LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) – With the Bears struggling in the second year of their rebuild, general manager Ryan Poles on Wednesday stood by head coach Matt Eberflus' leadership.
The Bears are 2-6 this season and 5-20 overall in the Poles-Eberflus era. The team has also been plagued by off-field issues, including the firing of running backs coach David Walker on Wednesday for personal misconduct. Walker was the second Bears assistant to depart the team during the season, as defensive coordinator Alan Williams previously resigned in September. He cited health and family reasons, but misconduct was involved, ESPN later reported.
It has all created a cloud over the Bears' effort to turn around a franchise that has produced one winning season since 2012.
"What I see every day, where I see him address the team and I see his approach through adversity, it is stable," Poles said of Eberflus on Wednesday. "I know in the outside world it doesn't look like that, and I know it looks like we're far away, but this dude comes in every day and just keeps chipping away. He has high integrity.
"The way he holds everything down here is incredible – for how loud it is, how tough it is. I mean, this team, you watch them, they fight. I know (the 30-13 loss to the Chargers on Sunday night) wasn't great, but you can't watch that team and be like, 'Oh, they're going to fold.' Most teams fold, and they're not folding. It's been hard. It's been really hard, especially from where we started last year, trying to build this and do it the right way.
"To me, I see a grown man that has leadership skills to get this thing out of the hole and into where it needs to be."
After being hired by the Bears in late January 2022, Poles led the appointment of Eberflus as head coach. They stepped into their respective roles understanding the big challenge that lay ahead in conducting an arduous rebuild at Halas Hall.
The Bears went an NFL-worst 3-14 in 2022. They then worked through a pivotal offseason by making key moves – including a trade of the No.
1 overall pick to the Panthers in exchange for star receiver DJ Moore and a haul of draft capital – and entered the 2023 campaign with renewed hope.
Prior to the season, Poles stated that the Bears should be judged by their record. Now, Chicago is 2-6 and has endured a great deal of turmoil, from the sudden departures of two assistants to quarterback Justin Fields and since-traded receiver Chase Claypool making critical comments of the coaching staff.
The culture that Eberflus has worked to create has been called into question as the Bears have been forced to manage notable distractions – both inside the locker room and in the coaches' offices.
Poles and Eberflus have been in the center of a firestorm as they've led the Bears.
"You act accordingly to make sure that your culture is strong," Poles said. "So, unfortunately, I feel like every time I talk it's like the easy way is the quiet way. The hard way is the loud way, and we have to deal with this.
But that's how we're going to do business here."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago's sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.
