The Chicago Bears have nearly $80 million to spend before free agency starts in March. Many Bears fans are hoping general manager Ryan Poles spends that money in a manner that can elevate a team that has won 15 games in three seasons to a playoff contender in 2025.
Despite winning just five games in 2024, there is excitement surrounding the Bears after they hired Ben Johnson as their next head coach. Johnson has talked about improving the offensive line and running back positions. His defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, would like a boost to the defensive line.
However, Bears fans may have to be patient this year before they fill out the roster with elite talent.
Ryan Poles wants to get the foundation right first
During an appearance on 670 The Score‘s “Bernstein & Harris,” Wednesday morning, Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio said Poles told him that the Bears don’t plan to make flashy moves in the offseason that will put them in a position like the Detroit Lions were in last season.
In offseason four, Poles wants to build a strong foundation in Chicago.
Per Florio:
“I asked Ryan Poles yesterday, do we expect to see the Bears immediately jump into the Lions trick play bag? And he said ‘We want to get everything right before we get into the fancy stuff.’
And I think they’re going to take their time, build this offense, and then maybe once they get to the point where they have the foundation in place, we start seeing some of the more exotic stuff. But we’re still waiting for the Bears to have a high-powered offense.”
The Chicago Bears have offseason optimism
During his appearance Florio, a known fan of the Minnesota Vikings, made a few cracks at the hype surrounding the Bears this year, as it closely resembles the optimism Chicago had before they drafted Caleb Williams.
“Look, you never know what’s going to happen, but there’s a sense of optimism that the Bears haven’t had since last year at this time,” Florio said, prompting a fit of laughter from the radio hosts. “But maybe this year is justified. Maybe this time, they really are heading in the right direction.”
The Bears will try to profit off the hype
Florio thinks Poles and the Bears are doing the right thing by giving Johnson a strong foundation in year one, despite the team trying to sell fans that 2025 can be the year they contend for a long playoff run.
“Now look, the business people for the Chicago Bears would want people to get caught up in the hype because that means maximum season ticket renewals, that means maximum jersey sales, that means maximum money, maximum attention,” Florio said. “But it does make sense to say, look, we are still in the process of forming what we’re going to become.”
Hopefully what they are going to become is a team that will need a flashy signing or trade to become a Super Bowl contender.
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Aaron Glenn gives Ben Johnson his flowers before beginning Chicago Bears tenure
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