LAKE FOREST — General manager Ryan Poles and assistant general manager Ian Cunningham addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon at Halas Hall for their annual pre-draft press conference.

Unlike any draft in franchise history, the Bears enter in sole possession of the No. 1 overall pick and in need of a franchise quarterback.

Poles and Cunningham spoke for roughly 18 minutes. Here are the top three takeaways from the press conference.

Caleb Williams will be the No. 1 overall pick

The first question to Poles was if he is set to make Caleb Williams the Bears’ next quarterback. Poles started his answer with a, “So, unfortunately” and then began to smile as he continued to answer the question. Cunningham also started grinning.

“It’s one of those things I think everyone has to tune in on Thursday to watch
and figure out, but I feel really good about our process and where we are and where we’re headed,” Poles said. “So, yeah, we know what we’re going to do, but everyone is going to have to wait until Thursday to go there.”

A good comparison to describe Poles and Cunningham in that moment is to children who went into their parents’ closet, found their unwrapped Christmas gifts and then were asked a few days before the holiday if they had any idea of what Santa was going to get them. Everyone knows and the smiles that Poles and Cunningham displayed on Tuesday was a clear giveaway.

What the Bears did want to figure out about Williams is how he would interact with current members of the Bears’ roster at a private dinner during Williams’ 30 visit. As expected, Williams checked all the boxes and Poles received positive feedback from his players on the future No. 1 overall pick.

“Really intelligent guy,” Poles said. “Came across as a really good teammate, easy to talk to, down to earth. We’ve talked through this process about the whole Hollywood thing. He’s all ball, wants to work, wants to get better, wants to win as a team. That’s the number one thing for him on top of being successful. So I think the biggest thing is does he fit in our culture and what we’re trying to do, and all signs were that he does. That was positive.”

We’re just two days away from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell calling Williams’ name as the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Bears comfortable with limited draft capital

The Bears currently only have four picks in the 2024 NFL Draft: No. 1, 9, 75 and 122.

For most teams, that would be seen as a negative, especially if an organization had plenty of holes to fill on the roster. Even though the Bears have the fewest picks of any team in 2024, they still don’t feel a need to add more picks.

“I feel really good with where we’re at,” Poles said. “If that happens, that’s great. If we have less, whatever we need to do to accomplish what we’re seeing out to do and improve our football team.”

Poles clearly isn’t stressing about the limited opportunities he currently has in this draft, and that is due to the current status of the roster. This Bears team has come a long way from the roster Poles inherited in 2022.

“Yeah, things shift and change as you go along,” Poles said. “It’s going to be hard to make this team now. It’s going to be really hard to make this team. That doesn’t mean you don’t want more shots later. We’ll always welcome a lot of picks, but it doesn’t force you to panic about the situation we’re in right now with how many picks we have. It fits our roster, but also fits kind of, like we just talked about, the current status of this draft and then moving forward and what next year looks like as well.”

Three positions are still biggest needs

Since Poles became the general manager in 2022, the organization has won just 10 total games. Clearly, there is improvement to be made, but Poles can look at where the roster started to where it is now and feel good about the progress.

“The job is never done, but we have had those conversations, and it does put a smile on your face in terms of the work that we’ve done,” Poles said. “Like, I feel like we’ve done a good job getting the roster where it is. It makes me feel really fortunate about some of the things that happened to allow us to build a roster maybe a little bit more efficiently than if everything was kind of flat. It’s something to be proud of, but at
the same time the job is not done. I’ve talked about it before on paper. You have to play and win games in this league. That’s what it comes down to, but we have taken the time just to, for a second, not long, but we’re proud of where we’ve come from.”

Poles and Cunningham can feel proud of their progress, but still understand this roster has some holes that need to be addressed. Poles identified three premium position groups on Tuesday afternoon: offensive line, defensive line and receiver.

Based on the research and exercises the Bears have done in the pre-draft process, Poles said he feels he can be “flexible” with those premium positions.

“There’s different championship caliber teams that have built their teams in different ways,” Poles said. “Really I think it solidified those premium positions
are important. I would say those three are there and matches up with this draft pretty well.”

Poles was asked about the defensive line and weighing the importance of an outside edge rusher verses an defensive tackle.

“We talked about inside and outside,” Poles said. “Both are multipliers. Generally speaking, I would say the inside guy has the shortest path to the quarterback. So, therefore, if you have — we both have lived with really good, elite players that are in the inside, and it changes everything, and it opens up a lot for other teams as well. So, yeah, having that interior rush is probably a preference. When you have an outside guy, it makes you really difficult to scheme up.”