The Chicago Bears have made it clear that they intend to build around hopeful franchise quarterback Justin Fields, which included protecting him up front and surrounding him with weapons.
So far this offseason, the extent of that building has consisted of a new offensive coordinator and some under-the-radar additions in free agency on the offensive line and at wide receiver. And it’s clear that general manager Ryan Poles still has a long way to go.
Poles was asked if he believes he’s done enough to help Fields this offseason. And the GM made it clear that the new offensive scheme and coaching staff will go a long way in helping Fields.
‘‘He’s going to be put in a situation where he’s going to be comfortable,’’ Poles said. ‘‘And allowing him to do what he does best is going to allow him to grow.
‘‘I want to give him everything I possibly can, but you still have to construct an entire team. . . . The timing and the talent level and the cap situation — all of those are going to dictate when we can [spend] and when we can’t. What we’ve done so far is at least establish a little bit of growth in the roster, plus the scheme [and] coaching. I see him getting better even from what we did right now.’’
Poles inherited a roster with aging players and bad contracts, and he’s done a good job unloading that so far. Unfortunately, that’s left him with more holes to fill not just on offense but on defense, as well.
Still, putting Fields in the best position to succeed requires more than just a good offensive scheme. He needs the supporting cast around him, which currently includes a wide receiving corp. featuring Darnell Mooney, Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown, as well as some question marks on the offensive line.
But the thing is, we’re only in March, and there’s still a long way to go this offseason. With that said, Poles is going to need to make some moves, be it in the later waves of free agency and/or the NFL draft to really give Fields what he needs to succeed.
As you can imagine, the way Poles has conducted this offseason so far has some fans worrying about Fields heading into 2022:
