INDIANAPOLIS – As the Bears look to take the next step after capturing the NFC North and winning a playoff game in 2025, general manager Ryan Poles and coach Ben Johnson won't allow complacency to seep into Halas Hall.
"The moment you get comfortable and think you can take success from one year and just apply it to the next, you can be in for a rude awakening," Poles said Tuesday at the Combine. "The mindset that we have to have is starting fresh, rebuilding the foundation that we had, and then improving where we need to improve, specifically where our struggles are. If we have that mindset, we'll be good. If the mindset is we'll be good just because we were good last year, you're setting yourself up for failure."
Johnson first sent that same message in his end-of-season press conference when he told reporters that the Bears would be unable to build off their 2025 success and instead go back to square one and start from scratch in 2026.
"We fell short of our ultimate goal, which was to win the championship," Johnson reiterated Tuesday. "So, the biggest thing is we don't confuse the postseason victory or exceeding expectations from outside the building that it is OK to be complacent. It's not. We didn't do enough. We've got to do more.
"We are back to ground zero. Now does that mean when we come back in the spring that we're not going to be further along offensively or defensively than we were the previous spring? No, that's not what that means. But yet it does help frame our mindset that we are going to have to give more."
With the new league year looming March 11, the Bears will have some important personnel decisions to make, especially in their secondary. Players who are due to become free agents include a pair of Pro Bowlers in safety Kevin Byard III and cornerback Nahshon Wright as well as safety Jaquan Brisker.
“The biggest thing is we don’t confuse the postseason victory or exceeding expectations from outside the building that it is OK to be complacent. It’s not.” Bears HC Ben Johnson
"There's a vision for it," Poles said. "Over the next few weeks, we'll see if we can get some clarity on that, just in terms of retaining our own. I want to see how that plays out. As I said at the end of the season, we have more constraints now than we've ever had. We're further back in the draft. From a cap standpoint, we have to clear some room there, so we have to be strategic. And as I've always said, it takes two to make that happen. We need to be really smart with the guardrails we put up."
Poles also discussed DJ Moore's future with the Bears. This past season the veteran receiver caught 50 passes for 682 yards and six touchdowns while starting all 17 games for the fifth straight year. In addition, he made two of the most significant TD catches in modern Bears history, beating the rival Packers in a pivotal regular-season game Dec. 20 and again in a wild card playoff showdown Jan. 10, both at Soldier Field.
"We want him here," Poles said. "We think highly of him. He's a great teammate. He has been productive pretty consistently over the last however many years he's been here. I have nothing but great things to say about him. But this is the time now where we have to look at all the different scenarios to see what can allow us to put the best team out there. And I've talked about this before. There are relationships there. There's a lot there that makes it really, really difficult. He's a guy we want here. But we have to look at all the different scenarios."
Backup QB drawing interest
Poles told reporters that the Bears have received "a few calls" from teams inquiring about the availability of backup quarterback Tyson Bagent.
"We anticipated someone like Tyson's going to get some interest," Poles said. "The tough thing is what Ben thinks about Tyson, what I think about Tyson, what our locker room thinks about Tyson. That's a really tough decision for us.
"[With a trade] he would have an opportunity to go and perform for a team and do some really good things. But you've got to weigh the short term and the long term. What's the possible replacement to get someone like Tyson? We've spent a lot of time developing him. Ben's spent a lot of time developing him, so you've got to replace that as well. [That's an] interesting dynamic there that we're going to have to work through."
Waiting on an answer
The Bears are waiting to hear back from the NFL about whether they will receive third-round picks in each of the next two drafts as compensation for former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham becoming Falcons general manager.
The NFL awards compensation when a minority employee is hired as a head coach or primary football executive. It has been reported that the Bears would not receive the two third-round picks because Falcons president of football Matt Ryan is considered their "primary football executive." But Ryan has stated that Cunningham is running the draft and will control the roster. In addition, Cunningham told reporters Tuesday that he believes the Bears deserve the compensatory selections.
"There's a set of rules that has been put in place that I think can be applied to this situation," Poles said. "We have communicated through the right channels. We'll see what happens going forward. We're just waiting on an answer."
