their vision.

That is rarely ever the case. Rosters that are inhabited are usually on life support and were the reason why the past general manager was fired.

The Bears were very much in that situation. It was a roster full of older and declining players that ate up a large chunk of their salary cap.

Rather than running back with a team that clearly wasn’t going anywhere, Poles did the best thing for the long-term success of the Bears which was hitting the reset button.

Trading Khalil Mack was the first big domino and then the release of Danny Trevathan, Nick Foles, Eddie Goldman, and Tarik Cohen followed suit.

The Bears are spending roughly $56 million dollars in dead cap which is the 2nd most in the NFL in 2022.

Obviously, that isn’t ideal for the team’s present circumstances (especially with a developing second-year QB), yet absolutely necessary for their future.

Taking this year to “eat their vegetables” and clear their books gives them so much more flexibility in the years to come.

This was the only way the Bears can actually begin to build towards something more worthwhile than .500 records and first-round playoff exits.

Will Poles deliver? That is TBD. There is still a lot of work to be done. However, he has taken the right steps thus far and that is always encouraging.