General manager Ryan Poles spoke with Jeff Joniak Sunday on the Bears pregame radio show on WBBM Newsradio 780 AM and 105.9 FM. The following is a transcript of Poles' comments:
Here with Bears general manager Ryan Poles. Good morning and congrats—you're really thriving with this run game right now.
Yeah, thank you. Our team is playing really hard and they're starting to gel and play well together and finding ways to win games.
It's impressive to see what Khalil Herbert does, but you already knew what he could do going back to training camp. He's done great last year as well in four starts, led the NFC in rushing during that time, and while we're talking about him, we've got to talk about David Montgomery too because he dodged a bullet, didn't he?
Yeah, he did. But I'm happy for him, excited that he's gonna be somebody who can come back and help this team out. And then with Khalil, his number was called, he stepped up and did a great job. So we're looking forward to him having another good game.
Where's your confidence in the passing game right now, because critics like to say there's no trust in Justin Fields, but coaches have said that's not true. Justin doesn't feel that way either.
No, I mean inside this building, I can tell you for sure no one's lost trust in anyone. We're just gonna keep chipping away and trying to find ways to improve.
Defensively, you've got to be very pleased. The unit's coming together. They've got an attitude about themselves, no second half touchdowns allowed so far.
Yeah, I think it's a credit to our coaching staff as well as our players, the ability to adapt at halftime and come out and finish games on a good note.
What's your opinion of the pass rush right now?
We want to get more. As [defensive coordinator] Alan [Williams] said, we gotta bump that up and get up to the quarterback more, and we will as the season goes along.
How about the day Roquan had?
Yeah, an excellent day. That's the playmaker we knew we had in him and it's cool to see him get through the first couple weeks. It's a new scheme, we knew it was gonna come along and it was nice to see.
Let's talk about the secondary. Jaylon Johnson out again today against the Giants, but you're learning a heck of a lot about your young players right now at those positions.
Players like Jaylon Jones, Kyler Gordon, they're going to keep working and getting better. Whenever you do have injuries like this, it's an opportunity for young guys to step up and we're looking forward to them shining here.
There's always curveballs as the general manager. To the kicker has a personal issue, Cairo Santos. Michael Badgley comes aboard. How did that transpire?
We always, in the front office, gotta stay on our toes and are ready to adjust and adapt and that's what we did. So we look forward to moving forward and obviously we're supportive for Cairo as he moves through his personal issue.
What do we know about Badgley? He was with the Colts last year; he's been in the league for awhile.
Yeah, someone that has experience doing it, playing in a real game, so we welcome him aboard and I'm sure he'll do a good job.
Let's talk injuries. Byron Pringle, he says he's gonna be back. He had a big smile on his face, he's gonna be okay. But, where's N'Keal Harry, because that ability to come back, at least practicing to see where he's at, can begin next week?
He's coming along. He's rehabbed really well. I know just from talking with him, he's excited. He's pushing hard to be ready to play as soon as he can go. So we'll see how that all unfolds in the next few weeks.
This Giants team, there's familiarity with you with the general manager and the head coach.
Yeah, I know both of those guys, [head coach] Brian [Daboll] and [general manager] Joe [Schoen] well. They're gonna have their team prepared, ready to play hard just like we are with our team. So it'll be a good matchup.
