This is Kevin Warren’s time to shine for the Chicago Bears

Well, it is official. The Chicago Bears are the worst-run team in the National Football League. Two years into what should have been a promising rebuild, including the development of the franchise’s first superstar quarterback, instead the Bears find themselves answering questions about the quarterback, coaching, and now most pressing, their general manager.

In light of the recent news that Jaylon Johnson has requested a trade from the Bears, it frankly doesn’t matter whether or not he gets traded, or even if he and the Bears ultimately reach an extension. Simply the fact that one of the team’s best young players at a premier position felt discontent enough to request a trade AFTER saying he wasn’t looking to reset the market is a horrible look for Ryan Poles.

Amidst all the chaos of this season, between the handling of Alan Williams’ departure, the Chase Claypool Saga, Justin Fields’ coaching comments, the pathetic performances on Sundays, and most recently the weird obsession with Bagent that somehow made its way from the water coolers of Halas Hall onto the Sunday Night Football broadcast with millions of viewers, it is finally time for Kevin Warren to make his presence felt…

…that is if he plans to change anything.

If Kevin Warren truly wants to bring change to the Chicago Bears as their new president, it will start by blocking any trade offer for Jaylon Johnson till the season’s end.

What Chicago Bears fans can definitely see, what Ryan Poles and his staff cannot see, and what most of us hope Kevin Warren sees is that Ryan Poles’ tenure has been marked with numerous moves with well-functioning teams, almost all of which have worked out poorly for the Bears.

Take the first one, sending Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens for a late second-round pick in the 2023 draft. The Ravens have boasted one of the league’s best defenses since that trade and after extending Roquan Smith look to be formidable contenders in the AFC. The Bears? Well, they used that pick on Gervon Dexter Sr.

The next one, trading for Chase Claypool in exchange for what became the 32nd pick in the draft. The Steelers have a young quarterback who needs to be developed, why would they trade a wide receiver so good and so talented that he’d be worth a first-round pick on the open market? The answer: they wouldn’t because that’s not Chase Claypool. Yet, Ryan Poles pulled the trigger and turned that 32nd overall pick into a 6th-round pick in 2024 only one year later.

The final one (for now), allowing the Eagles to come up with one pick and draft a generational 3-technique, a position that the Bears’ own head coach describes as “the engine of the defense.” This isn’t shade to Darnell Wright, but more so a reflection of the Bears process – whatever that is – which has had a track record of aligning opposite to some of the best-run organizations in the NFL.

Now, with the Jaylon Johnson trade rumors. If he gets moved, it is assuredly going to be to one of the league’s contenders: Buffalo, San Francisco, Dallas, etc. At this point in Ryan Poles’ tenure, should he be trusted to handle a negotiation like that? If I’m Kevin Warren, that answer is emphatically no. The last thing the Bears need is to be embarrassed twice in one week let alone for the umpteenth time this season.

If Kevin Warren is serious about changing the way things are done around here, it starts with blocking any kind of transaction till the season’s end so he can have a holistic picture of what to do with his front office and coaching staff. Stadium plans can wait, because after all what good is a new stadium if there isn’t a team worth fielding to put on it.