When the Bears hired Ryan Poles as their general manager a little more than two years ago, he stepped into a mess. His predecessor, Ryan Pace, had overspent and mortgaged future draft capital to build a bad team.
Rebuilds are always rough, but there was little doubt this one would be brutal. It has been awful, but it’s almost over.
Poles will complete his third offseason with the draft this week and has the Nos. 1 and 9 picks Thursday. That’s the end of the rebuilding phase. There’s no more time, no more margin. Now everyone will find out how sound his construction is.
‘‘We’ve done a good job getting the roster where it is,’’ he said Tuesday, sitting next to assistant GM Ian Cunningham. ‘‘It’s something to be proud of. But at the same time, the job’s not done. It’s on paper. You’ve got to play and you’ve got to win games. . . . But we’re proud of where we’ve come from.’’
The roster Pace left him is barely visible in the rearview mirror. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, tight end Cole Kmet and offensive guard Teven Jenkins are the only starters left.
Poles has made many good moves throughout the roster, but he has yet to solve some of the biggest issues for any team. The Bears still have holes at premium positions, and he can fill them by drafting USC quarterback Caleb Williams first overall and addressing wide receiver, offensive tackle or defensive end at No. 9.
Williams is the key, and he’ll become the most important person at Halas Hall the moment the Bears draft him. Turning around the franchise hinges on him. Jobs are riding on his success — especially Poles’.
That’s not a bad thing for Poles, however. At least it’s in his control now, as opposed to inheriting Justin Fields. Poles determined Fields wasn’t a viable starting quarterback, and the rest of the NFL appeared to agree with him, given all the Bears got in return for trading him to the Steelers was a conditional sixth-round draft pick in 2025.
Fields was the fourth quarterback chosen in 2021, when Pace traded a first-round pick in 2022 to move up from No. 20 to No. 11 to get him. That left Poles without a first-rounder in his first draft.
But now Poles has the first choice of all the quarterbacks in a strong class. The Bears had high enough grades on multiple prospects to justify moving on from Fields. Poles finally will get what everyone in his position wants: a handpicked quarterback who will be developed by the coaching staff he hired. Williams is the obvious choice.
He and the No. 9 pick will be the final pieces of the rebuild. From there, the Bears will measure themselves against the Chiefs, 49ers, Lions, Packers and everyone else at the top of the league. There won’t be any more excuses about it being too soon to compete against anyone.
That’s a big reason Poles keeps saying he plans to stay at No. 9 rather than trade back to parlay it into more assets: He’s looking for quality over quantity rather than turning over huge sections of the roster, as he did in 2022 and 2023.
‘‘It’s gonna be hard to make this team now,’’ Poles said, knowing he couldn’t have credibly asserted that the last two seasons.
He’s fine, then, with having only four picks, tying for the fewest the Bears have had in a draft. After the first round, his only remaining selections are in the third (No. 75 overall) and fourth (No. 122).
‘‘We’ll always welcome a lot of picks, but [we don’t] panic about the situation we’re in right now with how many picks we have,’’ Poles said. ‘‘It fits our roster.’’
That’s a far more comfortable position for him than when he took over, but it’s no time to exhale. The next stage isn’t any easier.
