Chicago Bears: New Regime Needs Work to do to Improve Image

In spite of all the moves made to improve the Chicago Bears roster, many experts around the league still have very low expectations for them in 2022.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles inherited a bad situation when he took over for Ryan Pace. The team didn’t have much in cap space not only this season but in future seasons as well. The team could not hit free agency and get the top-notch players it needed to build a contender.

Additionally, Chicago didn’t have much draft capital. The Bears only had five draft picks when Poles took over, and no first round picks.

Pole did a good job of trying to turn things around. He turned five picks into 11 of them in this year’s draft. Also, he broke the wall and created a boatload of cap space by trading or cutting a number of popular players.

The result was having $111 million in cap space next season and $185 million available in 2024. That is more than enough money to build a contending team. Hopefully, he’ll also pick up a few more draft picks along the way.

Despite all those moves, experts around the league aren’t impressed. They are tasked with looking at the 2022 season. Looking at that, they have a low bar set for the Chicago Bears. Many of them expect the Bears to be near the bottom of the barrel this season. Let’s take a look at what they have to say.

Sports Illustrated Rank: 22nd

This is about the highest ranking the Chicago Bears get. It doesn’t have to do with the roster, however. It has more to do with new head coach Matt Eberflus.

Sports Illustrated is high on Eberflus as a coach. They expect a jump in the defense’s play, even if the offense is slower to progress. Had it not been for their love of Eberflus, the Bears would be a lot lower.

There is no basis for putting the Bears here, save for their most important offseason addition: head coach Matt Eberflus. This is, for now, a pro-Eberflus set of power rankings. The MMQB has been infatuated with Eberflus for a few years now, and we’re about to be proven right.

CBS Sports Rank: 27th

The Bears neither rose nor fell in the CBS Rankings since the end of the season. They noted that the defense will likely be better as a result of having Eberflus as the head coach.

They did note, however, that the Bears didn’t do much to help Fields, as many others did.

They spent some draft capital on the defense, which you would expect with Matt Eberflus in as the head coach. They didn’t do a lot early to help Justin Fields, which could be a concern and is somewhat strange.

NFL.com Rank: 30th

Here is where the rankings really start to tank. First up, NFL.com’s ranking comes up at 30th. They had Chicago ranked 25th at the end of last season.

They really gave it to the Bears for not helping Fields more. They noted that they lost Allen Robinson, who, despite having an off-season, was still their best option. They didn’t replace him with a top-notch receiver.

They said maybe Velus Jones Jr could have some role as a rookie, but predicted that Fields would stare down a bunch of blanketed receivers in 2022. They ended their evaluation by begging the Bears to help Fields.

How confident should we be about Justin Fields and the opportunity he is getting in Chicago? Absent a first-round pick (that went to the Giants in the Fields draft trade last year), Chicago opted to wait until the third round in Vegas to address the offense. Perhaps Tennessee wideout Velus Jones Jr. carves out a role as a rookie, but it’s more likely Fields will be staring down a lot of blanketed receivers when he drops back to pass this fall. Give the kid a chance!

Bleacher Report Rank: 31st

Bleacher Report only had the Houston Texans ranked lower than the Bears.

They did note that Poles did a good job considering how bad the situation was. Again, as with the other rankings, they noted that the defense will improve with the top two picks in the draft coming on that side of the ball.

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However, they also noted that Fields isn’t getting the help he needs.

The Bears are facing an uphill battle this season. Fields hasn’t exactly been put in position to succeed—he has one of the weaker WR corps in the NFL and will be playing behind a below-average offensive line… The Bears might not be terrible this year. But expecting them to be good is wishful thinking.

USA Today Rank: 31st

USA Today is the other one that is really down on the Chicago Bears. They only have the Atlanta Falcons ranked above them.

They gave Poles props for setting up a big change in 2023. They understand what Poles needed to do and applauded him for doing it.

For 2022, however, it doesn’t look good. They did note that while Poles did set up future success, he still hasn’t done enough to help Fields today.

Notice a theme here?

No issues with recasting your identity and potentially setting the stage for a big step forward in 2023. But couldn’t we be doing more to fuel QB Justin Fields’ development in 2022?

As we see, there isn’t much faith in the Chicago Bears around the league this season. The hope is that Poles is doing a good job of preparing for 2023 and that things could change dramatically then. Until then, fans have to suffer through one more disappointing season.