Column: On Draft Day Eve, the Chicago Bears can make the 2025 NFL Draft into whatever they want

On the eve of draft day, the Chicago Bears are in the best spot given the circumstances.

Obviously, they’d like to pick somewhere other than No. 10 overall. A tumultuous season saw to that. But, given everything that’s happened in the past year, the Bears are in a relatively good place.

They have a head coach, a quarterback and a united vision in place. 

On Thursday, and this entire weekend, the Bears can choose what kind of team they want to be during the 2025 NFL Draft because they’re controlling everything they can control.

The rest, as in the top 10 of the NFL Draft, is out of their control.

"We have no feel right now," Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham said. "We’ll see."

If there’s anything this pre-draft process has told us, it’s that the 2025 NFL Draft is going to be strange. Ryan Poles’ choice to describe it would be "wild."

"I feel really confident where we're at," he said. "I think this one's going to be a little wild."

There’s so much speculation on who will go where, who will trade up or who will trade down. Draft analysts I’ve spoken to say the uncertainty starts at No. 2 overall. That’s usually not the case.

The number of high-rated prospects in the draft isn’t the same as last year. There won’t be five quarterbacks taken in the top 10 like last year, too.

That means there’s a good chance the Bears won’t get their hands on one of those immediate top prospects. That might also mean teams might get aggressive enough to chase one of those top prospects.

"I think it's deeper in certain areas than others. Usually, the cutoff is a little bit quicker," Poles said. "This one's going to be a little bit different. I think there's going to be a lot more movement than there has been in the past."

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Still, with no feel for how the draft shakes out, it means the Bears can be reactionary.

Some are saying the Bears want to trade up and are in love with running back Ashton Jeanty. That’s just speculation, but the Bears have the draft capital to trade up with a team if they want. 

Or, they can wait to see which teams are desperate for a quarterback and trade up to get one. Especially if Shedeur Sanders slips out of the top five and if another team really likes Jaxson Dart or if Tyler Shough is jumping up draft boards like some say.

"You'd like as many quarterbacks to go in front of us as possible," Cunningham said. "Just because we're definitely not going to take a quarterback this year."

To be aggressive, or not to be aggressive. That’s the question the Bears currently face. 

They can choose either path. Being aggressive shows a commitment to turning the Bears around quickly, but a 5-12 roster is still a few moves away from being competitive.

Choosing to be reactionary and letting the draft play out isn’t waving the white flag, but rather allowing themselves to be in a position where they can see who lands at No. 10.

The Athletic’s Nick Baumgartner and I talked about the draft last week, and he said something that stuck with me: "Someone is going to fall."

Living by that line of thinking means someone, a top prospect or someone a team is going to mortgage their future for, might fall to the Bears at No. 10. 

There’s nothing wrong with either approach. It’s better than needing to hit on this upcoming pick for the future of the franchise. The Bears were already there and hit by selecting quarterback Caleb Williams.

Now, they can just watch the draft unfold. Or, they can go get the guy they want.

It’s a good spot to be in. Credit Poles and Cunningham for getting the Bears to this point.

"It can get wild," Cunningham said. "Sit back and watch."