GREEN BAY — So …
What happens next? Where do things go from here?
When all the much-needed euphoria from Sunday’s 24-22 victory over the Green Bay Packers recedes for the Chicago Bears, then what? What’s the proper way for the team — the entire organization, really — to reset and refocus?
Now that the Bears’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad season has finally ended — and yes, it finished jubilantly Sunday with a game-winning Caleb Williams drive plus a walk-off 51-yard field goal from Cairo Santos at Lambeau Field — what will the franchise’s most important leaders do to enact meaningful change? To create direction? To restore even an ounce of faith that this team can find its way to brighter days?
Just as Bears fans get their long-awaited opportunity to exhale after a 5-12 last-place season — and after a rousing last-second Week 18 win — they are also confronted immediately with another wave of heavy anxiety. As in: What happens next when the Bears attempt their latest leadership reboot within the coaching ranks?
Is there faith that this time the organization will finally get everything right?
Is there confidence that team President/CEO Kevin Warren — presumably with general manager Ryan Poles as his point person — will take a big swing and connect on a coaching hire that will launch the Bears toward a run of sustained success?
Or is there trepidation, resignation almost, that the Bears may turn to the very front of their worn-out playbook of failure and do the ol’ close-your-eyes-tight, cross-your-fingers and just-hope-everything-magically-works-out routine?
Man oh man. What a critical period in the organization’s 105-season history we’ve now arrived at, particularly with Williams, the uber-talented 23-year-old quarterback, still in the early stages of his rookie contract and in need of so much meaningful development.
‘A lot of work ahead’
So what happens next?
“(It’s about) having the right people here,” Williams said after Sunday’s victory. “Whether it’s in the locker room, whether it’s the people upstairs, coaches, whatever the case may be, it’s just having the right people overall in the building to be able to help grow the culture.”
Noted. That’s one rookie’s feedback and what should be prioritized going forward. And those sentiments came after Williams finally collected a final-drive victory.
In the grand scheme of things, what happened Sunday at Lambeau Field was mostly a formality. At least in terms of the final result.
There was trickery that worked well. (See: Josh Blackwell’s 94-yard punt return touchdown to open the scoring, an homage to the 2011 ingenuity of Dave Toub.) And there was trickery that didn’t work so well. (See: Keenan Allen’s third-quarter interception and a failed variation of “Philly Special” on a two-point conversion attempt.)
There were patience-testing mistakes. (See: DJ Moore’s lost fumble with 1:49 remaining and the Bears protecting a 2-point lead.) And there was confidence-building triumph. (See: that final 47-yard game-winning drive that sent Santos into the front row on an adrenaline-fueled Lambeau Leap.)
Still, a Monday parade down Michigan Avenue isn’t in the cards just because the Bears secured their first victory in 84 days and did so by beating the Packers for the first time since 2018. Sure, the exhilaration inside the Bears locker room Sunday was very real. And it was understandable.
“Just pure joy and excitement,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “It’s cool to end the year that way. This has been a long season with a lot of ups and downs. … But it was cool to get a win and pull it out that way in the end.”
Added cornerback Jaylon Johnson: “This was a testament to us continuing to fight. That, to me, is the biggest significance. Obviously this wasn’t a clean game. And we had missed opportunities to extend our lead or put the game away. But overall, this is the NFL. Wins are always going to be tough. So it was nice to dig deep and finish this one out.”
Still, the framed snapshot from Sunday’s win must also be displayed in the appropriate location, far from the franchise’s shelf of signature wins.
“You can’t go too crazy about it,” Kmet acknowledged. “There’s a lot of work ahead this offseason. I know everyone’s probably feeling pretty good right now. And I’m feeling good right now. But we have to get back to work soon.”
Reflections
Now it’s up to Warren to make the next move, to build a fire escape from the dumpster this Bears season fell into.
To that end, his current general manager has promised serious reflection. And if Poles’ comments on the Bears official pregame show Sunday morning on WMVP-AM 1000 were any indication, the third-year GM remains confident he can find solutions to rectify a long list of problems.
“We’re going to take a long look — and we have been taking a long look — at how we got here and what may have caused the step back,” Poles said. “I think it’s critical to look at that, be critical of myself in terms of my performance and how I can get better. And that’s what we’ll do.”
Poles was forthright during Sunday’s pregame interview in labeling the 2024 season as “disappointing,” one of many rough adjectives that can be attached to these past four months.
