How Bears culture is changing positively, per Matt Forte

A former Bears great believes the team’s culture has changed since he played, for the better. On Wednesday, Matt Forte joined Kay Adams on the “Up & Adams” show and voiced his approval for how new Bears brass like president/CEO Kevin Warren and GM Ryan Poles are running the organization now.

“When I retired it was like, ‘Thank you. See you next lifetime.’ That’s no disrespect to anybody, that’s just the truth. If that’s the truth and that’s the culture you all live by, then it’s going to operate from the top down.”

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Forte and Poles actually spent the 2008 offseason in Bears camp together. Forte was a second-round pick and Poles was an undrafted free agent.

“He knows the value of having former guys in the building, come around, come to practice, and those kinds of things. Kevin understands that as well. They have always been open and inviting to all of the guys who are former players, but also legends who played at a high level.

“I think when you have that it inspires the younger guys. They want to walk in those same footsteps and they want to be great as well.”

Head coach Matt Eberflus understands that value as well. When he was hired, he reached out to several Bears legends to begin building a relationship with past players. Every year, he’s invited Charles “Peanut” Tillman to speak in front of the rookies at their first professional minicamp.

The Bears talked a lot about changing the team’s culture when Poles and Eberflus took over the team in 2022. We saw evidence of that with the personnel decisions they made. Poles put high value on athletic players with a strong passion for the game. Eberflus installed his H.I.T.S system and made it clear that if players didn’t get on board, they wouldn’t see the field. We saw more evidence by the way Eberflus ran practice, and how Poles remained disciplined in free agency.