Ryan Poles' Bears contract draws wild reaction from fan and foe alike

Nothing else has sparked more genuine debate regarding the Bears since ... whatever the last debate was.

There are so many of them so often it's hard to remember.

GM Ryan Poles' contract extension through 2029 lit up social media with everything from hate messages to pats on the back for a job well done by the organization and GM.

It's safe to say everything Poles has done seemed to resurface during this on-going fan rant, both positive and negative.

The overriding opinion is the roster is stocked and it's good he has Ben Johnson's guiding hand to keep him from fouling it up. However, the Bears have thought they were on the verge of success numerous times in the past.

It's true, Poles had to dig the Bears out of a deeper ditch than many GMs did, such as Minnesota's Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. The salary cap situation put before Poles when he took over looked like a nightmare because of Ryan Pace's spending in free agency and pushing prorated guarantees off into the future. He played with the cap and finally it blew up on him.

Then again, other GMs face such circumstances and cope without gutting the roster.

A Joel Corry "agent's take" column written for CBS more than a decade ago in 2014 listed the Steelers, Saints, Cardinals, Patriots and 49ers as teams with the worst cap situations.

A Joel Corry "agent's take" column written for CBS more than a decade ago in 2014 listed the Steelers, Saints, Cardinals, Patriots and 49ers as teams with the worst cap situations at that time.

The Patriots won three more Super Bowls and made the playoffs every year until Tom Brady left for Tampa despite being on that list. The Steelers were in the playoffs eight times after that story. The Saints always have been in cap hell it seems and went to the playoffs four straight years after the story.

That column also called the Cowboys irresponsible with the cap but Dallas made it three of the next five seasons after the column.

What he wrote was true but teams find ways to cope that don't include gutting the roster. They have to make good draft picks and sign good players. They simply don't gut the roster. Poles did it, though.

Adofo-Mensah found a way in Minnesota without doing what Poles did with the cap and the Vikings have a playoff berth and a division title in the last three years. New Orleans has easily had the worst salary cap situation in the NFL over the past six years combind, and in those seasons came away with four winning records and didn't do a total reboot.

The Bears had 15 wins and 36 losses in three years.

If Poles had been successful with shrewd draft picks and free agent signings, perhaps the debate among fans wouldn't have been as intense as it has been since the signing.

However, he's had far too many misses in all aspects of the job. To compare Poles' performance to baseball, teams tolerate .200 hitters because they hit home runs. Poles is coming up with singles, the occasional double and sporting a .190.

No Pro Bowl players and the top 100 player lists are not littered with his draft picks. He finally extended one of his own players in Kyler Gordon, but it's too soon to be too critical in this regard because Gordon was in his first draft class. Others will be extended in future years, and maybe Jaquan Brisker if his health holds up.

Other moves he made invited scorn but also some were logical.

He traded and avoided risky pick Jalen Carter before drafting Darnell Wright. Maybe both players are going to pan out. The Justin Fields trade wasn't a moment of triumph because he had two seasons watching the Ryan Pace draft pick play without properly supporting him.

However, Fields' play in fourth quarters definitely didn't warrant his return. Getting a sixth-round pick in return for a starting quarterback seemed embarrassing.

Poles' wins include acquiring DJ Moore and numerous picks for starters in the trade back that brought them Caleb Williams. However, he also passed on QBs C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels.

The signing definitely wasn't a missed opportunity for Vikings, Packers and Lions fans who remember Poles said the Bears would take the North and never give it back.

The move to keep Poles had fans of other teams laughing at the Bears. Opposing fans will do that anyway merely to taunt.

When the team hasn't had a winning season since 2018, though, such taunts cause more of a deep pain than a sting.

Whatever the case, the Bears have left themselves open to criticism now by putting the next five seasons in Poles' hands.

It's a big chunk of future devoted to someone with so little success in the past. All Poles has on his side is experience and Johnson as his head coach guiding him better than Matt Eberflus could.

Bears fans have to hope Johnson takes one of Poles' hands and takes him in a more direct route to success than he has taken to date on his own.

It's a thought crossing the minds of more than a few Bears fans after they got over the initial shock of the agreement.