Bears' Locker Room Left Shocked by ‘WTF' Roquan Smith Trade

'WTF:' Bears' locker room left shocked by Roquan trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Less than a week after the emotional departure of Robert Quinn, the Bears' locker room was hit with another gut punch Monday when general manager Ryan Poles traded star linebacker Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens.

"WTF," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said Wednesday of his reaction to the trade. “It was a lot. I had just left the building so for me, it was one of those things where it’s like ‘Man' Then, you come back in the building and you see everybody kind of moving different. You don’t hear him in the locker room. You don’t hear him out at walk-throughs. You just kind of really get that feeling that, really, like, I don’t want to say he’s gone. But he’s moved on to a different team."

Smith's absence from the locker room was noticeable Wednesday. New wide receiver Chase Claypool, who the Bears acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, now occupies Smith's old locker. The boom box that Smith used to blast music on while the assembled media fired questions at his teammates was also gone.

Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus addressed the Bears' leadership council about the trade and then discussed it with the entire team. They told them of their vision for the organization and why the inability to find "common ground" in long-term negotiations with Smith made him no longer part of those plans.

Veterans like Eddie Jackson understood the rationale for the move. That doesn't make it easier to digest.

"I couldn’t believe it. I was in disbelief. I was shocked," Jackson said Wednesday. "I was thinking the same as everybody. We were just shocked We got rid of Rob. When you get rid of Ro? The thoughts go through your head like, ‘What are we playing for?’ Is their vision still the same as the players? We’re trying to make it to a Super Bowl, get to the playoffs, things like that. Like I said, I’m not upstairs. I get it. I understand it. But it just hits different."

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It's only human to have those thoughts. The Bears are now 3-5 and have traded away their two defensive captains in the span of a week. It's Poles' job to do what's best for the Bears' organization in the long term.

They were cold and calculated moves. But the Bears appreciated how transparent Poles and Eberflus have been as they took a sledgehammer to the Bears' foundation, and now have to figure out how to move on without Smith and Quinn.

Many members of the Bears' locker room are still processing the loss of Smith. It will take time to fully come to grips with the loss of the "lifeblood" of the locker room.

But with a game in five days, the Bears need their remaining veterans to guide a young locker room through the turbulent waters of a rebuild. This is not normal, everyday life in the NFL. But it's also not time to lose faith or waive the white flag.

“There are some times where you can be good one day and the next day it can be harder on you," Johnson said. "There’s really no clearcut way to just process the loss of our two captains, our two veterans and, really, two of our best playmakers on the team. It’s just one of those things you’ve got to find a way. I thought we’ve just got to really rally together as a defense, stay together, help each other out mentally, physically. We still got a lot more ball left. Even more than those losses, we’ve still got to find a way to get better and to get victories at the end of the day.”

"It’s tough," Jackson echoed. "But we talked to the team, to the defense and just it’s time to rally around each other more than ever."