5 Biggest Mistakes of Ryan Poles' Bears Tenure So Far

4. Signing Nate Davis to a free-agent deal

He was given a three-year, $30 million deal to upgrade the offensive line's interior. It turned out to be a disaster as he started just 13 games in two seasons.

Davis battled a death in the family and some injuries during last training camp. Once he fully got right, he was not effective.

His effort this offseason was bad that he got called out by Eberflus. He was eventually made inactive and when he was finally called upon to play, he called in with a surprise back injury. That is when the team decided to move on from a guy who seemed like he was interested in collecting his paychecks, but not giving his all on every snap.

5. Not putting enough premium assets into the offensive line

Davis' signing and drafting right tackle Darnell Wright in the first round last season is the highest asset usage he has put into the line.

Otherwise, he keeps going cheap at center. Poles signed Lucas Patrick during his first offseason. He got hurt to where he was not much of a starter in 2022. Then he was constantly getting shoved back in 2023.

Although, Poles thought Cody Whitehair could return to center where he did earn a Pro Bowl invite. The problem was Whitehair had trouble snapping the ball. It was a big reason he was eventually moved to guard. Guess what problem showed up when Whitehair tired center again?

This offseason he signed Coleman Shelton and traded a draft pick for Ryan Bates. Turns out Bates has a shoulder issue that has hampered him for much of the season. Shelton has been inconsistent at best.

Poles almost gave up on Teven Jenkins, who he inherited from his predecessor Ryan Pace. However, Jenkins cannot stay healthy on the field.

He does deserve credit for finding starting left tackle Braxton Jones in the fifth round out of Southern Utah. The problem is Jones is replacement-level at best who still cannot handle a bull rush. Great run blocker, not so good in pass blocking. For a left tackle, you need to be great at both.

This minimal investing in the line allowed Fields to take a lot of sacks and now Caleb.

Hopefully, Poles will learn from all of these mistakes. The one mistake he can never let happen again is getting the head coach wrong. If that happens again, he will likely be out of job.

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