Panthers stagger in to face Bears team they helped build, from general manager down to punter

There are many reasons the Panthers are nosediving toward their seventh consecutive losing season — rash and meddlesome owner David Tepper tops the list — but the dilapidated condition in which they’ll stagger into Soldier Field on Sunday is deeply intertwined with the Bears’ rebuild.

Specifically, two of the errors that led them to their latest hopeless juncture were passing on Bears general manager Ryan Poles when he was a candidate for that job in Carolina in 2021 and getting decisively out-negotiated by him two years later.

The Panthers sit where they do and Poles believes he has a playoff-caliber roster in Year 3 of his rebuild in large part because of a May 2023 trade that is unanimously viewed as a landslide win for the Bears.

With some wrinkles and flips along the way, Poles parlayed the 2023 No. 1 pick into quarterback Caleb Williams, wide receiver DJ Moore, right tackle Darnell Wright, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and punter Tory Taylor. And the book is still open on that deal since the Bears have the Panthers’ second-rounder next year, which currently is slotted at 35th overall.

“It's really remarkable how it all fell together like that,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “A lot of that's luck, A lot of that you can't predict.

“But it's also putting yourself in position. Ryan Poles and his staff did a great job of that.”

It is widely theorized that Tepper pushed for the trade in order to draft Bryce Young, whom the Panthers benched two games into this season and probably will trade. Journeyman and former Bears quarterback Andy Dalton is their starter now.

That’s it. That’s the entire side of the ledger for the Panthers on that swap.

Poles got more than he anticipated when he initially weighed trading out of the top pick. The Panthers’ original offer when they initiated discussions was two first-round picks and one second, but as the Texans (picking second) and Raiders (seventh) got involved, Poles pushed the Panthers to include another second-rounder and Moore.

As the Texans and Raiders wavered, Poles leveraged Tepper’s impatience to close the landmark deal that expedited his rebuild.

Scott Fitterer, the general manager who made that deal, was fired by Tepper eight months later. Longtime offensive guru Frank Reich, a former Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator who had a winning record as Colts head coach, got canned after a 1-10 start.

Poles could’ve been stuck in that sewage had the Panthers chosen him instead of Fitterer in 2021. He emerged as a serious general manager candidate that year, got bypassed, which he described as a thudding disappointment, then returned to the Chiefs and was a finalist again in 2022 with the Bears, Vikings and Giants.

Given the way things have gone for the Panthers under Tepper’s watch, there’s little chance Poles would’ve gotten the time he needed for a proper rebuild — or that he’d be happy. Say what you want about Bears chairman George McCaskey, but at least he’s not interfering with the personnel department.

The massive divergence in the Bears’ and Panthers’ paths traces back to the final Sunday of the 2022 season, when both teams were among the NFL’s 10 worst.

The Texans were in line for the top pick, followed by the Bears. In the hopes of that flipping, the Bears held out nearly all their good players, including quarterback Justin Fields, from their season finale against the Vikings. That went fine as former practice-squad quarterback Tim Boyle threw two interceptions to deliver the loss the Bears needed.

Simultaneously, former Bears coach Lovie Smith had gone rogue. His Texans fought to the end against the Colts and pulled off a 32-31 win on a touchdown and two-point conversion in the final minute. Smith almost certainly knew he was getting fired anyway and went down swinging.

“Some things happened,” Poles said before this season. “I’ll never ignore the fact that — You think about the Houston-Indy game... That’s crazy.

“And then the team that you trade with, what is the probability that they [give you] the first overall pick with what we believe is a generational quarterback? I can’t make that stuff up.”

Interestingly, Smith’s stunning upset in what was likely his final game as an NFL coach, worked out great for the Bears and Texans. It set forth a fortuitous sequence of events for Poles, and the Texans — at one point they were angling to trade up for No. 1 to take Young—ended up with quarterback C.J. Stroud at No. 2 that year since the Panthers chose Young. Stroud was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and won a playoff game last season.

But the NFL is a zero-sum game, and someone had to take the loss on all those gains: The Panthers. Now they’ll arrive in Chicago to face a team they very much helped build, from the general manager to the quarterback and all the way down to the punter.

Big winners

The Bears parlayed the 2023 No. 1 overall pick into five key players in their trade with the Panthers, and the loop has yet to close on that deal since they hold Carolina’s second-rounder in 2025. That selection currently is slotted at No. 35 overall.

Here’s a look at the assets that changed hands:

Panthers received:

2023 No. 1 pick (QB Bryce Young)
Young lasted two games into his second season before getting benched and seems likely to be traded.

Bears received:

WR DJ Moore
Moore has continued to be an ultra-reliable receiver and signed a massive contract extension in July.

2023 No. 9 pick
The Bears dropped back to No. 10 and took right tackle Darnell Wright when they sent this to the Eagles for a 2024 fourth-rounder, which they used on punter Tory Taylor.

2023 No. 61 pick
The Bears jumped up a few spots in the second round by trading with the Jaguars and drafted cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who has started 19 games already.

2024 No. 1 pick
Rather than choose between Young and Stroud in 2023, the Bears landed the top pick when long-awaited prospect Caleb Williams was available.

2025 second-round pick
The Bears likely will go into the offseason looking to bolster their offensive and defensive lines, and teams usually find immediate starters early in the second round.