INDIANAPOLIS – The Bears have had top 10 picks in each of the last three drafts, but that's not the case this year. After a magical season in which they won the NFC North with an 11-6 record, they sit at No. 25.
The shift to near the bottom of the first round is changing the way the Bears are preparing for this year's draft.
"I think you've got to cast a wider net," general manager Ryan Poles told ChicagoBears.com at the NFL Combine. "When you're in the top 10, you can get a pool of 12, 13, 14 guys that you know are going to be there.
"This is a little bit different. We're going to have to do a lot more work, make sure that we have information on everybody. We don't want to be caught by surprise, and we won't be. There are guys that you think will be top 15 that fall all the way to 25. I've seen that before. So, we want to be prepared, and we will be."
The Bears spent all four of their top 10 picks in the last three drafts on bolstering an offense that fueled the team's division-winning 2025 campaign. They chose right tackle Darnell Wright 10th in 2023; quarterback Caleb Williams first and receiver Rome Odunze ninth in 2024; and tight end Colston Loveland 10th in 2025.
This past season Wright was named second-team All Pro. Williams set a franchise single-season passing record with 3,942 yards and rallied the Bears to seven wins in games they trailed in the final 2:00. Odunze became the franchise's first player to score touchdowns in each of the first four games of a season since legendary Hall of Famer Walter Payton in 1986. And Loveland became the first rookie to lead the Bears in receiving since Willie Gault in 1983.
Having top 10 picks in three straight drafts was the polar opposite of Poles' first year as GM in 2022 when the Bears did not own a first-round selection; it had been traded to the Giants the year before to move up to choose quarterback Justin Fields at No. 11. In addition, the team wasn't in a favorable position with the salary cap.
"When I walked in the building, we were in a pretty tough situation," Poles said. "I knew that it was going to take some patience, it was going to take weathering the storm to get to where we need to go.
"We have an unbelievable fanbase and they want a winning organization, so I think having that poise and belief in our process allowed us to have patience. And now when we're on the other side of it, we've got to continue to build it the right way and not feel the pressure to do crazy things to capitalize on a short window.
"We want to sustain success here. We don't want to be a flash-in-the-pan type situation. So having patience, being thoughtful, making sure that our decisions are positive for us both short-term and long-term, I think the constraints we had walking in the door allowed us to work through those tough situations and we can apply those same things into our situation now where we also have constraints."
Promoting from within
Poles knew that the Bears could lose key members of their personnel department and coaching staff after having a successful season like they did in 2025. And that's exactly what transpired this offseason with the departure of assistant general manager Ian Cunningham and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.
Cunningham left to become Falcons GM, while Doyle accepted a similar position with the Ravens—but with play-calling responsibilities he did not have in Chicago.
The Bears filled both openings by promoting from within, elevating senior director of personnel Jeff King to assistant GM and passing game coordinator Press Taylor to offensive coordinator under coach Ben Johnson.
"[It's about] growth and development," Poles said. "Really happy for Ian and his opportunity. I was able to set up Jeff King and he hit the ground running. There was no rough transition. Being prepared for that is key. You want to be 1-2-3 people deep in key positions and we've done that.
"Ben knew that coming from [the Lions], knowing that with success coaches are going to go too. Having the next person ready to go and having a succession plan is really important. We're thinking about that constantly."
Unbreakable bond
Poles will miss Cunningham but is thrilled he landed a GM job. They've been close friends for about 15 years, a bond that began when they were young NFL scouts who would run into each other on college campuses and at the Combine. Both went into personnel after failing to earn NFL roster spots as undrafted free agent offensive linemen in 2008—Poles with the Bears and Cunningham with the Chiefs.
The two even briefly lived together after being hired by the Bears while waiting for their wives and young children to relocate to Chicago.
Asked about both becoming NFL general managers, Poles said: "We've been talking about this for years, even before we both were employees of the Bears. We saw this happening. We knew that there would be certain steps to get to that. He really didn't need much advice when he left just because of how we delegated things; the things I put on his plate, the stresses that I put on him.
"My conversations through people that called me from the Falcons was you're not going to get a better prepared first-time GM, and he showed that in the interview process and he'll be able to show that [moving forward]."
