Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has two scapegoats

The Chicago Bears are two games into their season and it would seem that the season is already on the verge of falling off the rails.

With losses to the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to open the season, there is already a legitimate question of whether or not head coach Matt Eberflus should be on the hot seat. 

Regardless of the outcome of the Bears’ season, it would seem that general manager Ryan Poles is going to be safe regardless.

Even, in the event that new Bears’ president Kevin Warren wanted to meet with Poles to discuss what went wrong this season, Poles is going to have two automatic outs in which he can fall back on in terms of ensuring his job is safe.

The first out will be Eberflus. After the 2021 season, the Bears were conducting their search for a new general manager at the same time that they were conducting their search for a head coach. Meaning, when Poles was hired as the team’s general manager, Eberflus had already been identified as the leading candidate for the head coaching position.

The second out is the quarterback position. For as much potential as Justin Fields has at the quarterback position, he was never Poles’ handpicked quarterback. That is why there has been a hesitancy from Poles to truly commit to Fields being the long-term answer at the position for the Bears.

That is why Poles may view this season as a can’t-lose situation.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles likely will be given an opportunity to fix the mess that the team has become.

Sure, the Bears are going to be bad but if they are bad and Fields turns his season around, then he will likely have two top-10 draft picks to add pieces around the identified answer at the quarterback position.

But, in the more likely outcome at this point, if the Bears are bad and Fields continue to be bad, Poles is going to have what could even be two top-five draft picks to select his handpicked answer at the quarterback position.