What ought to the Bears do at QB transferring ahead? TNF broadcast had a reasonably clear view

With 6:33 remaining in the third quarter Thursday night, it was time to put Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles on television. That’s what Amazon Prime Video’s telecast did following the commercial break after running back D’Onta Foreman’s touchdown run for the Bears.

Next to Poles was a graphic breaking down the trade he made with the Carolina Panthers involving the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which the Panthers used on quarterback Bryce Young.

“A lot to talk about in terms of the trade,” play-by-play broadcaster Al Michaels said. “Ryan Poles with Chicago, they have a treasure trove. Look at this. I mean not since, I think Willie Sutton was robbing banks, did you see something like that.”

Michaels then went through some of the details of the trade.

“And there are pieces on this defense already that you like about where they are and where they’re heading,” analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “You add on what they’re going to be able to do in next year’s draft — not just in the first round but really the first four or five rounds. They’ve got a lot of picks.”

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After trading for defensive end Montez Sweat, the treasure trove isn’t as much as Herbstreit hinted at during the broadcast. The Bears have six picks in the first five rounds. It includes two in the first and two in the fourth. But his point still was made. The Bears and Poles are in a great position to build out their roster.

What Michaels and Herbstreit hit on at that moment in the third quarter seemed to be an important theme of Prime Video’s broadcast of the Bears’ 16-13 win against the Panthers on “Thursday Night Football.”

It’s always interesting to hear what national broadcasts say about teams because what’s said typically comes after ample time spent talking to players, coaches and front-office members during production meetings and more.

When Herbstreit and Michaels weren’t hanging out with Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce for a full quarter, they were generally speaking positively about rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent and what the Bears could be building. During the pregame show, Michael Smith, the former ESPN host, explained what Poles inherited from former GM Ryan Pace.

“The Bears lacked picks, cap space, youth and talent,” Smith said. “Poles had to reset the roster, and that process takes more than two offseasons. There were hardly any first-rounders around here when Poles arrived.”

Smith then hit on Poles’ acquisition of Sweat.

“That was a move to get more blue-chip talent in the building,” he said.

And then came this.

“So Justin Fields is under contract for next year and the Bears have the option for the fifth year — and they still believe in him,” Smith said. “A lot can change between now and the draft. But the Bears know this roster still needs to undergo a lot of upgrades around whomever is under center.”

That was Bagent on Thursday night. By the end of the night, Bagent was the one sitting with Charissa Thompson, Tony Gonzalez, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Whitworth and Richard Sherman as Bears fans chanted “(Expletive) Green Bay” and “Fire Getsy.”

Bagent won. The Bears’ Division II starter was better than the Panthers’ Heisman Trophy winner.

“Overall, they’re going in the right direction,” Gonzalez said after the game. “And this kid, I couldn’t be happier for him, especially coming out of the Division II level to be in this spotlight, prime time, it was good for him.”

Fitzpatrick’s favorite throw from Bagent was the rookie’s final one of the game. Bagent hit receiver Darnell Mooney for an 8-yard gain between two defenders on third-and-7 from Carolina’s 38 in the final 90 seconds.

“Luke Getsy, that last third-and-7 of the game, he trusted Bagent with the ball in his hands,” Fitzpatrick said. “It wasn’t just a handoff and let’s punt this thing away. He allowed him to drop back. It wasn’t a rollout. It wasn’t a, ‘Let’s give him an option to run, let’s give him an option to throw.’ He dropped back, found Mooney, got the first down and iced the game. That tells you a lot about Luke Getsy and what he thinks about this kid.”

Fields, though, is the Bears’ starter when he’s healthy. Coach Matt Eberflus said as much after the game. Maybe that’s what he had up his sleeve.

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After the game, Gonzalez suggested the Bears should take USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the first pick if they have it and then trade their second first-rounder for more selections. Everyone disagreed with him. It might be best to stick with Fields or Bagent. Poles simply has more work to do.

“You got a chance this year to use up all that draft leverage to stack this football team with talent,” Whitworth said.

“Because you end up in a situation that Bryce Young is in with not a lot of talent,” Sherman said. “The cupboard is pretty empty. He’s trying his best. You can’t even tell if he’s talented or not because the team is so bad. You get a good quarterback in there and he starts to think he’s bad, he loses his confidence, and you can’t build a good team around him, and then people start to rush to judgment.”

Sounds familiar, right?

It was the Bears last season — Year 1 of Poles’ rebuild. Fields didn’t have much to work with in his second season.

True, the Bears beat only a one-win Panthers team, but Sweat, nickelback Kyler Gordon, right tackle Darnell Wright and others drafted, signed or acquired by Poles played well in the victory. That includes Bagent, who is 2-2 as the Bears’ starter. He wasn’t great but good enough against Carolina. He completed 20 of 33 passes for only 162 yards, but he didn’t turn the ball over or take a sack.

Whitworth said before the game that Fields or Bagent should be the starter next season for the Bears.

As everyone seemed to suggest at times throughout Prime’s broadcast, Poles is in an ideal position to add talent around his quarterback — whomever that is — and on defense.

“Because I believe the way you build a football team in the NFL is to continue to stockpile talent, and that’s really the winning model,” Whitworth said. “When you look in San Francisco, when you look at Philly, where Jason (Kelce) plays, it’s about the guys that play around him just as much as it is their quarterback when you want to win year in and year out. So you look at their draft pick capital, maybe trading one of those picks to move back in the first a little further and stockpiling more picks to keep more talent because this team is a lot further away than just one dynamic quarterback.”

(Photo of Tyson Bagent: Daniel Bartel / USA Today)

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