Column: Ryan Poles elevated the expectations, and now the Chicago Bears have to follow through
LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Even in New York, Ryan Poles couldn't escape his handiwork.
The Bears' followed a 7-10 season with perhaps one of the most exciting offseasons in franchise history.
The Bears may have finally solved their quarterback woes and created arguably the best receiver room in franchise history on top of one of the hottest defenses in the league.
That's why, in Cooperstown, New York, the excitement found Poles.
"I took my son to a baseball tournament down there," Bears GM Ryan Poles said Friday. "There's about eight teams from this area and all the kids found me and I answered probably more questions than I'll answer today."
With that excitement comes expectations. The 2024 Bears need to follow through on those expectations.
Poles knows this. He reiterated the bottomline Friday that the Bears' goals are to take the NFC North and win a Super Bowl.
The latter may require more time, but the former could be within reach this season. It's why the Bears are giving the players the keys to the car, head coach Matt Eberflus said Friday.
Whatever success the Bears do find this season, it will be because of the roster of players Poles, the administration and the Bears coaching staff compiled and developed across a two-year rebuild.
"We want guys to lead from the front," Eberflus said. "It doesn't matter what the age is, what what you are and your position, your unit, the team, we're going to give you the keys to drive the car and lead from the front."
It's time for the payoff.
The deep rebuild from the Pace regime provided its own low points. There could still be some speed bumps to come, too. Especially with a rookie quarterback in Caleb Williams.
The rookie acknowledged there will be some bad days. He's not perfect, as much as Bears fans really wish upon multiple stars that he'd be.
Behind Williams, though, is a team that understands what it's like to see some bad days. They understand how to rid themselves of it all, and they're there to guide him.
They also understand there's a balance when it comes to moving on from a rebuild like the Bears have.
"There's a patience level to it and obviously, there's also an urgency level to it," Bears tight end Cole Kmet said. "That's just natural with the NFL. So, that is part of it and we just got to be there as teammates to kind of guide him through this process."
Kmet might be a player all Bears fans hope Williams sees every single day.
He's had high expectations every single day ever since he arrived as a second-round pick out of Notre Dame ahead of the 2020 season.
"My expectation every year I've been here is to go to the playoffs," Kmet said. "That has not changed. You might think, 'oh, well you're crazy to think that you haven't been on talented teams this year or that year,' but that's just the mindset I've had every year coming in. Those are the expectations that maybe you guys have, and you are finally at the right expectation level."
After being at that expectation level for years, the only part about Kmet's message that's changed now is the urgency.
There is a balance of patience and urgency, but that doesn't mean the level of urgency isn't higher than normal.
"We got to get this thing going quickly," Kmet said. "There's not going to be time to kind of meander through this thing. We got to get this thing going quickly here. So, we got to operate at a high level. We got to really take advantage of our walkthroughs when we get these things at night. And, the better we are for those things, the faster we'll be able to execute on game day."
To get to game day, the Bears report on Friday and officially start on Saturday.
As practices get underway, Poles said the approach the entire franchise will have is one day at a time.
"That's going to be our approach," Poles said. "A daily approach. A daily effort. The work ethic has to go into training camp this year for us to reach our ceiling and really define who we're going to be in 2024."
What's good for the Bears this offseason is they understand the situation. There's no more time for losing. The team has been rebuilding for long enough in a city that's endured losing football for too long.
After biding their time, the Bears are at the point where they have to win games they need to win.
And it has to happen in 2024.
"Yeah, it's got to happen quickly," Kmet said.
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