Bears general manager Ryan Poles spoke to the media Wednesday at Halas Hall. Here are five things we learned from that session:

(1) Poles wants rookie quarterback Caleb Williams to rely on his teammates and for him to try to make special plays "happen at the right time."

"I want him to lean on the talent around him and then when the time is right—and that's an instinctual thing and I think that plays right into him—that's when you do the special," Poles said. "And balancing that. Sometimes it's going to get out of whack one way or the other, but always come back to that. It's kind of like that neutral place where he's at his best, and I think he has that just from studying him and watching years of tape on him.

"He has that ability, and so I think that's kind of the big thing. Lean on the guys around him, be instinctual, let those wild plays happen at the right time. We saw it in the preseason a little bit. That's going to be important."

Poles has watched Williams develop a bond with teammates and others throughout Halas Hall in large part because he is authentic and genuine.

"It's fairly natural; it's not forced," Poles said. "We've all been on teams before … there's people that come into those situations and they try too hard. It's awkward. It's hard to buy into that. Then there's guys that can navigate that so naturally because they're authentic and real, and that's what he's done."

(2) Trimming the roster to 53 players was a more difficult task this year than in Poles' first two seasons as Bears GM.

"We had some really good discussions," Poles said. "A lot of back and forth constantly talking about worrying about today but also looking into the future because we're always looking—not only just as now but also what is the roster going to look like, what are the situations one, two, three years from now. Had really good conversations there, which was good."

Releasing more than two dozen players he had acquired wasn't easy for Poles.

"The other thing that I really learned this year," he said, "was when you're intentional bringing in the right type of people, when you invest in relationships, you invest in bonding and creating this group and culture, it makes cut-down day extremely hard, emotional because you care about the guys, and you want to see them be successful. But you know at the end of the day there's business decisions that have to happen and you've got to get this thing down to a 53-man roster, which was difficult.

"But I am really proud of where we are to kick this season off. Significant improvements, which again makes me proud of the work that we've done here as an entire organization."

(3) In constructing the 53-man roster, Poles is most proud of the process that has been established.

"It's not just about acquiring the best talent; it's about acquiring the right talent," he said. "I think that's what you see in this building. It's special. The group of guys, it's really special.

"I've talked a lot about that, but even when you go through cut-down day and you're letting guys go, they're like, 'Man, I just want to be here. I can feel it. I want to be a part of this thing.' I always look at it and I'm excited about it, but when you hear from people inside the building but also outside, it makes you feel really good about the progress that you made."

(4) Poles is impressed with the resiliency that coach Matt Eberflus has displayed since they began working together with the Bears in 2022.

"From where our roster was and for how far we knew it had to go, to set a standard and hold everybody to that is extremely difficult," Poles said. "To keep a team together through adversity is extremely difficult. But, at the end of the day, what's going to be awesome is that those things are going to be established. And then, when the winning comes, you have a stronger product because of it.

"I really look at the resilience piece of it. It's so hard, with pressure, to stay the course. When there's a lot of noise about doing different things and changes and all that, to hold the line, it takes a special man to do that. And he has done that."

(5) The offensive line is deeper entering the 2024 season than it was in Poles' previous two years with the club.

"I actually let one of the guys go on cut-downs and I was like, 'Man, you did an excellent job. I wish we could keep you here,'" Poles said. "He said, 'This is the deepest room I've ever been a part of.' So we have more versatility, more depth. Shoot, we have 10 guys, so I feel comfortable. Obviously, you want your starting five to be healthy and ready to go, but I feel more confident in the depth of our offensive line than I ever have before."

The line features tackles Braxton Jones, Darnell Wright and Kiran Amegadjie; guards Teven Jenkins, Nate Davis and Bill Murray; centers Coleman Shelton and Doug Kramer Jr.; guard/tackle Matt Pryor and center/guard Ryan Bates.

"I think that group can be really good," Poles said. "In terms of investing in it, Darnell was a first-round pick, we traded for Bates, who has versatility, paid Nate. Coleman Shelton's been a great addition. He's a glue guy for up front. His ability to get everybody on the same page and execute at a high level has been really good. I think Braxton's improved and Teven is playing his best ball too."