Bears general manager Ryan Poles said Thursday the organization is not “panicking” or “flinching” amid a slow start, the sudden resignation of defensive coordinator Alan Williams and quarterback Justin Fields venting frustration about being overcoached.
“We have adversity right now,” he said. “Slow start, 0-2,, not where you want to be. The beautiful thing about our organization is we’re solution-oriented.
“No one in our building is panicking. Everyone is focused on solving the issues we have as a football team.”
Poles added that no one in the organization views Fields “as a finger pointer” after his comments that he hasn’t been able to play freely.
“When I listen to him and that whole deal, like, the majority of it was like, ‘Alright, I’ve gotta create this clarity, I’ve gotta get better,” Poles said. “He took ownership of everything. He didn’t have to say anything about that. Our coaches are like, ‘How can we make you better? How can we help you be successful?’ And there’s always that balance.
“No one took it personally. We all know we have a hand in our success and we want him to be successful and it takes everyone for him to be successful, including himself. I kinda thought he hit on all of that. It was no shock to anyone.”
It has been a bizarre and concerning week at Halas Hall as the Bears prepare to visit the Chiefs.
Williams, 53, resigned Wednesday after missing at least a week because of what the Bears called a personal reason. He did not travel with the team for its game against the Buccaneers last weekend.
Eberflus said when he took the head-coaching job he wanted to take a CEO-style approach and hire a defensive coordinator who would call plays. Williams had been an assistant under him when he was the Colts’ defensive coordinator from 2018 through ‘21.
Last season, as Poles stripped down the roster in the opening stage of the rebuild, the Bears allowed an NFL-worst 27.7 points per game. In Williams’ final game as coordinator, they lost 38-20 to the Packers.
