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Good post. This is the critical year that lifts Poles or buries him. If we end up with a winning record it changes the course of his legacy. He has plenty of misses on his record, but he has some hits to. He will be remembered for hiring BJ and drafting Caleb, not all the third round misses. He came in here with a big job, we were in cap hell and lots of old players with heavy contracts. He changed the cap situation immediately by getting rid of older players that made us a bad team and didnt have a first round pick Inherited Justin Fields. With Fields career going in the wrong direction, we had two terrible yrs, as expected by the previous roster construction. He came in here saying it would take 5 yrs to turn this around, we are in yr 4. 2022 draft gave us Brisker , Gordon, a 3 yr starter at LT in a 5th round pick Braxton Jones, and a 7th round pick in a good backup Elijah Hicks. Dom Robinson is still hear but will be judged by this year's progress. This is yr 4 of that draft and the proper time( IMO) to judge his draft. C seems fair when you count he didnt have a first round pick. You cant expect injuries as far as any of these draft picks. He also added as UDFA Jack Sanborn and Jaylon Jones that ended up plus players. Im not going to go thru all of his drafts but overall going into this yr, I give him a C- but that grade could change if we end up having a winning season . Something I find questionable is people throwing out who we could have drafted that flourished after our drafted players. You can take any GM in the league and do that to make them look bad. Maybe the Ravens would be the only team that is on a plus side of that debate. Recently the Lions have been doing well also. I give him credit for fixing the cap-the big trade that gave us several blue players-hiring BJ-drafting Caleb . This is the year to determine his proper grade his 4th yr in his rebuild and will wait to make a final grade. The only thing that matters is if we become a winning team and as A Bear said, this yr has a long way to go to determine his legacy.

It is so early, who knows how they slot. Its been a while since I ran one. Just wanted to see some name/position possibilities. Did one with 1st of: LT World, RB Love, and DE TJ Parker

This coming offseason we need Pass Rusher LT Run Stopper? Safeties Running Back And we also will probably look at also drafting TE CB LB I wont make a guess on the first list as to who is drafted and who is free agent or trade.

It's crazy to think it has us drafting 16th while our power ranking has us at 21. Draft pick should represent at 13.

My all time favorite group. With them its about the music. It's hard to imagine they started their elaborate stage show back in the early 70's. Seen them at Camp Randall Stadium in 1996.

I hit the ignore button, so I dont see any of his responses anymore. Clearly he went out of his way to raise the heat for just having a different opinion.. When someone tells you they dont like the way you word a comment or complains about my grammar, its way deeper than just disagreeing with a opinion. It was so peaceful when he gave the finger to the site and left then two weeks later comes back and then the same old crap. Life is hard enough and a lot harder when you're behavior is stupid.

True, that is just as important and hard to get. Max Crosby was a 4th rounder, so I am hoping our version (Booker) can blossom soon while we add one or two in the draft because you need to keep that high intensity every down. I hate to scheme to hide deficiencies of the most important blocker on the line. We have all these high profile playmakers on offense that we have to run bubble screens because we cannot run block or hold a bull rush. This is my early draft take.

Mine is a dominant pass rusher. You can help an OT with play calling and scheme. Pass rushers are a problem.

We can look back at this draft in a year or two to see Bens effect. Loveland was for sure a Ben Johnson pick and hasn't showed a glimpse of a top 10 value. Hopefully he makes his introduction game soon. Was Burden also a Ben guy too? Could've been but not producing as envisioned. I dont expect them to be stars out of the gate, it took Odunze a year. I would feel much better if Trapilo, Armagdie or even Jones would rise up and take the LT position. As of today, LT is my pick 1 next draft. Have to get that spot locked down long term. If one rises up, DE RB and S are next in line. Booker will get his chance Monday to get back in the rotation, can he be that preseason star against real competition? At RB, we have to live with what we have for now.

No doubt you can put any player in a bad situation and they will underperform, so it is hard to try to scientifically compare players, I agree. And you're also right that winning is the best deodorant! lol I just don't like a lot of the decisions Poles has made. At the same time I completely trust Ben Johnson 100%. I think that he will eventually build a winner here, no matter who he has to get rid of to do it. I also believe in Caleb Williams' future too. I think he's gonna be a top QB. But he is obviously still a work in progress, so we have to see him take that journey for it to be real, and nothing is guaranteed,b ut Ive seen enough that I believe in him. And I believe Ben Johnson has to have all the juice in the building at this point - over Poles and Warren for sure. If he makes Poles take the guys he wants, then I think Poles is gonna be fine, and eventually we will be a winner. I think this season is about installing the offense, and turning the flashes of greatness we've already seen into consistency. Then next year, with upgrades on defense, I think the window to contend will open.

Johnson and Caleb both changed the philosophy of needs. Seeing guys turn out good vs guys we took that didn't doesnt mean they would flourish here. Sometimes the draft picks need the right coaches and players to mentor them to turn on. The good thing is this team has a chance to grow over the next few games and the narrative will change with winning. If they lose, then these concerns grow gloomier

Poles is not good at his job, but now that he seems to have become a yes man for Johnson, it doesnt really bother me anymore. Johnson knows where the holes are, and he will get it done. This first year, Johnson needed weapons for Caleb, so i get it, even though id have drafted differently. But now that Johnson has coached the team for a while, Im guessing he sees the same needs we all do.

