The Chicago Bears Might Be Getting the Draft Process Right for Once

The Chicago Bears have the number one pick in this week's NFL Draft, and they are likely to select a quarterback -- probably Caleb Williams out of USC.

The Bears have picked two other quarterbacks in the first round in recent years: Justin Fields and Mitchell Trubisky. The team traded Fields this offseason after he had an inconsisent tenure as Bears starter. Trubisky, meanwhile, was a bust before the Bears took Fields.

While one can make the case that Fields was failed by poor coaching, it's clear that Trubisky was not only poorly developed, but the process that led to his selection was flawed.

To be fair, it appears that former general manager Ryan Pace learned from his mistakes when it came time to select Fields. That cannot be ignored.

But current GM Ryan Poles seems to have a better process than Pace did when it came time to get Trubisky -- and given the Bears' position in the draft order and the team's belief that it will be a playoff contender as soon as this fall, that matters.

Unlike Pace, Poles doesn't seem worried about what kind of car Williams (or Maye, or whoever) drives or what name they use to make a reservation for dinner. Nor is Poles apparently some potential picks because he feel in love with one guy.

Instead, Poles was deliberate and thorough before deciding to trade Fields (some fans, seeing the trade return, think he was too deliberate) and all publicly available evidence suggests that the team has taken a business-like approach to scouting Williams and other potential picks. Cutesy but irrelevant factors are not, as far as we can tell, a part of the process.

Maybe we'll find out, two or three years from now, that Poles was charmed by Caleb because Williams name-dropped Doug Buffone or he had Chicago Bears bedsheets as a kid. And it should go without saying that even if the process is perfect there's no guarantee the result will be.

But based on how the Bears handled the NFL scouting combine and William's pro days, and based on everything Poles has said to the media since the season ended, it appears the team is actually behaving like a professional football team instead of an easily-manipulated mom and pop operation.

It might not translate into wins on the field, but the likelihood of any pick hitting and being successful is much higher when the homework is done correctly.

In other Bears news: