When Ryan Poles was hired by the Chicago Bears, he vowed that his team would grab the NFC North and never give it back. The Bears were at their low point, completing a 6-11 season under Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace, and Poles was ready to bring Chicago back to relevance, even if it meant a scorched earth rebuild.
Three seasons later, the Bears have not only not taken the NFC North, but it hasn’t even come within its reach. The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus and replaced him with Ben Johnson this winter and a five-year, $65 million contract signaled that Johnson would be the man to lead Chicago on its latest attempt to rise from the ashes.
But Johnson’s arrival also signaled that Poles’s job would be safe, and it led to a big mistake by the front office as the Bears approach Johnson’s first training camp.
Bears Agree to Five-Year Extension with GM Ryan Poles
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bears have come to an agreement with Poles on a five-year extension that will keep him in place through the 2029 season. Poles had two seasons left on his initial contract when he arrived before the 2022 season, but will now be overseeing the franchise as it enters a new era under Johnson.
ESPN sources: the Bears and general manager Ryan Poles have reached agreement on a contract extension that ties him to Chicago for the next five years, through the 2029 season. Poles had two years remaining on his old deal, but now the Bears have him and new head coach Ben… pic.twitter.com/WEpVVAUYat
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 11, 2025
Poles has had some positives during his tenure, but they’ve been few and far between. The decision to trade the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to the Carolina Panthers helped Chicago get a haul that included the No. 1 pick in 2024 that was used to select Caleb Williams but the rest of his tenure have been filled with mistakes that have made them the laughing stock of the division.
The good news is that Poles has been aggressive in his attempt to turn things around. Trades for offensive guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson were made to solidify the interior of the offensive line, and Poles signed center Drew Dalman for good measure when free agency began last spring.
Chicago also spent a large chunk of change to bring in defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, and the Young trade also brought several other building blocks, including wide receivers D.J. Moore and Luther Burden III, 2023 offensive tackles, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, and Williams.
The problem has been turning those offseason moves into on-field success. Outside of a final stretch where the Bears won five of their final eight games in 2023 and started the 2024 season with a 4-2 record, there hasn’t been much optimism that Poles has this team in the right direction.
But it’s an interesting comparison when you look at what the Minnesota Vikings have done in the same time frame. The Vikings pivoted to general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah when Poles decided to go to Chicago and began their own roster teardown. The difference can be seen in the record as Minnesota has gone 34-17 over the past three seasons under Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell and will be turning to their quarterback of the future, J.J. McCarthy, next season.
Maybe Poles is a late bloomer, and he has the right coach in place this time around. But Bears fans have a right to be skeptical about the move and whether Poles can validate the claim that he made three years ago.