O-Line, RB, and Edge have been issues for most of Poles time as GM. Wasted picks could've easily filled those gaps. Not even counting 2025, Poles drafted Johnson and signed Homer, but passed on James Cook, Rachaad White, and DeVon Achane. The ripple effect of the picks is huge too. 2022 Brisker Cam Jurgens - OL, Trey McBride - TE - 2511 Yds, Luke Goedeke - OL, James Cook - RB - 3088 Yds, Nik Bonito - ED - 30 sacks Jones Jr Bernard Raimann - OL, Terrel Bernard - LB - 169 Tackles, Rachaad White - RB - 1296 Yds, Kerby Joseph - DB - 20 INTs 2023 Pickens Tank Dell - WR, Byron Young - LB - 21 sacks, Josh Downs - WR, Tucker Kraft - TE, DeVon Achane - RB, Kobie Turner - DL 2024 Amegadjie Puni - OL, McMillan - WR

I don’t like modern pop music I prefer to see and hear people playing real instruments.

The biggest demographic of NFL supports would be similar to our age group. How many young people are on here? I would say more of a 35's on up? I Have never heard of Bad Bunny and I travel a lot overseas. I dont think its political who they put on the half times shows, I think the NFL is trying to expand its market and would pick someone like this for that reason. Classic type performers that transcend all age groups would attract the most viewers for the half time show but people will turn off it if they dont know the performers. JayZ has a partnership with the NFL since 2019 and sets up the entertainment. I watched Sharika and Rihanna but could care less about the others. Some of the most watched are the recent ones but the popularity of the NFL brings record numbers. K. Lamar set the record with 133 mil viewers but to compare the difference Michael Jackson had 133 mil back in 1993. My favorite: Whitney Houston, Prince and U2. Back in the day I preferred Tom Petty-Kid Rock-Rolling Stones-The Who. I go to a lot of concerts and would have loved to have seen Pink Floyd play a SB, it would have been hard to set their show up in real time because its massive. Was lucky enough to have seen them once. Super Bowl LVII (2023): Rihanna. Super Bowl LVI (2022): Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. Super Bowl LV (2021): The Weeknd. Super Bowl LIII (2020): Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin. Super Bowl LII (2019): Maroon 5, with guests Travis Scott and Big Boi. Super Bowl LVIII (2024): Usher, with guests Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil Jon, and Ludacris

One of my favorite bands from way back in time. Brings back fond memories.

At the Bears Raiders game Earth Wind and Fire performed and it was awesome...

Bad Bunny is top of the charts worldwide. Leave the country and watch a music channel and you will see the name. When I was in a resort pool bar in Cabo, I loved the music. The timing seems political, but who knows. Just remember people are easier to control when divided, so everything these days will be polarized. I will enjoy it like every superbowl. Watch a little ofnthe game and enjoy the food, drinks, and people.

Music has splintered into so many sub genres, since the internet and streaming changed the nature of what a hit song is and who hears it. It's really difficult to find a performer who is young and relevant, and known by everyone in the family. Some few do break out, but to find someone that for example the players would think was cool, and mom and dad at home with the kids all can sing along with is kinda impossible now. And that's gonna be an ongoing problem even after Bad Bunny does his thing.

I will probably skip the half-time show. I don't speak Spanish. Bad Bunny can speak English, but has insisted that all of his music be in Spanish. I can't see him changing his commitment to his native language, and that's fine. However, I would not enjoy the show if I had no idea what the lyrics were. I wonder if they may have two performers? I believe they've done this before.

I'm not here to start anything, but simply don't understand the choosing of this artist for the Superbowl. He doesn't sing in English. I've been blasted on other platforms for being racist, old and out of touch. To me, it's the demographic. I'm being told the demographic is not what I believe it is. I don't get it..

Great points. You have moved my grade to C-. If Booker and Turner pan out on the DL, he gets to C+. It's gonna take both though.

The Bears have one of the lowest snap counts for drafted players, yet have had extra higher draft picks in the last few years which should translate into more snaps. I feel like he is at about a "D" at this point. If you auto-drafted based on mock draft pre-draft rankings, you would be a "C" as a GM. Poles has drafted worse than that. If you look at the trades, the Bears have lost pretty much every one of them, except for the Carolina trade, and even that one was a no-brainer. So it is not like Poles worked the Panthers into a crazy return. It was market value and he got Moore instead of Burns, which forced him to overpay for Sweat who has underwhelmed. Same with getting Ben Johnson, it was a no-brainer hire. He drafted a punter over Bucky Irving when there was a need at RB. Velus Jones, Pickens, and Amegadjie. You can't miss in the top 75 every year, yet he does. I liked the Thuney trade, but didn't like the Bates trade. I like the Dalman signing, but he overpaid for Odeyingbo. So if you just assessed each move as a plus, minus, or push, he would have more minuses than pluses, which lands him with a D for me.

Year one: he inherited a team with a terrible o-line, cap hell and no number one receiver. Not much to do, but fix the cap and try to accumulate picks. Year two: we get year three of the Justin experiment. Terrible o-line, the DJ Moore trade, Flus, Darnell Wright, Sweat and still no pass rush. Year three: the payoff. Draft Caleb and Rome. Terrible o-line, no pass rush and flus fired. Drafted a punter in the fourth instead of trench help. Year four: draft offensive weapons Loveland and Burden. Traded and signed entirely new IOL. Left tackle problems continue, no pass rush and no running game yet. History may judge him for not drafting an LT and EDGE with the first two picks of this draft. Nobody will ever know the truth about the who and why of coaches and players, due to how the organization was run. I believe Warren has been a stabilizing influence on Poles. Poles is young and will continue to grow. For him to get above average, he must get LT, pass rush, RB, S and LB. All upgrades! He says it would be a five year process and I think he's a year behind schedule, given that he will have to hit big to fix LT and pass rush. My grade: C A very incomplete grade at that. I left a ton of info on the table, so fire away with your thoughts...