LAKE FOREST, Ill. — In those fleeting moments of a franchise-altering offseason at Halas Hall, Ryan Poles has allowed himself to pause and appreciate what he has built for the Bears in a little over two years.

Poles inherited a team that desperately needed a new vision and a roster that required an overhaul. The Bears were in a dire position before Poles was hired in January of 2022 as the team’s new general manager.

Certainly, the job is far from done as Poles has reminded himself. But the Bears have a firm foundation in place and believe great days are ahead.

“It does put a smile on your face in terms of the work that we’ve done,” Poles said Tuesday with top lieutenant Ian Cunningham to his side. “I feel like we’ve done a good job getting the roster where it is. It makes me feel really fortunate about some of the things that happened to allow us to build the roster maybe a little bit more efficiently than if everything was kind of flat.

“It’s on paper. You’ve got to play and you’ve got to win games in this league. That’s what it comes down to, but we have taken the time just to – for a second; not long.

“We’re proud of where we’ve come from.”

The most important piece for this franchise – the fortunate part Poles pointed towards – is set to come Thursday night in Detroit. The Bears own the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and the rights to select prized quarterback prospect Caleb Williams with hopes he can become Chicago’s franchise star.

Poles said Tuesday the Bears know well whom they will select with the first overall pick, though he declined to announce Williams’ name. After months of scouting and preparation for this pick, Chicago’s selection of WIlliams is a formality.

Williams, 22, won the Heisman Trophy in 2022 and is considered the type of transcendent quarterback talent capable of lifting a franchise. He has the potential to be everything the Bears have hoped to find at the most important position in sports. And Williams fell into the lap of a budding organization thanks to a deal Poles struck with the Panthers for the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft.

The Bears first met with Williams at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, then again in late March before his pro day workout in Los Angeles. Early this month, the Bears played host to Williams for his ‘top 30’ visit at Halas Hall. He was brought out to dinner in Lake Forest by Cole Kmet, DJ Moore and T.J. Edwards, as Poles hoped to find the input of key veterans on his team.

Through multiple meetings and countless considerations, Williams won the Bears over during this pre-draft process.

“Really intelligent guy,” Poles said. “He came across as a really good teammate. Easy to talk to, down to earth. We’ve talked through this process about you know the whole Hollywood thing. He’s all ball, wants to work, wants to get better, wants to win as a team. That’s the No. 1 thing for him on top of being successful. So, I think the biggest thing is does he fit with our culture and what we’re trying to do? And all signs were that he does, so that’s a positive.”

The Bears have prepared for the arrival of Williams by bolstering the roster around him. In his third offseason, Poles acquired six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Keenan Allen to complement Moore, signed dynamic running back D’Andre Swift to lead the backfield, and added depth for the offensive line with veterans like Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton.

The Bears boast a defense that could be one of the NFL’s best in 2024, led by Pro Bowl pass rusher Montez Sweat and cornerback Jaylon Johnson, plus the linebacker tandem of Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds.

Perhaps the greater point of pride for Poles is how the Bears have formed a more complete roster from one through 53.

“It’s going to be hard to make this team now,” Poles said.

But in this modern-day NFL, team success is typically driven by premier quarterback play. Patrick Mahomes, the top arm in this league, just won his third Super Bowl title and second in a row. Tom Brady retired with seven championship rings – more than any single franchise.

Williams hasn’t been shy about pointing to trophies and titles as his goal in the NFL. He will land in Chicago to a franchise believing it’s prepared to win and aligned in a championship vision.

If Williams is what the Bears believe, this franchise can find a new standard of success.

“We all should have huge goals,” Poles said. “We have huge goals here – win multiple championships. And that’s what we shoot for.”

Fine with four

The Bears have already put their second-round pick in this year’s draft to good use, utilizing it late last October in a deal to acquire a star pass rusher in Sweat. He led both the Bears (6.0) and the Commanders (6.5) in sacks last season.

Chicago’s fourth-round pick landed in Los Angeles in exchange for a future Hall of Fame target in Allen. Its fifth-round selection went to Buffalo for a versatile offensive lineman in Bates. The sixth-round slot went to Miami for offensive lineman Dan Feeney and the seventh-round pick was sent to New England for a one-year rental of receiver N’Keal Harry in 2022.

The Bears have just four selections in this year’s NFL Draft: Picks Nos. 1 and 9 in the first round, plus the 75th overall pick (third round) and 122nd slot (fourth round). It’s the fewest draft slots of any team. By comparison, the rival Packers have 11 picks in this draft.

But the Bears don’t see the need to recoup draft picks for the later rounds.

“No, I feel really good with where we’re at,” Poles said.

Poles sees the Bears in this position in part because of the roster depth they have established through three offseasons. Chicago made 11 selections in the 2022 draft and then 10 more last April. Eighteen of those 21 draft picks remain on the roster. Just seven of the 68 players on the roster weren’t brought in by Poles, and only three of those players haven’t been re-signed under this regime.

This is firmly Poles’ roster, and he believes in it.

