NEWSLETTER
Have you signed up for the Bleacher Nation Newsletter yet? Get early access to Chicago Bears stories like this one and of your favorite Chicago sports teams by signing up for the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Chicago sports, straight to your inbox, every weekday, and always FREE!
The NFL Scouting Combine is in full swing in Indianapolis as we wake up this Friday morning, and the Chicago Bears are the top story in Indianapolis on March 1, 2024. I included the date because that sentence could also describe this time last year.
The Bears own the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. The Bears have Justin Fields on their roster. Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus are spending the week taking calls and playing putt-putt and darts with draft prospects in Indianapolis. Time is a flat circle.
Seriously, if you Google “Poles and Eberflus play putt-putt and darts,” stories from March 2, 2023, are the top hits.
But that’s where the similarities of this roller coaster ride for the Chicago Bears need to end.
There’s a chance that the Bears will leave Indianapolis with trade offers. There’s also a chance that they will return to Chicago and make a decision and a deal. But this time, it should be Justin Fields on the way out in that deal, not the No. 1 pick in the draft.
I’ve said that I think Fields got a raw deal here in Chicago. I believe he’ll find some semblance of success in his next stop. But his time in Chicago should end very shortly because the putt-putt and darts in Indy and the ownership of the top pick in April are where the similarities between the Bears last March and this March end.
Last year, the Bears were right to deal the top pick and stick with Justin Fields. Chicago wasn’t ready to give up on Fields last March, but more importantly, they weren’t prepared for his successor.
Now, it appears that they are.
“If Justin’s the quarterback or a new quarterback’s in there, there’s a lot of things that are around him,” Matt Eberflus said earlier this week in Indianapolis. “And what’s cool is we get to add some more pieces in free agency coming up in the short term, too.”
The Bears have improved across the board since this time last year—some more than others. The offensive line was a middle-of-the-pack unit in most metrics and a pretty good one at times in others. D.J. Moore was better than advertised in 2023, making last spring’s deal all the sweeter for the Bears. They also landed two starters in that deal that helped their respective units improve this year.
Chicago has over $80 million in available cap space heading into free agency. They can add to areas of need to supplement a pretty good core that overcame a disastrous 0-4 start to win seven games last season. They have an almost entirely new team of coordinators and assistants who come to the Bears with solid track records in their previous stops.
“We’re close to being a pretty solid group,” Eberflus said in Indianapolis.
You know what? As wild as it might seem, given the absolute spin cycle of a season we just endured as fans and spectators, Matt Eberflus is probably not far off. The Bears aren’t far off. As they’ve been for the entire lives of almost every Bears fan … they’re a quarterback away from being in pretty good shape.
I’ve made my stance on Justin Fields no secret: He’s a gifted athlete who caught a raw deal in Chicago but has too many developmental flaws to commit to any further.
Last year, the Bears were able to trade the No. 1 pick. In fact, they needed to trade the No. 1 pick. They had too much ground to cover and not enough assets between a three-win season and being competitive.
Not this year. This year, the Bears can’t trade the No. 1 pick. That pick is essentially Caleb Williams. Whether they use or trade it, there’s a tremendous likelihood that pick represents the right to draft Williams.
Ryan Poles absolutely can not make that mistake. He’s done too much right in his time in Chicago and grown too much as a young GM on all fronts to make a mistake that will set this franchise back, such as essentially trading Caleb Williams.
You’ll read my thoughts on Williams from the many hours of film I watched on him and why I think the Bears have a no-brainer in front of them later this morning at BN. Heck, if you slept in today, you might be able to read them right now.
Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in the Bleacher Nation Newsletter. Patrick’s Caleb Williams column has since been released, and you can read it here:
The long and short of it is drafting Caleb Williams is a no-brainer for the Chicago Bears. Ryan Poles has a chance to right the wrongs of his many predecessors who have failed to bring an extraordinary quarterback to Chicago and help him reach his ceiling. All he has to do is sink the easy put and scribble Caleb Williams’ name onto the draft card on the evening of April 25 in Detroit.
