Imagine if pace never traded up. Without giving away picks, you would imagine there would be at least 2-5 more contributors on the team. The bears would be set up nicely.
There was a Hoge and Janhs youtube video where they talked about the Rams not having a first round pick since Goff. They mentioned that the Rams have still had lots of draft picks every year (10+) because they always traded down. From their large amount of extra draft picks, the Rams ended up with a good amount of contributors.
Then they mentioned that the Bears are always on the low end of draft picks while also not having hardly any 1st round draft picks either.
Poles needs to bite the bullet, trade down a bit, get extra draft picks and rely on drafting talent (with some lower end free agents) than looking to fill holes with high end free agents. He should not be looking to sign any first wave free agents, especially not the first hour signings.
It is time for the coaches to teach up younger players to be adequate starters, seeing that the previous regime refused to teach anyone anything.