Should the Bears fire Ryan Poles? Here are four reasons why the answer might be yes

2. Too many bad trades

Trading the 2023 first overall pick to the Carolina Panthers was a fantastic deal, but almost every other trade made by Ryan Poles has been a disaster. Montez Sweat is not playing anywhere close to the level of his historic contract extension, Ryan Bates was a turnstile, and Chase Claypool isn't even in the NFL anymore. And to add insult to injury, two of those guys, Claypool and Sweat, cost the Bears high-value second-round picks.

3. Coaching malpractice

Earlier this offseason, it was revealed that Caleb Williams and his father had deep misgivings about playing in Chicago; the Bears' coaching failures in 2024 proved Williams' concerns were right . Matt Eberflus was painfully obviously not the man for the job of coaching up Chicago's first franchise quarterback in decades, but Poles opted to keep him around for an extra year anyway, turning Williams' rookie season into a wash.

Sure, the failures of the coaching staff belong to the actual coaches, but enough ink has been spilled on their account. At the end of the day, Poles is their boss. He hired them, he kept them, and their failures reflect poorly on him.

4. The Bears are too soft

Much to-do was made of the Bears running intense, physical practices this offseason. It looked like Chicago would field a team of absolute brutes that could punch the other team in the mouth and force them off their gameplan. In reality, the Bears take more punches than Canelo Alvarez did the other night, but unlike the former super middleweight champion they crumple immediately. That is a direct reflection of the losing culture that Poles has allowed to fester.

The Bears shouldn't fire Ryan Poles only because they can't keep doing the same thing over and over.

We all know what the definition of insanity is. The Bears have to break a vicious cycle of firing and try, for once, to allow a coaching staff and front office to grow together, through ups and (really far down) downs. Besides, the Bears signed Poles to a huge contract extension this offseason to match the length of head coach Ben Johnson's deal.

The meaning of this extension was clear: the Bears wanted to align their head coach and GM. For far too long, these two critical components of building a title contender have had separate timelines in Chicago. Either the GM is in job-saving mode or the coach is. With Poles and Johnson now aligned, hopefully we should see a front office working together with the coaches for the good of the team.

Ideally, we'll begin to see this pay off by the second half of the season. I know Bears fans are sick of hearing this, but just be patient for a little longer. The 2025 season is far from over.