Fans can rest assured that the Chicago Bears are in a position to be a perfect blend of both Super Bowl participants in the Cincinnati Bengals and world-champion Los Angeles Rams. No, this isn’t delirium. Nor has the Kool-Aid drinking reached a fevered pitch as Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus have revamped the front office and coaching staff, respectively.
Attention has turned from the Senior Bowl on to the NFL Combine and, soon, free agency. We have to take stock of just how far off the Bears are. Not just from contending for the playoffs but also from appearing in the Super Bowl
It really is a travesty such a historic franchise has only been to two Super Bowls.
The Chicago Bears Can Be a Blend of Both Super Bowl Participants Soon Enough
The Traditional Way
Cincy may have gotten close to the promised land sooner than expected. But their process was as tried and true as they come. They were a bad team that took a franchise-caliber starting quarterback. They have gone about putting the offensive line and weapons around him to facilitate his growth.
Joe Burrow led the league in sacks taken during the regular season. He got dropped another 19 times in the postseason. It’s clear they still have work to do on that front. But they have allocated resources there.
Two things from Poles and Eberflus’ introductions point to a similar approach for the Bears.
Poles said he took issue with the number of times Justin Fields would end up on his backside. He also didn’t like just how few of his offensive linemen went out of their way to pick him up.
Fields finished the season 10th in sacks. We all remember the national story that was following the nine-sack outing against the Cleveland Browns. It was the very first start of his career. It was also a game which, by all accounts, he was woefully unprepared for. There was also a game where the Bears started a right tackle who hadn’t practiced all week.
This is where Eberflus, and really offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, come into play. Eberflus has talked of wanting to play fast. That was predominantly in reference to the defense. But Getsy said in no uncertain terms that they would build the offense around Fields.
That means getting him some weapons as the Bengals did in selecting Ja’Marr Chase.
Not having a first-round pick this season likely means they miss out on a Chris Olave, Fields’ college teammate barring a slide by the player or an unlikely trade-up by the Bears.
There could still be a gem found in the later rounds. The Bengals selected Tee Higgins with the 33rd overall pick and the Las Vegas Raiders took productive second-year man Bryan Edwards with the 39th-overall pick (where the Bears are currently slotted to make their first pick) in the same year.
The New Wave
The alternative to the draft-and-develop method is to supplement your weaknesses with players acquired via trade usually at the expense of draft capital. Los Angeles has not had a first-round pick since 2016 which was Jared Goff, taken first overall. They won’t have their own first-round pick again until 2024.
You would probably be hard-pressed to find anyone who says they did it the wrong way. That remains true even as there have been rumors of Aaron Donald and Sean McVay considering retirement amid impending cap issues.
The trade for Matthew Stafford cost the Rams firsts in 2022 and 2023, a third-rounder in 2021, and Goff.
They got the difference in their last two Super Bowl appearances in return.
L.A. added Von Miller and Odell Beckham to “fill the holes” in their roster left from trading for the likes of a Jalen Ramsey and not being able to draft someone to do it instead. Ramsey did give up the most yards in a single game in his career. But both of the former players made key plays in the Super Bowl.
Their roster still features 32 of their own drafted players but none of those players were taken in the first round.
It’s not like the Bengals abstained from the trade or free markets either. They had 31 of their own draft selections on the Super Bowl roster and have spent money in free agency over the last two or three years to get to this point.
Both teams have seven former first-rounders on their roster.
The Rams came away with the trophy. But many will tell you that the Bengals are better equipped to do this again down the road.
Whichever path a team starts on, it’s clear that at some point those paths converge and teams have to rely on a proper blend of their own draft picks and those cast-off or taken from other teams.
A new chapter begins. 🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/USlIX7MSyo
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) February 14, 2022
Where the Bears Are
Right now the Bears are in between the Bengals and Rams in terms of what their best plan of attack is going forward. Simply having Fields puts them ahead of the Rams in that they aren’t yet having to pony up the exorbitant amount of capital needed to acquire a quarterback. But we are far from a definitive answer on what his ceiling really is.
If Fields is what they hope he is, the Bears can go about surrounding him with weapons and protection. That should come at a much cheaper cost, no matter the avenue, than having to get another passer.
We’ve seen top-notch weapons moved for a pittance while mediocre quarterbacks go for a mint.
Look no further than the Arizona Cardinals trading David Johnson, a second, and a fourth-round pick to the Texans for DeAndre Hopkins for the good.
Conversely, the Indianapolis Colts traded a conditional first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles to reunite Carson Wentz with Frank Reich and are now reportedly looking to move on from him this summer. That pick ended up being 16th overall and slotting in right behind Philly’s own 15th overall pick.
Even with Ryan Pace’s haphazard handling of draft capital during his tenure, the Bears will have their full allotment of selections beginning in 2023. If Poles is indeed able to recoup some picks for players then the job becomes exponentially easier.
The Bears, who don’t have their first-rounder this season thanks to trading up for Fields, currently have five selections coming in April.
They have their own second, third, fifth, and sixth rounders as well as a fifth-rounder from trading away Anthony Miller. Those rounds were gold for Pace but we don’t know how Poles will approach this or how effective he will be in finding those diamonds in the rough that kept Pace in place beyond the expiration date on his overall effectiveness.
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Bears Can Blend Both Super Bowl Philosophies
Even if Fields flops, the Bears will also have cap space after next season meaning they will have every vehicle for improvement available to them soon enough. They have the means to further the process that began with Fields’ selection last season. How they proceed this summer will be telling about their outlook on the 2022 season.
But, as far as they seem to be, the two teams showed you can get to the top in different ways.
The Bengals went from 4-11 in 2020 to 10-7 and a Super Bowl berth a year later. They showed turnarounds don’t have to take as long as we’ve previously been told.
As far as the Rams, they showed that nothing should stop a front office from putting the finishing touches on. If you feel you have an otherwise championship-caliber roster, go for it. One would imagine their fan base agrees with the decision.
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