Credit to Ryan Poles where it's due. The Bears' 33-14 pummeling of the New England Patriots on Monday night didn't deter the general manager from the bigger picture task at hand.
Rebuilding the roster into one that can sustain long-term success.
Robert Quinn wasn't a part of that long-term vision, and Poles made the smart move to turn the veteran edge rusher into something that can benefit his grand rebuilding plan.
On Wednesday, the Bears traded Quinn to the Philadelphia Eagles for a fourth-round pick, league sources confirmed to NBC Sports Chicago. The Bears are expected to eat most of Quinn's remaining 2022 salary, effectively buying a fourth-round pick in the same way the Denver Broncos did with the Von Miller trade last season.
After an 18.5-sack season in 2021, Quinn had just one sack in seven games this season for the Bears. He was an important veteran in a young locker room, but his on-field impact wasn't what it was last season.
The Bears could have kept Quinn through the deadline, hoping he could help them rack up a few wins and perhaps grab a wild-card spot in a mediocre NFC.
But what's the point of that?
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Head coach Matt Eberflus' job is to win games and focus on the present. Poles' job is to look at the bigger picture. Quinn's $14 million next season was non-guaranteed and there was zero chance the Bears would pay it.
His time in Chicago was always coming to an end. It was just a matter of if the Bears could turn him into an asset.
Poles did just that and cleared more space off the Bears' 2023 ledger in the process.
With Quinn off the books, the Bears are expected to have $125 million in salary cap space next offseason, per ProFootballFocus. That's more than double the next team on the list.
PFF salary cap analyst Brad Spielberger did a quick breakdown of how the Quinn deal saved the Bears $10.4 million.
That Poles turned Quinn, a player he respected but was likely going to cut in the offseason, into a fourth-round pick is a minor stroke of genius for a rebuilding team in need of draft capital.
Poles didn't trade Quinn prior to the start of the season, pointing to the veteran's leadership and intangibles.
Linebacker Roquan Smith's emotional reaction to the Quinn trade Wednesday showed what the edge rusher meant to the locker room. He was a consummate professional, one a young team needed as it navigated the rocky waters at the start of a long-term rebuild.
Countless general managers have fallen into the trap laid for Poles on Monday night. A 19-point win right before the trade deadline that gives a team false playoff hopes and causes a general manager to alter his desired course.
But that's not how successful rebuilds happen. Poles had an asset, one that had value to contending teams, and didn't plan for it to go to waste.
That Poles stayed the course and turned Quinn into a decent draft asset shows he's the type of disciplined, big-picture thinker who can build a winner in Chicago.