Poles extended

[dplank]

Didn’t see this elsewhere…probably missed it but just in case

[LacertineForest]

Damn, now my pole's extended.

[Grizzled]

Not surprising. George is very loyal to his hires. Now let's see Poles and Johnson usher in a golden age of Bears football.

[G08]

I don't think he's yet been extended but it sounds like the plan is to put him on the same timeline as Ben Johnson (sounds like that is through the 2029-2030 season).

[Moriarty]

Kinda dumb, IMO

You should know what you have in Johnson by the end of 3 yrs.

Extending Poles beyond that point is just wasted money and/or reason not to clean house if it's not going well.

[wab]

It's fairly common front office practice. Plus the wasted money part doesn't really matter because it's not like it impacts the cap in any way.

[Arkansasbear]

It's fairly common front office practice. Plus the wasted money part doesn't really matter because it's not like it impacts the cap in any way.

Yep not my money and won't effect how much they can spend on players.

[Moriarty]

It's fairly common front office practice.

Yes, but some common practices are dumb

Plus the wasted money part doesn't really matter because it's not like it impacts the cap in any way.

It's harmless (to us) waste, if they don't use that as a reason to let things go on longer than they should.
People want to believe "things are different now", but as of 2021 [Pace & Nagy] and 2024 [Eberflus], they were still in the "not ending failures fast enough" business, so...

[Heinz D.]

Let's all pray to the football gods this is the right move.

Because, as of now, NOTHING is telling me it is...

[thunderspirit]

It bears repeating: the Bears want to be stable like the Steelers, the Cowboys were before Jerry Jones, the Giants were once upon a time, and the Ravens have been since roughly 1999.

That's their goal. They don't want to fire people if they can help it.

[The Cooler King]

There's little from the outside view to support this.

So hopefully the inside view holds dramatic information that makes this smarter.

But yea as long as it doesn't tie them to Poles a year or two from now and moving on, it's just money.

[dplank]

It's fairly common front office practice.

Yes, but some common practices are dumb

Plus the wasted money part doesn't really matter because it's not like it impacts the cap in any way.

It's harmless (to us) waste, if they don't use that as a reason to let things go on longer than they should.
People want to believe "things are different now", but as of 2021 [Pace & Nagy] and 2024 [Eberflus], they were still in the "not ending failures fast enough" business, so...

I honestly believe that we need to look at the Bears as Pre-Warren and Post-Warren. Remember when we were all pining for the Bears to hire someone other than Ted Phillips to be the liaison between football and ownership? We finally did it with Warren, and wouldn't you know it our first coaching hire AW ("after Warren") went fundamentally different than any previous hiring cycle that we've seen! We got the prom queen, we never get the prom queen.

So for me personally, I'm having to re-train my brain from assuming the franchise does the dumbest thing possible at every turn to now giving them a little benefit of doubt. You all know I wanted to move on from Poles, I'm not shying away from those previous comments, but his handling of the coaching hire has me feeling differently about him already and I'm ready to see where this all goes.

[Mighty Joe Young]

Once we got Ben, I expected this.

The Bears are desperate to have the appearance of a stable winner and a well run organization because the time is coming soon when they are going to sell...

[Rusty Trombagent]

I think as always, some fans tend to... look past... the human element of all this.  What a commitment means is "build for the long term, you're relatively safe."  When GMs/Coachs think they're in danger of being let go, they start with the stupid hail mary's to try and save their jobs.  That never works, but what it ultimately always does is leave the next regime with a worse cap/draft position than necessary.  

Giants probably should have shitcanned Schoen/Daboll this year, instead they kept them around for a lame duck season where they're going to try everything to save their necks, and it's going to just create a shit show for the Coach/GM in 2026, whoever they may be.  

[dplank]

I think as always, some fans tend to... look past... the human element of all this.  What a commitment means is "build for the long term, you're relatively safe."  When GMs/Coachs think they're in danger of being let go, they start with the stupid hail mary's to try and save their jobs.  That never works, but what it ultimately always does is leave the next regime with a worse cap/draft position than necessary.  

Giants probably should have shitcanned Schoen/Daboll this year, instead they kept them around for a lame duck season where they're going to try everything to save their necks, and it's going to just create a shit show for the Coach/GM in 2026, whoever they may be.  

Excellent point

[Moriarty]

I think as always, some fans tend to... look past... the human element of all this.  What a commitment means is "build for the long term, you're relatively safe."  When GMs/Coachs think they're in danger of being let go, they start with the stupid hail mary's to try and save their jobs.  That never works, but what it ultimately always does is leave the next regime with a worse cap/draft position than necessary.  

Agreed and I've made the same point many times.

But I don't think 5 yrs is necessary for a GM to feel safe. If it were, almost every GM would be operating in panic mode most of the time, because the majority of the 32 GMs have 4 or less years remaining on their deals at any given time.

[Heinz D.]

Once we got Ben, I expected this.

The Bears are desperate to have the appearance of a stable winner and a well run organization because the time is coming soon when they are going to sell...

Maybe?

I don't know. I do know we have to stop using high draft picks on DBs every year, stop spending first round picks on players we don't need, and stop drafting players that can't play...unless it's like a seventh rounder, or something.

