Once the Khalil Mack trade became official, it was clear.

The Chicago Bears are rebuilding under new general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus.

On the surface, the Mack trade was somewhat of a head-scratcher. But when viewed with depth, it was clear why the new regime felt the need to get Mack off the roster and off the books.

More questionable decisions followed after. Such as zero notable big free agent signings, despite a decent amount of cap room. Yes, the team took a shot at Larry Ogunjobi, but that fell through.

Outside of that however, there were no significant moves.

It was pretty bewildering to see a roster with so many holes receive such a passive approach in March.

Still, when looking at it deeper, it made sense. The Bears were doing things their way, which is building through the draft, before anything else.

Then said draft came. And after the Bears took not one, but two defensive backs with their first two picks, well, as one can imagine, even more questions followed. Rinse and repeat in the third round with wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. and so on and so forth.

All offseason long, the Bears made questionable decisions. And, they seemingly ignored the one question that needed to be answered the most: is quarterback Justin Fields the future of the franchise?

Figuring that out should've been priority No. 1 since the beginning. But, it's obvious building the defense was the No. 1 priority when looking at what the Bears tried to do in free agency and what they did in the draft.

While a strong defense does help a young quarterback -or just a quarterback, in general- it still doesn't tell you what a quarterback is capable of doing on their own.

And that's what Eberlus and Poles needed to figure out this year. Is Fields capable of playing quarterback at a high level in the NFL and what does it take to get him there?

So far, there is no way to tell whether or not Fields is the guy. Everything around him         -outside the running game- is so messed up and dysfunctional that he is either running for his life, rushing throws, or having to make plays with his legs because receivers can't separate.

And this is all because the Bears ignored the offense during the offseason.

There were major issues on the offensive line, but the solution was to start a fifth-round rookie at left tackle and sign players who have only been solid, at best, on the interior. There were major questions at receiver outside Darnell Mooney, but the solution was to draft a 25-year-old with inconsistent college production in the third round and sign former No. 2, No. 3, and even No. 4 receivers in other offenses.

Everywhere you look, the Bears have failed Fields.

And they've failed themselves, in return.

Because here's the kicker: this team is going to have to make a big decision on Fields after 2023. They're going to have to decide whether or not they want to approve Fields' fifth-year option, which does not come cheaply. Arizona Cardinal quarterback Kyler Murray's option pulled in $29.7 million before his big extension, so just imagine what that number will look two offseasons from now.

The Bears have already thrown 2022's evaluation out the window, so how could they feel comfortable making a decision such as Fields' fifth-year option with just one year of evaluation under their belt? And we don't even know how substantial 2023 will look at this point.

Combining that with how stingy this front office has already proven itself to be, it raises a major question about Fields' future and how it gels in an overall sense.

And in turn, the Bears could be setting themselves up to start all over, again, at the most important position in the game.

In just a few years.

The longer the Bears ignore Fields, the more behind they get. It doesn't stop with Fields, either – the defensive decisions are even looking questionable at this point. All one has to do is look at Kyler Gordon's season compared to George Pickens' and that's all they need to realize the Bears are responsible for all of the team's deficiencies.

The process has failed through the first quarter of the season and it doesn't look like things are changing anytime soon. This has put the Bears behind even more than they were coming into 2022. Because, so far, there haven't been many answers to the questions that hung over -and still hang over- this team.

And right now, it's a safe bet they'll still search for answers to the same questions next year.

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