“We wanted to stay on that linear ascension up to our goals,” Poles said, “and we took a step back. So we’re a little disappointed. But not discouraged. There are exciting times ahead and I’m looking forward to getting this organization’s football team on the right track.”
But that’s part of a bigger problem at Halas Hall, where failure is too often and too easily shrugged past.
When Poles was hired in 2022, he pitched a three-year plan, a vision in which the third season under his watch would be the one where the Bears moved from the grinding climb up the NFL staircase to the exhilarating glide on the escalator to meaningful success.
The Bears hoped to become a winning team this season, a legitimate playoff contender.
At the very least, they expected to be playing meaningful football deep into December. Instead? They fell right through a trap door somewhere around 6:36 p.m. on Oct. 27 and crashed violently back into the league’s dark, depressing dungeon. (Look around, they’re joined there by teams like the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Giants, the Cleveland Browns and the New Orleans Saints.)
Yes, Sunday’s victory, after 10 consecutive losses, allowed the Bears to avoid setting a new franchise record for the longest losing streak within a season. But it also improved the team’s record under Poles’ watch to 15-36 overall and 3-15 inside the NFC North. (They are also now 4-21 on the road and 4-20 against teams that qualified for the playoffs.)
A deeper look
Those are jarring measurements that point to a lack of meaningful achievement. So why would anyone — and especially Warren — retain the full belief that Poles is unquestionably the right leader to hire the team’s next coach and to sell yet another vision of hope?
Shouldn’t Poles’ performance review — both for the 2024 season and for his entire three-year body of work — face more intense scrutiny? Shouldn’t Warren and Bears chairman George McCaskey be grilling Poles on how this season went so awry?
For starters:
— How exactly did the Bears draft one of the most talented quarterback prospects of the past quarter-century in Williams and then subject him to a rookie season full of disruption and distress, including the dismissal of his offensive coordinator (Shane Waldron) in Week 11 and the firing of his head coach (Matt Eberflus) 17 days later?
— Why did Poles walk into the regular season proudly touting the strength and depth of his offensive line only to see that unit cave in for much of the season like a sand castle at high tide?
— What was behind the defensive regression this season, with the Bears falling from No. 1 in the league against the run to 27th with the unit’s interception total dropping from 22 to 11?
— What’s the deal with all the high-profile in-season coaching changes the Bears have had to make under Poles’ watch, somehow topping the chaos of 2023 with this season’s firings of Waldron and Eberflus?
— How good is this roster as presently constructed and how does it reflect on Poles’ ability to balance his free agency activity with his process of drafting and developing true difference-makers?
— And if Sunday qualifies as some sort of signature victory, shouldn’t it also be noted that the playoff-bound Packers played the entire second half without starting quarterback Jordan Love, who injured his right elbow; and without receiver Christian Watson, who injured his knee; and without leading rusher Josh Jacobs, who began his recovery process for the postseason?
So what happens next?
Context clues
It’s easy to see where this might get tricky. Especially with Warren simultaneously overseeing the franchise’s push to build a new stadium. Somewhere, somehow. On that front, it would surely help if the Bears could create some significant energy and momentum with their football product. Coming out of a 5-12 season that deepened the scars and despair of an already scarred and dejected fan base, it’s difficult to find much about these Bears that has people truly excited right now. (Sunday’s triumph and Williams’ late-game brilliance notwithstanding.)
As of Sunday evening, there was no indication that Poles was in danger of losing his job as GM. But as an organization, Warren and the Bears should also be honest with themselves about how Poles’ return may impact the dynamics of their coaching search.
The organization should gain a full understanding of which top candidates might not be so eager to sign up for a partnership with an unproven general manager who also may be entering the final year of his contract.
Might that prevent the Bears from reeling in the biggest fish in the 2025 head coaching candidate pond, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson? Might it complicate the interview process for others, who will have multiple opportunities to explore?
As one prominent league source told the Tribune before Sunday’s game, “The opportunity right now for the Bears is too obvious and too large. They shouldn’t just wing it and vow to clean up their mess later on up the road if need be. At the very least, they need to be calculated with whatever decision they make.”
Warren may not have many opportunities to truly steer the organization’s direction and put his fingerprints all over the most pivotal moves that are made. One such opportunity exists right now.
So …
Where do things go from here? With the stakes being what they are, with the need to establish undeniable winning direction, with at least one critical leadership hire needed ASAP — what happens next?