If I was as bad at my job as Poles is at his, I would no longer HAVE a job.

[IotaNet]

I honestly believe that we need to look at the Bears as Pre-Warren and Post-Warren.

Remember when we were all pining for the Bears to hire someone other than Ted Phillips to be the liaison between football and ownership?

We finally did it with Warren, and wouldn't you know it our first coaching hire AW ("after Warren") went fundamentally different than any previous hiring cycle that we've seen! We got the prom queen, we never get the prom queen.

So for me personally, I'm having to re-train my brain from assuming the franchise does the dumbest thing possible at every turn to now giving them a little benefit of doubt.

All of this.

I know that I can come across as a bit a KW apologist/fanboy but the guy has done exactly what he was hired for: To turn the Bears into a professionally run organization.

And peep this: The Johnson hire was a PUBLICLY VISIBLE manifestation of his leadership. Imagine all the quiet, behind-the-scenes changes that are being made. (I can’t wait to see the 2025 players survey.)

Strap in boys … If I’m wrong about this, I absolutely eat crow about this next year, but I think we’ve turned a corner.

[G08]

[Z Bear]

Poles is actually 7 out of 7 if you count Gordon as a starter.

[Bearfacts]

Bears News; George McCaskey extends Poles. Viagra in negotiations for naming rights to new stadium.

It seems that in typical Bears Fan fashion there are still those who have hard on over Poles not getting us to a Super Bowl yet. Or is it only because he's not yet fixed the OL? Hard to tell some days. But how do you all so easily overlook other things he's done that have put in place key elements to getting to a Super Bowl.

The two biggest to date are the drafting of a QB all signs point to being able to be one who can not only get us there but win it. The last GM to do that was Jerry Vainisi in 1982. Since then we have absolutely sucked at drafting QB and couldn't even win big when we traded for them.

The other his the hiring of a HC and staff the rest of the NFL seems in awe of. IMHO the two biggest factors to any team reaching the SB are it's QB and it's HC and Poles has scored the #1 overall QB many believe is a once in a decade find AND the HC whose also believed to be a #1 overall pick.

Stop sweating the petty stuff and petting the sweaty stuff. The two biggest reasons this team is on a major upward trend has been Poles ability to land these two and resolve two problems that have been with us for over 40 years. A top QB and a potentially great HC. Without them we'd have no chance.

[dplank]

Now that Poles landed Johnson, I'm fully back in his corner. I still believe that Kevin Warren had something to do with it, but we really have no idea what happened behind closed doors so I grant equal or greater credit to Poles. Now, we haven't seen Johnson coach a single game yet, so we shouldn't be spiking the football just yet, but I agree with your take here that we appear to have that coveted QB / HC combo that we've long desired. Hoping we have a long run of success, we goddamn deserve it.

[G08]

From The Athletic:

Colleagues say Poles is a meticulous planner who encourages input, and is big on player and staff development. And, “when it’s go-time,” Poles executes and leads with decisiveness. Poles still is looking for his first winning season as a general manager, but just landed a top head coaching candidate in Ben Johnson, so Chicago appears to be trending in the right direction.

[RichH55]

Poles is actually 7 out of 7 if you count Gordon as a starter.

I absolutely do....I also note "Starter" is a nebulous concept.

[RichH55]

The Warren stuff isn't good in terms of takes.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Presumably that figure includes Jaylon Johnson. Does it also include Teven Jenkins?

It's only the R1 and R2 picks that are still on the team that count. Any that were traded, cut or not re-signed aren't considered. So no Fields or Anthony Miller on the one hand or Roquan Smith or James Daniels on the other.

Then there's the situation each team is in and whether they have established players for a position but selected another because they were the best available and they have a succession plan. And injuries of course. Some R1 and R2 picks have missed time and therefore won't be classed as starters at the moment.

I'm not really sure what this chart is supposed to tell us.

[thunderspirit]

Presumably that figure includes Jaylon Johnson. Does it also include Teven Jenkins?

It's only the R1 and R2 picks that are still on the team that count. Any that were traded, cut or not re-signed aren't considered. So no Fields or Anthony Miller on the one hand or Roquan Smith or James Daniels on the other.

Then there's the situation each team is in and whether they have established players for a position but selected another because they were the best available and they have a succession plan. And injuries of course. Some R1 and R2 picks have missed time and therefore won't be classed as starters at the moment.

I'm not really sure what this chart is supposed to tell us.

Yeah, I tend to agree that this is missing context. Assuming we're counting the years when the Bears didn't have many picks in the first couple of rounds due to trades, how many guys are there, what percentage of the whole roster? How does that compare?

It's a data point, but I'm not sure how useful it is.

[G08]

@HisRoyalSweetness @thunderspirit

Here's what the "creator" put on his IG:

With the Eagles recent Super Bowl win, I couldn’t help but notice how many of the team’s starters were hits by Howie Roseman in the first two rounds of the draft.

While just being a starter on a team isn’t a perfect indication of a good pick, it’s a pretty good proxy for it.

Which team stands out to you the most?

[southdakbearfan]

Well there goes that popular narrative.

[southdakbearfan]

So have they officially announced his extension?