Are the Bears headed in the right direction?

These SB Nation Reacts’ approval ratings got a big boost when the Chicago Bears let Ryan Pace and Mat Nagy go following the 2021 season (all the way up to 43%), but the hiring of Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus has our fanbase’s confidence in the direction of the franchise even higher. We’re now up to 71%, which is the highest it’s been since they polled us after the 2021 NFL Draft.

Trading up for Justin Fields electrified our fans, and now having a regime in place that seems prepared to build about Fields’ skillset has us even more jazzed. Hope has a way of driving these confidence numbers, and the offseason is the time when hope flourishes.

As for the upcoming 2022 season, I wasn’t looking forward to a defensive minded head coach, but now that I’ve learned more about Eberflus, and his offensive staff is taking shape, I can’t wait for training camp. Our recent SB Nation Reacts has 79% of us approving of the Bears’ new head coaching hire.

The franchise’s pick up of Poles from the Chiefs has us even more excited, as his approval rating is at 92%.

Free agency and the draft can’t get here soon enough.

“We’re going to build through the draft. We’re going to acquire young, fast and physical football players. We’re going to be selective in free agency, and we’re going to connect evaluation with valuation,” Poles said at his introductory press conference.

“We’re going to have a relentless approach to fix our weaknesses. We’re going to maintain great self-awareness of who we are. We’re going to solve problems with open communication and candor. And we’re going to consistently put players in position to succeed. And the last thing—the most important piece—is we’re going to take the [NFC] North and never give it back.”

Let’s go!

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Bears’ fans, SB Nation Reacts is a neat way share your voice with fans across the NFL with their fun and topical surveys. Each week they’ll shoot out some questions to our plugged-in fanbase, both about the Bears and the other 31 teams too, and we’ll share the results here on Windy City Gridiron. Sign up here to join Reacts.