Chicago Bears
Record: 5-12 (Last in the NFC North)
Head Coach: Vacant
The Chicago Bears have been one of the league’s more disappointing teams in the NFL for a while now. Despite making their last playoff appearance in 2020 the team hasn’t been taken seriously in over a decade. This year was supposed to be different. Rookie phenom Caleb Williams was drafted with the first overall pick by the Bears this past offseason and was quickly surrounded with talent, as the Bears signed running back D’andre Swift, wide receiver Keenan Allen, and drafted receiver Rome Odunze with pick 9.
This paired with a defense that was on the rise at the end of the 23-24 campaign gave fans hope that the team would start to pull themselves out of the doldrums this year. That didn’t prove to be the case. Caleb Williams struggled heavily to start the year and though he looked better toward the end he still didn’t live up to the franchise saving expectations set out for him. That isn’t exactly his fault though. As many weapons as the Bears front office gave him, they overlooked another key factor, the offensive line. The Bear o-line from start to finish was horrendous. To put it in perspective the Bears finished dead last in sacks allowed per game this season with 4. If that wasn’t bad enough that was with Caleb Williams avoiding 50 more potential ones. That’s 22 more avoided sacks than MVP frontrunner Lamar Jackon had this year. It is hard for any QB to play well while being pressured as often as Caleb was, never mind a rookie QB. This combined with some defensive regression, as the team finished sixth worst in total yards per game and 5th worst in rush yards per game led to yet another underwhelming year for da Bears fateful.
Some good things did come out of this year however, including Chicago moving on from head coach Matt Eberflus. Eberflus was heavily criticised by fans and media alike since joining the Bears in 2022. After falling to 14-32 all time as Bears head coach, the team felt it was time to move on. Now the team is looking for a replacement, and there are still plenty of great options.
Lions OC Ben Johnson has been linked with the Bears, though at the moment it seems like he is going to end up being a Raider thanks to the stellar recruitment of Tom Brady. Still though the Bears should be pursuing Johnson at any cost. Beyond Johnson though I could see the Bears signing someone like the newly available Mike McCarthy or current Vikings DC Brian Flores. Chicago tends to look to defensive guys for HC hires but I believe it would really benefit the development of their quarterback and their team as a whole to go for an offensive minded guy.
Once they get that settled it’s time for them to resign some of their key guys. At the top of the list are Keenan Allen and G Teven Jenkins. Jenkins should be a must sign but Allens future with the team is much more uncertain. The front office may decide to let Rome Odunze take over that WR2 spot and then sign a solid third option in free agency. That way they could save some money to offer players at other positions like on the o-line.
That being said some guys they should look to target include G Zack Martin and OT Ronnie Stanley on the offensive line and WR Elijah Moore. Other options include G Kevin Zeitler and G Trey Smith. The Bears should have the pick of the lot no matter who they are after as they sit with around 74 million in cap space. That’s good enough for the 5th most in the NFL. The money they have to spend plus their franchise QB being seemingly set in stone means Chicago could land some pretty big fish this March and hopefully they can ride that momentum going into the draft.
The Bears hold the number 10 pick in this years draft and should have a plethora of options available to them. The three big names to watch out for in this spot include T Kelvin Banks Jr. and T Will Campbell. Both will be solid options to help revamp this dreaded Chicago pass protection, but if the Bears use up their cap space at tackle and guard then they could pivot to DI Mason Graham. Graham is a one man wrecking crew who could help to sure up that bottom five rushing defense heading into the 2025 season. In the later rounds they could still target either positions though the tackle class is much less deep than the defensive interior is. Regardless, Chicago could still scoop up someone like DI Walter Nolan or T Josh Simmons as the draft goes on.
The future looks bright in Chicago and a great coaching hire matched with some solid signings could lead to major improvement in 2025.
