(670 The Score) They did it. Or they didn't do it, but the Texans did, and the season that the new Bears administration designed from the start to catalyze their rebuild has ended just about ideally.
It's not exactly a Super Bowl parade, but it's a worthy party nonetheless that celebrates the Bears becoming inarguably meaningful and influential in a way they haven't been for far too long. General manager Ryan Poles finds himself in full control of the first of at least a couple pivotal offseasons, empowered with the most salary cap space in the league and now even more resources than that.
Their 29-13 loss to the Vikings coupled with the Texans' dramatic 32-31 comeback victory over the Colts on Sunday means the Bears are at the top of the 2023 NFL Draft, holding the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since they selected Oklahoma State halfback Bob Fenimore there in 1947.
There were a handful of goals that became clear when Poles and coach Matt Eberflus took over, all aligned to get them closer to winning a title. The most obvious was to spend 2022 losing enough games to get a high draft pick, evinced by their choices in constructing one of the NFL's most talent-deficient rosters. Another was to determine whether Justin Fields could earn the organization's commitment to him as their quarterback.
Fields indeed established himself as one of the game's most dynamic players and is a certain candidate for Offensive Player of the Year next season. His record-setting rushing and 85.2 passer rating with a 60.4 completion percentage came despite a mediocre offensive line beset by injuries and comically bad wide receiver play while also enduring a league-high 55 sacks.
Fields has himself become immensely and objectively valuable, regardless of any improbable scenario discussed. Poles has to at least continue to project enough ambiguity to maintain the market for the top pick, even as much as some of the potential permutations might not sit well with many of us electrified by Fields' performance and promise.
Any other sorting of various and sundry roster parts this season pales in comparison to the material significance of the quarterback. There were hits and misses and in-betweens among the prove-it free agents, draft picks and trade acquisitions, but those will come out in the wash over time if that one position is locked down.
The real business starts now for the Bears, and all that mattered was getting to this point in the strongest possible position — not any other straw-man canards about winning and losing that have been peddled out of some weird combination of willful ignorance or unfortunate and disingenuous trolling. The objectives were clear, have been clear and are more clear than ever. The only way not to understand is to either try not to do so or actively pretend one doesn't.
That fact has been lost on too many people this season who should know better, and it can't be repeated enough that Poles went out of his way to win-proof the 2022 Bears going into the season — and multiple times during it. It culminated Sunday with most anyone left who might stand in the way of defeat either traded away, already placed on injured reserve or declared inactive by game time due to extremely liberal interpretations of what it means to be too hurt to play.
It worked.
So now the grading rubric for Poles changes as the stakes increase, with their victories in asset husbandry guaranteeing nothing on the field. It was a helluva day, but the next steps remain daunting in the size of the decisions — trade the pick or use it and also begin doling out all of that cash to the right players on the right terms for their staggering array of needs.
The Chicago Bears are on the clock.
Dan Bernstein is the co-host of the Bernstein & Holmes Show on middays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on 670 The Score. You can follow him on Twitter @Dan_Bernstein.
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