GM Ryan Poles’ slow first step leaves Bears in uncertainty

It started with a housecleaning and ended with a surrender. There’s a fine line between a white flag and a red one.

The 2022 Bears season might go down as one of the best bad seasons in franchise history, a necessary first step of a much-needed rebuild. Or maybe it was just another misstep by a storied NFL franchise that has been plagued by dysfunction for most of the last 30 seasons.

We won’t know just how good or bad this season was until next season, when the Bears take a step toward playoff contention or continue to spin their wheels with a familiar combination of failure — underachieving performance, injuries, quarterback stagnation or regression — that leaves them closer to square one than the postseason.

But as it stands now, after a 3-14 season that ended with a 29-13 loss Sunday at the hands of the Vikings, general manager Ryan Poles’ path has the Bears in position to think they’re heading in the right direction. The rest is up to him.

‘‘You look at results, for sure, but you also look at having a broader view of what you’re getting done,’’ head coach Matt Eberflus said. ‘‘It’s laying the foundation. There’s also development of the young core players we have. ... The rookie class, we played a lot of those guys. Second-year players like Justin [Fields] and [Darnell] Mooney. ... Cole Kmet is one of those younger-type players.’’

And don’t forget the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft — or whatever bounty that might bring.

‘‘Free agency and the draft [are] no different,’’ Eberflus said. ‘‘It’s up to the coaches to develop those guys and fit them into the schemes so we can play winning football.’’

Poles has several holes to fill and question marks at almost every key position heading into next season, from head coach to offensive and defensive coordinator to No. 1 receiver to quarterback. He’s got a lot to prove — maybe the most to prove.

Poles has been far from perfect in his rookie season. He didn’t trade Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith until midseason. He didn’t give Fields enough weapons to get a true evaluation of his passing ability. Rookie Velus Jones looks overdrafted. Poles traded the 32nd pick in the 2023 draft for Chase Claypool. The offensive line that is supposed to be Poles’ specialty was underwhelming — not much better, if better at all, than anything former GM Ryan Pace put together in his seven seasons.

But nothing Poles did was defining. There was no trade-up-for-Mitch Trubisky moment that will haunt him. Nothing he did indicated he will fail. He hasn’t proved anything, but he hasn’t disqualified himself, either.

And that goes for Eberflus, as well. Like Poles, Eberflus hasn’t left any red flags that indicate he can’t do this. On the contrary, he has been pretty good at the head-coaching part of the job.

For all the close games the Bears lost this season, there were few, if any, egregious examples of poor game management. His defense was a disappointment, even considering the departures and all the rookies starting. The H.I.T.S. principle is more real than a myth, but it’s just like any other coaching philosophy: It takes good players to make it work.

Eberflus played to win all season, except maybe at the end. But as the losses piled up, he emphasized the foundation the Bears were laying. And, like most foundations, this one was mostly underground and undetectable.

Who knows where this team will end up, but there’s nowhere to go but up. The Bears never have been 3-14, but they’ve been in worse spots than this one.