Ryan Poles Sets Up His Air Show and Isn't Looking Back

Analysis: The selection of Caleb Williams and Rome Oduzne lets the Bears boast a destructive passing game but there are defensive needs still to address.

Caleb Williams greets the commissioner after his name is called out as the top pick Thursday in Detroit. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Air Bear has been assembled. Now it's up to Matt Eberflus, Shane Waldron and staff to make sure it's not Err Bear again.

Bears GM Ryan Poles brought in Caleb Williams at No. 1 and Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze at No. 9 in Round 1. Now it's a matter of developing Williams to make sure he is everything they believe he can be.

"One, the infrastructure has to be there and I think we’ve done that part to have the talent around our quarterback now," Poles said late Thursday following the conclusion of Round 1. "I think the other thing is our entire organization is going to have to be on the same page on how we handle this, how we develop Caleb.

"But I also say I think we have a really good approach with all of the players and I think that’s maybe different than it was in the past. The way we take it really serious in terms of a nutritional standpoint, to performance to mental skills to how our coaches teach. I think we've made some really good strides, but it's going to take everybody and everyone is going to be on the same page. We’ve got to adjust to the strengths and weaknesses that the player has."

There are plenty of strengths for Williams.

"He's got special instincts, awareness, especially in the pocket to manipulate the pocket, get in and out of the pocket, spatial, a feel for space is special," Poles said. "That's his special sauce.

"Then once we kind of speed things up and start to identify different coverages and there's an adjustment to an NFL offense that he's got to go through as well. So we're really excited to work with the tools he has."

BEARS GET THEIR RECEIVER TO COMPLETE THE PASSING CONNECTION

Poles was completely sold on Williams by the top 30 visit if not before. Williams knew the history of the Bears' passing problems and asked why they've had these issues in the past when he made that visit to Halas Hall in early April.

"I think he just kind of wanted to get a feel for everybody in the organization, what we what were we about in terms of like, what's our direction, what's our north star, how are we going to get there?" Poles said. "And I think, through our actions, we've shown that."

Then Poles said he'd like to take those history books put them in a circular file.

"And you know, the history's the history," he said. "Like. I'm kind of done talking about it. You go back so much all the time and those days are over.

"So we're bringing players in here that want to really just change everything up and do things a different way. Obviously, we love our history here, but it has hasn't been smooth recently and it's time to change. So I feel like we've got to stop going back all the time."

It would be a good place not to visit again. With Williams and also with Odunze, maybe they won't need to be stuck on the ground so much.

Poles said he wasn't sure if he was going to get to add Odunze for a while. There were trade calls about the ninth spot both by the Bears and other teams, but he said it amounted to nothing serious.

"Yeah, there was definitely nerves," he said. "But there was a couple moves ahead of us and then what we do, our pro staff does a really good job just identifying needs of different teams.

"Our analytics team puts percentage of kind of where guys are going to go. So we really tapped into that and once we got to like seven, we started feeling pretty good that he might make it."

Jim Harbaugh taking tackle Joe Alt was huge because many thought he would try to replace Keenan Allen in the draft. Anyone who follows Big Ten football and remembers Harbaugh coaching in the NFL the first time with the 49ers could have predicted he was taking a tackle.

This meant as long as the Falcons didn't take a receiver the Bears would be all right. Atlanta needed defense. Instead, the Falcons caused everyone's jaw to drop to the floor by taking Odunze's teammate, quarterback Michael Penix Jr., after they had just signed Kirk Cousins for the equivalent of the U.S. Mint.

"I'm just happy it worked out that way," Poles said.

The Bears didn't get the pass rusher they need. They got the receiver and the quarterback any team needs in this era. They'll have to work on the rest Saturday and Sunday with all of those two picks they have left.

When it was all done and their night had ended at No. 9, Poles said they sat around and took stock of everything.

They made the most of those on Thursday. If they don't find pass rush help, however, they could be putting the progress they made defensively in last year's second half in jeopardy.

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