Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles made the move off of Justin Fields this offseason, knowing that he had the No. 1 pick and could select Caleb Williams to replace him, and despite Williams having some negative noise around him, and Poles explained why he made that move.

“Yeah I mean, I feel like with any relationship you're about to start you have to see the person eye to eye, you've got to spend time with him, real time, and not take everybody else's thoughts with that,” Ryan Poles said on The Pat McAfee Show. “That's what we did, we sat down with each other, we had dinner together. All of our staff got to spend time with him, I want to make sure some of our players sat down and spent time with him as well that means a lot to me, it means a lot to the locker room. So once all those boxes got checked I really didn't care about the noise and what other people had to say.”

Caleb Williams caught flack from fans for things like painting his fingernails and crying after USC's loss to Washington last season. Poles was not concerned about that, and most NFL teams likely were not either. The Bears were in an enviable position, being able to draft a quarterback prospect many consider to be the best since Andrew Luck, or at least the best since Trevor Lawrence in the eyes of many.

The Bears have a good situation for Williams as well, which is unique for a No. 1 pick. They have DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and were able to add Rome Odunze with the No. 9 pick in the draft as well, along with some promising offensive line talent in place.

How did Ryan Poles decide on selecting Caleb Williams?

Despite Williams being viewed as the No. 1 pick for over a year now, Poles still went through the process of getting to know the quarterback leading up to the draft to make sure that the relationship would work.

“Yeah we went through the full process, the film was the film. That stood out, kind of had my heart from the beginning,” Poles said on The Pat McAfee Show. “But as we spent more time with Caleb and did our homework and got to know each other, it became clearer and clearer.”

The Bears were eventually comfortable with their plan, and decided to move on from Justin Fields, trading him to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It then became crystal clear what the Bears' plan would be.

It will be interesting to see how Williams fares in his rookie season in what seems to be a good situation. If he lives up to expectations, the Bears could be a threat for the playoffs right away in the NFC.