The other factor that the Bears have considered is the lack of depth in this draft class. Just 58 underclassmen declared for this draft, compared to a record of 108 in 2018. Potential draft prospects have been drawn to stay in the college game thanks to NIL deals, which often pay more than an NFL rookie contract.

“We both feel comfortable with how the board set based off of the draft class,” Cunningham said.

“Each year is different, right? “We kind of have to work in the constructs of this year with what we have given to us.”

If the Bears were to acquire more draft capital, it could come by dealing picks for 2025. Chicago has nine selections for next year’s draft, including a second-round slot from Carolina and a conditional sixth-round selection from Pittsburgh.

Cunningham knows ‘my opportunity will come’

When Poles was trusted by the Bears to lead this great rebuilding process, he sought out a partner for this plan.

Poles didn’t need to look for too long, turning to Cunningham as his assistant general manager – the first man to occupy this role in Bears franchise history.

Cunningham was a respected scout with the Ravens (2008-16) and Eagles (2017-21), who rose to become director of player personnel in Philadelphia before Poles brought him to Chicago. In the two years since Cunningham arrived, he has been coveted for general manager positions.

The right match hasn’t emerged yet for Cunningham, who turned down the Cardinals’ general manager offer in early 2023 and was passed over as a finalist for the Chargers’ and Commanders’ openings this offseason. The Bears signed Cunningham to an extension this week, per a source.

“I am blessed out of my socks to have him by my side through this process,” Poles said. “Especially when you reflect back to the first two years getting this thing off the ground, to have a guy like him.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for Ian as well being there and being an unbelievable partner.”

For Cunningham, there’s great reward being back with the Bears for a third offseason and seeing through the work he and Poles have put forth to this point.

The partnership with Poles has been quite special to Cunningham.

“Not many people in any walk in life get to work with arguably one of their best friends,” Cunningham said. “So, for me to be able to work alongside him, for him to trust me — we all knew that (becoming general manager) was his goal. I have a similar goal. But it means everything for me just to be able to work with him every single day. I know my opportunity will come. It’s been fun. It’s been a fun ride.”

Next step for a new stadium

Bears president/CEO Kevin Warren will lead a significant step forward in the team’s exploration for a new stadium along the city’s lakefront.

The Bears will be joined by various officials Wednesday at Soldier Field for a press conference “to announce their plans for a state-of-the-art, publicly owned enclosed stadium along with additional green and open space with access to the lakefront for families and fans on the Museum Campus,” the team said in a statement.

This event will be the first public display of the Bears’ present plan to stay put in the city of Chicago rather than moving to suburban Arlington Heights.

The Bears completed their $197.2-million purchase for the 326-acre Arlington Park property early last year, but have since struggled to gain property tax certainty in tense negotiations with three local school districts. This has come as first-year Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson has joined Warren in a vision to keep the Bears along the city’s lakefront.

Though the Bears still own the property at Arlington Park, they have stated their intentions to seek a stadium in Chicago and pledged $2 billion of private funding for the project. It’s not clear how the Bears plan to find the remaining funds necessary to build this stadium project.

With Warren and Chicago city officials – including Mayor Johnson – expected to be on hand for this event, it will be a strong showing of the joint commitment to keep the Bears along the lakefront.

Prestigious Piccolo Award

The Bears celebrated one of the great legacies in sports on Tuesday morning as they held the ceremonies for the Brian Piccolo Award, which was given to T.J. Edwards and Darnell Wright.

The Piccolo Award is given each April by the Bears to a veteran and a rookie who best exemplify the “courage, loyalty, teamwork, dedication and sense of humor of the late Piccolo.”

Edwards and Wright were honored before the McCaskey family, Bears management and coaches, along with the Piccolo family and past award winners.

“It’s humbling,” Edwards said. “Just kind of the way I was raised, to treat people right and try to do the right thing. Lord knows I’m not perfect, but I try to do those things every day. I think when it’s an award that’s voted on by your peers, it means all the more. That’s the people you come to work with every day. It makes that special.”

The Bears have presented the Piccolo Award each year since 1970, when Piccolo died of cancer at the age of 26. The Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund has raised over $10 million since 1991.

Bears matriarch Virginia McCaskey, who turned 101 in January, sat in the front row for the ceremonies.

Mock 9

With the NFL Draft beginning 7 p.m. CT Thursday – and the Bears positioned with the first and ninth overall picks – here’s a mock draft of the first nine selections.

1. Chicago Bears: Quarterback Caleb Williams, USC
2. Washington Commanders: Quarterback Jayden Daniels, LSU
3. Minnesota Vikings (via New England Patriots): Quarterback Drake Maye, North Carolina
4. Arizona Cardinals: Wide Receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
5. Los Angeles Chargers: Tackle Joe Alt, Notre Dame
6. New York Giants: Wide Receiver Malik Nabers, LSU
7. Tennessee Titans: Wide Receiver Rome Odunze, Washington
8. Atlanta Falcons: Linebacker/Edge Rusher Dallas Turner, Alabama
9. Chicago Bears: Edge Rusher Jared Verse, Florida State