The Chicago Bears are stuck in another rut right now leading to an eight game losing streak, and that's largely been caused by their own doing.

It's easy to see why everyone in Chicago is uncomfortable right now based on the outcome of what was supposed to be a promising first step in the right direction.

On the outside of things, everyone has rightfully started turning the attention toward general manager Ryan Poles and putting a microscope under the decisions he's made since taking over the role back in 2022.

When you do that, it's easy to see that a lot of the team's issues over the past three season fall back to moves Poles has made, whether with the roster or the coaching staff. It's also clear why his future might not be as concrete as team president Kevin Warren made it seem just a few weeks ago.

On Thursday ESPN's Bill Barnwell ranked the worst decision of all 32 teams in the last five years. For the Bears, he included a decision made by Ryan Poles involving a player that never seemed to work out, but I'm not sure that's been his WORST decision.

Barnwell felt that the Bears' worst decision over the last five years was trading for then Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool. In the trade, the Bears gave up a hefty return with a second-round pick going to Pittsburgh. But it wasn't just the return that raised eyebrows.

Claypool wasn't viewed very favorably around the league outside of his size and potential. It only took three games into his Chicago career for the coaching staff to not only bench him, but make him a healthy inactive. By Week 5, Claypool and a 2025 seventh-round pick were traded to the Miami Dolphins for a 2025 sixth-round pick.

The decision in the moment made some sense with the Bears looking around for another high-potential pass catcher to add to the offense and the free agent class didn't look the best that offseason with the top names being Jakobi Meyers, DJ Chark, JuJu Smith-Schuster, etc. Was it still an overpay, yes, considering the Steelers used that second-round pick on an established starter in cornerback Joey Porter Jr.

As bad of a decision and eventual outcome as that was, I still don't view the Bears trade for Claypool as the worst decision Poles has made. That honor goes to the decision choosing not breaking the cycle after claiming he wanted to break the cycle.

By that, I'm of course referring to the decision to keep Matt Eberflus as the team's head coach going into the 2024 season. The hiring of Eberflus itself was bad the more that comes out regarding how others around the league viewed him as a legit head coaching candidate, but considering he was hired days after Poles, I'll give him a pass.

The decision to retain him after the 2023 season, however, falls on Poles. There were plenty of capable coaching options the Bears could have brought in for this season such as Jim Harbaugh, Dan Quinn, Mike Vrabel or Ben Johnson (two of those names got hired as head coaches and have their teams knocking on the door of the playoffs right now).

Ultimately, a new personality and hairdo must have given Poles some kind of confidence to give Eberflus another shot to rebuild his coaching staff around a rookie quarterback. We've now seen how well that decision has gone for the Bears.

The writing was all over the wall for what direction the Bears should have gone and that direction was pairing Caleb Williams with a new head coach before you waste one of his seasons in the NFL. Poles chose to do the opposite making Eberflus the Bears' third straight lame duck coach to get fired during the first year with a rookie quarterback.

That has easily been the worst decision this franchise has made in the last half-decade and even if you look at the roster decisions Poles has made, I'm still not sure Claypool was the worst.

Signing Nate Davis to a 3-year $30 million deal and ignoring not only outside but also in-house warnings was pretty bad, and that's before the team decided to move on from him. And the Ryan Bates trade this summer is looking pretty rough too considering he's played three games and started two after giving up a 2024 fifth-rounder for him. And we're not even talking about the Velus Jones Jr. situation.

I'll give Poles some slack, every general manager has their misses, it's a part of the job. But it's how you overcome those decisions and turn them into net positives that makes a good GM and good GM. I'm not sure we can confidently say Poles has managed to do that with the Bears, yet.

A suddenly deficient roster is leading to more questions about Ryan Poles’ security in Chicago, even if franchise players continue advocating for him

Is his head next on the chopping block?