PHOENIX – Bears general manager Ryan Poles spoke to ChicagoBears.com this week at the NFL owners meetings. Here are six takeaways from that 1-on-1 interview:
(1) Although Poles was confident that the Bears were headed in the right direction, a magical 2025 season provided concrete evidence.
The Bears captured the NFC North title with an 11-6 record and recorded their first playoff victory since 2010. In the process, they rallied to win seven games they trailed in the final 2:00, including two against the rival Packers in a pivotal regular-season contest and again in a wild card playoff showdown.
"Going through difficult times, trying to get the organization above ground, [last season] was encouraging," Poles said. "When you don't get the results that you want right away, it takes a lot of faith to believe that you're doing it the right way.
"So, when you get a little bit of feedback that you're on the right path—you've got the right coaching staff, head coach, players, quarterback—it's encouraging that the time and the discipline that we put into it, the needle's starting to move in the direction that we need it to."
(2) Poles felt that the 2025 team began to create its identity as the "Cardiac Bears" with a thrilling Week 4 win over the Raiders.
Special teams standout Josh Blackwell deflected Daniel Carlson's 54-yard field goal with :33 remaining to preserve a 25-24 win in Las Vegas. The Bears had trailed 24-19 before Caleb Williams engineered a brilliant 11-play, 69-yard drive that was capped by D'Andre Swift's 2-yard touchdown run with 1:34 to play.
"I go to the root of it that I think kickstarted it and it comes from the most unlikely place," Poles said. "It was Blackwell's blocked field goal because it gave the team an identity that we're going to fight until the very last second and it's not over until it's over."
(3) Poles believes no one is more of an ideal fit in coordinator Dennis Allen's defense than safety Coby Bryant, a free-agent signee the Bears view as a tone-setter.
A fifth-year pro who helped the Seahawks win the Super Bowl last season, Bryant plays with passion, physicality and a nasty disposition.
"Coby is exactly that," Poles said. "There's speed, there's a level of aggression, there's mental toughness. The guy plays the game the right way and with the right mentality, with a little violence to it. As we continue to collect more guys and guys can elevate to play that style of football, the better off we'll be."
(4) Poles is eager to watch 2025 second-round pick Shemar Turner, a defensive lineman from Texas A&M, return from an injury that derailed his rookie year.
A versatile contributor who can play both tackle and end, Turner was lost for the season when he sustained a torn ACL during a Week 8 game in Baltimore.
"Once he gets up and going, Shemar is a guy that I'm really excited to see have a breakout season," Poles said. "I had a ton of faith he was going to be on the same track as [fellow rookies] Luther [Burden], as Colston [Loveland], as Ozzy [Trapilo]; the more that he played, his impact was going to be felt more and more and I felt like we didn't get to see that."
(5) Poles is confident that defensive backs Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon will return to full strength this season after being slowed by injuries in 2025.
After missing training camp and the preseason due to a groin injury that required surgery, Johnson appeared in only one of the Bears' first 11 games before returning to play the final eight contests, including playoffs.
Gordon missed the first four games with a hamstring injury. He played in back-to-back wins over the Commanders and Saints but then suffered calf and groin injuries in practice that sidelined him for 11 of the final 12 regular-season contests before returning for the playoffs.
"What gives me a lot of faith is they both, I thought, played really good football at the very end of the season and they gave you glimpses of what they were," Poles said. "We just need that for the entire season because if those guys are playing well, they're going to make a significant impact on our football team. I know we've all got a lot of faith that they're going to be able to bounce back this year."
(6) Poles revealed that the Bears have two-to-three phases left in their preparation for the April 23-25 NFL Draft.
The first involves the personnel department meeting with coaches, Poles said, "in terms of their evaluations to see where we're alike, where we're different and where we need to do more work to make sure there's alignment."
The next parts consist of reviewing information such as medical reports and conducting exercises in the draft room to plan for all scenarios.
"We'll flip it," Poles said, "and have our offensive guys look at defense and defense look at offense to understand how they see things and what gives them an issue or problem or threat as we tighten up little stacks on the board."
