Ryan Poles deserves blame for the Bears’ lack of defensive line pass rush

The Chicago Bears lost their fifth consecutive game on Sunday, falling to the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 30-27 in overtime at home. despite over 400 yards by the offense and 11 points scored in the final minute of regulation to force overtime, the Bears’ defense failed contain the Vikings’ passing offense, especially in overtime. With Matt Eberflus’ Cover-2 defensive scheme reliant on defensive line pressure, general manager Ryan Poles has repeatedly failed to provide quality talent on the line, which has led to the same recurring issue the past three seasons.

Ryan Poles has failed to successfully build a quality Cover-2 defensive line

When Ryan Poles was hired in January of 2022, he hired Eberflus knowing that Chicago’s defensive scheme and roster would have to transition from 3-4 based defense to a Cover-2 scheme. The Cover-2 defense relies heavily on having linebackers drop back into pass coverage to guard against tight ends and running backs catching passes, freeing up the secondary to bracket the opposing wide receivers. For the scheme to work successfully, the defensive line must create consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback to hurry throws to create mistakes.

Over the past three off seasons, Ryan Poles has failed to sign or draft credible and consistent pass-rush talent, outside of defensive tackle Gervon Dexter. The best defensive lineman Chicago currently has is defensive end Montez Sweat who was brought over via trade from the Washington Commanders at last year’s trade deadline. Outside of Sweat and Dexter, Poles has had more failed signings and draft selections along the defensive line than successful ones which is leading to the issue the Bears’ defense is having now.

Despite Sweat’s presence, the rest of Chicago’s defensive line has failed to generate consistent pass rush pressure, resulting in the pass defense struggling, especially in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings. During Chicago’s five game losing streak, the Bears’ defensive unit has registered ten sacks, with only five coming from the defensive line. Several of Ryan Poles’ defensive line draft selections have received a good amount of playing time during the five-game losing streak, and have failed to generate any pressure.

Austin Booker, Dominique Robinson, and Zacch Pickens have combined for a total of just one sack this entire season, with no sacks coming during the team’s five-game losing streak. Additionally, Poles’ trade for Darnell Taylor before the start of the season is looking like a dud as Taylor hasn’t recorded a sack since Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans. Although the defensive play-calling failures are the fault of Eberflus, the lack of talent with personnel falls on that of Ryan Poles, especially with what transpired with the defense before and after the Sweat trade last season.

In 2023, Chicago’s defensive line lacked any credible pass rushing threat before Poles signed veteran Yannick Ngakoue, who was seen as one of the league’s better defensive ends when it came to sacking the quarterback. Despite Ngakoue’s presence, the defensive line struggled through the first eight games of the 2023 season, recording only six and a half sacks, which contributed to the unit giving up 20 points or more in six of those eight games. After Poles traded for Sweat in Week 9, the defense doubled their sack output finishing with almost 20 sacks in their final eight contests, leading to the unit finishing the season with the most interceptions in the league.

Ryan Poles failure to build defensive line have hurt other areas of the defense

Fans and the media are witnessing the same mistake transpire in back-to-back seasons where Poles has failed to provide Eberflus two credible defensive end pass rushers, instead of just one. Whether be Ngakoue or Sweat, opposing offenses have schemed to take away Chicago’s best threat to create pressure and forced the remaining defensive linemen to get home, which they aren’t doing. Ryan Poles failed to make any significant attempts to pair the team’s Pro bowl defensive end with another credible threat to force opposing offenses into a difficult task of deciding who to block.

During the free agency period this past offseason, there were several available proven pass rushers on the market that Poles and Chicago did not pursue, to the puzzlement to fans and the media, especially when there was spot open following Ngakoue’s free agency status. Danielle Hunter, Bryce Huff, and Jonathan Greenard were all available, as each one could have made a terrific pairing with Sweat, but Poles did not significantly pursue any of them. Hunter has recorded ten sacks already with Houston while Greenard had a key sack in overtime against the Bears’ and quarterback Caleb Williams on Sunday.

With no credible pass rush, Chicago’s defense has failed to stop opposing offenses from passing downfield at will. Consistent pressure from the defensive line won’t just lead to more sacks, but more takeaways too with interceptions or strip-sack fumbles. That is why Bears’ defensive unit was so successful towards the end of 2023, as in several games the unit recorded multiple sacks and multiple interceptions, yet Poles chose not to make any significant upgrades this offseason. During the five-game losing streak, the Bears have only recorded two interceptions and a total of five sacks from their defensive line.

With a loss on Thanksgiving to the Detroit Lions, it is likely that Eberflus will be fired, but fault for the defensive pass rush pressure belongs on Poles for not doing a better job constructing a defensive line built to highlight the strengths of a Cover-2 defense. In three years, Ryan Poles has failed to either draft or sign a dominant defensive end or defensive tackle, which has led to Chicago not being as consistent as the team was expected to be heading into the 2024 season. For a general manager who hired a Cover-2 style head coach, that head coach could be fired for a lack of quality talent to execute his scheme to its utmost potential.