If New York Giants fans thought they had it rough with Joe Schoen as their general manager, imagine being a Chicago Bears fan. During Schoen's tenure, the G-Men hold an unremarkable record of 18-32-1. After back-to-back disastrous seasons, it’s hard to find anyone not calling for his job—and it’s tough to argue with them. The past 24 months have been brutal.
Just about every organization in the league would have Schoen on the hot seat heading into 2025... unless you’re the Chicago Bears, in which case he’d probably be getting a raise.
All jokes aside, on Friday afternoon, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Bears had come to an agreement with GM Ryan Poles to extend him five years (through 2029) after overseeing a 15-36 record over the same stretch. Talk about completely different circumstances.
Ryan Poles will have Joe Schoen looking for a contract extension next week
To be clear, Schoen deserves plenty of heat for how New York has unraveled since that surprise playoff run in 2022. But at least he had one.
Poles has been running the Bears into the ground since Day 1 and somehow just got rewarded for it. This is the guy who said the Bears would be taking the NFC North and not give it back, only to finish last in the division in each of the past three years. This is also the guy who traded away Roquan Smith, whiffed on multiple free agents, and hired an offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron who didn't have an ounce of offensive creativity. And now he gets five more years to keep doing... more of the same.
Meanwhile, Schoen’s mistakes have been loud—deafening, even—but at least he seems to learn from them. He inherited a disaster of a cap sheet, was forced into a Daniel Jones extension, and inexplicably let star players walk due to penny-pinching, but is now at least trying to clean it all up. The results haven’t been pretty, but the direction at least makes sense on paper.
You can actually follow the logic, even if the execution has been questionable.
That’s what makes it even more baffling. Schoen’s been under fire for a mess of his own making, and rightfully so. But at least there’s tangible pressure. In Chicago, Poles did just as much damage—if not more—and somehow got rewarded for it.
And just like that, Joe Schoen might just be the biggest winner of Ryan Poles’ five-year mulligan.