The Bears’ decision to move DJ Moore has kept drawing applause, but the real reason Chicago deserves credit has less to do with the compensation and more to do with the way the front office handled the whole thing.
In March, the Bears dealt Moore to the Buffalo Bills and landed a second-round pick in return. Around the league, that was met with surprise and plenty of approval.
General manager Ryan Poles had squeezed a day two pick out of a deal that most people figured would top out at a couple of mid-round selections. ESPN even went so far as to call it the best move Chicago made all offseason, pointing to the timing as well as the return before Moore’s contract got even more expensive.
The money made the trade make sense. Chicago needed cap relief, and Moore was one of the biggest contracts on the roster that could be moved.
That part is easy to understand. What stands out more is how the Bears approached the decision without letting sentiment take over.
That mattered because Moore gave fans two of the most unforgettable moments in recent Bears memory. He caught the overtime winner against the Green Bay Packers last December to give Chicago the division lead, then came back a few weeks later and scored the go-ahead touchdown in the wild card playoff win over Green Bay. Those plays are going to live in Bears lore for a long time.
But the front office didn’t let those moments override the bigger picture. Past regimes might have looked at Moore’s place in the fanbase and tried to keep the relationship alive, even if the financial side no longer made sense. This time, Poles and head coach Ben Johnson treated it like a business decision and stayed focused on the roster as a whole.
The production told the same story. Moore was excellent in 2023, finishing with more than 1,300 receiving yards.
Since then, the decline has been steady, even though the quarterback and then the head coach improved. Over the last two seasons, he totaled 1,648 yards.
He didn’t miss a game in that stretch, and he actually saw more targets in 2024 than he did in 2023. Still, the numbers kept sliding.
Jakobi Meyers, who makes $8 million less per year, put up more yards over that same span.
Maybe Moore bounces back in Buffalo. That’s beside the point for Chicago.
The Bears had enough offensive talent to move on, and they didn’t want to part with him until the situation forced their hand. By the time he ran the wrong route against the Rams and helped set up a season-ending interception, the end was already written.
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