The Bears have been absolutely gift wrapped an opportunity at relevance thanks to David Tepper and his moronic decision-making in Carolina... But I'll believe it when I see it.
I think Ryan Poles is a mediocre GM. He's not bungled the obvious picks, like taking Caleb Williams, but the same could have been said for Martin Mayhew, taking Matt Stafford and Ndamukong Suh. Sometimes easy decisions happen upon average management. But like Mayhew, it's not the easy decisions that he will be judged on. It's the 2nd and 3rd round picks, the trades, and the ability to build and sustain around Williams. He hasn't inspired confidence in those areas yet. E.g., Trading #32 overall pick for Chase Claypool... E.g., his 2nd and 3rd round picks having disappointing debuts last year (Gervon Dexter, Tyrique Stevenson, and Zacch Pickens all had "disappointing" rookie seasons per Chicago pundits)... The only clear win on his resume is the trade with the Panthers, which is largely considered to have been stupid on the part of the Panthers, not genius on the part of the Bears.
But worse for them is Matt Eberflus, who I think is just bad. His game management is not good (he lost them the game against the Lions last season), and some to all of Fields' lack of development has to fall on his shoulders. Does Williams have enough natural talent to overcome that? Maybe. But he's still a rookie. And if they disappoint this season, he's probably going to go into his sophomore season with a new head coach. Following the same exact track that Fields went on after getting picked by the Bears.
The Lions success has taught me that there is truly something to be said for instilling a winning culture in a program in order for it to have success in the NFL. Obviously Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes have succeeded at that. I don't see that with Eberflus and Poles. But maybe I'm wrong.