Bears News: Poles updates player surgeries, says Williams has "championship-caliber talent" |
CHICAGO—With the season concluding this past Sunday with a 24-22 victory against the Green Bay Packers, the attention shifts to figuring out what went disastrously wrong and which players will be returning for the Bears next season.
General manager Ryan Poles provided some injury updates on players that will be back next season. “(Offensive lineman) Braxton (Jones) just got out of surgery a couple days ago with his ankle and he’s healing up. (Defensive lineman Andrew) Billings got his pec repaired. He is out of the sling already and getting stronger, which is no surprise and (safety) Jaylon Jones also had a shoulder operation as well,” Poles said. “In terms of concussion guys, (safety Jaquan) Brisker and (offensive lineman Ryan) Bates, they’re feeling back to themselves and I got faith in all those guys that they’re going to be back ready to help us next year. I don’t have a specific timetable in terms of their return, but they’re heading in the right direction.” The Bears have some critical decisions to make in the offseason as far as unrestricted free agents (UFAs) go. One player set to be a UFA is wide receiver Keenan Allen. Statistically, Allen had one of the worst seasons of his career with his lowest total of receiving yards in a season where he has played at least 10 games and his lowest yards per game in his career. However, he had seven touchdowns, tied for the third-most he has recorded in a season. Retaining Allen would be expensive and may not be worth it when receivers DJ Moore and Rome Odunze are set to be around for the foreseeable future. Another major decision is what Chicago should do with offensive lineman Teven Jenkins. Jenkins has one of the better Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades in the league with a 75.4 overall score last season, No. 18 among the 135 guards in the league. But he has been plagued by injuries his entire career and has yet to play an entire season. He came close this year, playing in 14 of 17 games. While there are certainly important decisions to make with the UFAs like Allen and Jenkins, Poles is waiting to make them until the coaching staff is in place. “In terms of UFAs, we have just a few of them in terms of our starters and we have a couple days that definitely will be up for some type of an extension this offseason,” Poles said. “But, I think it’s really important to wait for the coaching staff to be in the building because we want to make sure we have that alignment with vision, fit, and role as we move forward.” At least the quarterback position is set for the Bears for next season. Caleb Williams showed that he is capable of being a franchise quarterback. Although he made rookie mistakes throughout the season, he also made numerous elite plays and his decision making improved overall throughout the course of the year. There were numerous games where he gave Chicago a chance to win, such as the Washington Commanders game, the first time the Bears played the Green Bay Packers, as well as the first time Chicago played the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. Realistically, the Bears should have won all of those games. “I thought he did some really good things, but I also know that there’s so much more left in him, in his game and his skill set. I love the flashes that he showed,” Poles said. “I love the two-minute drills and his ability to put the team in a position to win games multiple times this season. That is a championship-caliber trait.” Defensively, Chicago thought they found their star after they traded for edge rusher Montez Sweat mid-season in 2023. His performance was elite, garnering him his first Pro Bowl. However, he regressed this season. Sweat recorded just 5.5 sacks, his lowest sack total in a season since 2021 when he only played 10 games. In addition, Sweat also had his lowest number of tackles (24) and tackles for loss (eight) since the 2021 season. Sweat’s performance was disappointing, but Poles also acknowledged that getting more talent on the defensive line would help give Sweat more opportunities to make game-changing plays. “I know he’s disappointed in himself and wants to continue to get better. I know and he knows he’s capable of much more. Also, as we continue to build the defensive line, adding more talent on that would help,” Poles said. “When we looked at some of the chip numbers (and) the double teams, he did get a fair share of those too and the way that you defeat that is (continuing) to add talent to create more one-on-one matchups.”
