Hub Arkush: Bears fans will need patience if rooting for full rebuild

So with the first week of free agency and the NFL’s 2022 new league year now in the books, what have we really learned about general manager Ryan Poles’ plans for the Chicago Bears?

We’ve known for several weeks now since he dealt Khalil Mack away for a less than impressive return that a rebuild was in fact under way.

But there are rebuilds and there are rebuilds. And if the last week has shown us anything, it’s that Poles intends to tear this fixer-upper down to the studs.

A few weeks ago, Hall-of-Famer Bill Polian was quoted as saying, “You need 10-to-12 blue-chip talents to be in the hunt,” and he believed from folks he’d talked to the Bears had 6-to-8 at the time.

Those 6-to-8 talents most likely included Allen Robinson, David Montgomery, Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn, Akiem Hicks, Roquan Smith and Jaylon Johnson, and you could include Tarik Cohen and Jakeem Grant as blue-chip return men.

Perhaps you could make an argument for James Daniels and Eddie Jackson – and Justin Fields is absolutely a blue-chip prospect – but none of them have played close to that level in navy and orange consistently enough – or at all – to earn that distinction.

Now Poles has discarded his two best players – Mack and Robinson – along with Daniels, Cohen and Grant, as well as quality veterans Eddie Goldman, Patrick O’Donnell and Danny Trevathan, while adding guard Lucas Patrick, linebacker Nicholas Morrow, defensive linemen Justin Jones and Al-Quadin Muhammad and wide receivers Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown.

With it near impossible to imagine Hicks coming back, and knowing that while several of Poles’ new free agents are intriguing none can possibly be mistaken for a blue chipper, the Bears now have only Fields, Montgomery, Quinn (assuming he isn’t dealt, too), Smith and Johnson to build around.

Poles told us at the scouting combine he’d be doing most of his free agent shopping in the second and third waves starting now.

“I mean we have, what is it, 26-27 free agents, so there’s a lot of spots we got to fill, so that volume piece is important,” Poles said.

“And the other thing, too, that I’ve always loved is, usually in that volume piece, you’re going to have some players that, they’re motivated, they got a chip on their shoulder, and they want to get back into free agency and go at it again. So they play with a purpose.”

Patrick, Morrow, Jones and Muhammad all appear to fit that mold, but it still leaves all of their ceilings as not being the reasons the Bears are going to lose rather than the reasons they will win.

Then there’s the puzzle as to why Poles would let Daniels leave at a relatively reasonable price – I’m told by several sources no real effort was made to retain him – to bring in Patrick when Daniels is five years younger and more talented?

Poles did tell us at the combine he intended to reimagine his offensive line.

“We’re going to change it up a little bit just in terms of the style,” Poles said. “A lot of those guys, and the message has been clear — we’ve gotta change body types a little bit. We’ve gotta get lighter, we’ve gotta get quicker.

“Through that, I think there’s some young talent that just needs to be pressed. That’s part of our job is to create competition and bring the best out of them. We’ll do that and we’ll see if the cream rises to the top.”

But if Daniels and the also departed Alex Bars weren’t two of those guys, who is?

Lastly, there can be hope the Bears can find a blue chipper or even two with two second-round draft picks, a third, two firth and a sixth, but history – as in NFL history not just the Bears’ – tells us the odds are against them.

There is nothing wrong with any of this … yet.

Poles is here because of the mess he’s inheriting and because of his plan – we assume this one – he presented to convince ownership he could fix it.

But the greatest clarity we may have gained from this first week of free agency is the Bears, who went 6-11 last season, may be about to get worse, perhaps a lot worse before they get better, and how patient you all are going to be with that will be very interesting.