When the Bears hired Ryan Poles as general manager in January, they entrusted him with the herculean task of building the NFL's charter franchise into a sustained winner.
There is no doubt Poles took the job with the expectation that chairman George McCaskey would let him build the Bears in his vision and do it his way.
If there was any doubt that Poles has carte blanche to rebuild the Bears how he sees fit, it went out the window Monday when Poles traded star linebacker Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens for a second- and fifth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and veteran linebacker A.J. Klein.
In trading Smith, one of the Bears' best players and defensive leaders, Poles revealed something about himself. He understands the size of the task in front of him and knows there are no shortcuts to take from NFC bottom feeder to Super Bowl contender.
That road is successfully traveled only with a clear map and the fortitude to see one's plan through to the end.
Such a detailed plan will be filled with pivotal moments.
Trading Smith, a 25-year-old Pro Bowl linebacker, is the first such moment for Poles' rebuild.
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The move is defensible. Hell, given the state of the Bears' roster, turning Smith into two draft picks and choosing not to give him the $20 million per year contract extension he wanted is smart business. It's cold and calculated, to be sure. But it's smart.
That doesn't mean it's without risk.
Trading Smith, who is likely to thrive back in a 3-4 defense in Baltimore, could very well end up being the defining moment of Poles' tenure. It's the move he'll be judged on based on the success of his rebuild. It could be the first line in his Bears obituary if things go sideways.
Smith didn't play like the elite WILL linebacker the Bears thought he would in head coach Matt Eberflus' defense. Yes, he's the NFL's leading tackler. He's a damn good football player. But he has struggled with gap integrity this season and was a liability in coverage in a way that Fred Warner and Shaquille Leonard, two linebackers Smith views as peers, aren't.
Given Smith's level of play and the number of holes on the Bears' roster, Poles couldn't justify sinking either a $17 million franchise tag or the $20 million a season multi-year extension into a good player at a non-premium position.
But 25-year-old Pro Bowl linebackers aren't easy to come by, and Smith was a popular member of the Bears' locker room.
In trading Smith, the Bears went all-in on Poles' vision. They have given him complete control of the rebuild and are trusting in his ability to evaluate talent in the draft and lure stars in free agency.
Almost every general manager tasked with a full rebuild has a moment that defines his reign. A move that either sparked the success that followed or was the first nail in his eventual coffin.
There's no question that trading Roquan Smith is that moment for Ryan Poles.
The moves that follow will determine whether it's the first stroke of a grand plan to build the Bears into an NFL-winning machine or the day Chicago waved goodbye to a Pro Bowl linebacker that wasn't as easy to replace as they envisioned.