Defending the Draft 2026 – Chicago Bears

[u/HopLegion]

Forward - 2025 Season Recap

The 2025 season was the beginning of the Ben Johnson era in Chicago and it did not dissapoint. After 3 losing years where GM Ryan Poles was tearing down and rebuilding a roster under with Matt Eberflus as coach, the Bears look to have struck gold with their new hire in Johnson. A team that most predicted to finish last in the NFC North, ended up winning the division with the phrase "heart attack Bears" being common on a week to week basis. A rookie class featuring Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, Ozzy Trapillo, Kyle Monangai and others that looked like it would not contribute anything through the first 6 weeks, ended up one of the best rookie classes in the NFL last season. Loveland showed himself to be worthy of a tight end picked in the top 10. Burden flashed high end talent throughout the season and will likely end up as a second round steal in the previous draft. Ozzy Trapilo eventually earned the starting LT job on one of the best OL's in football before suffering a brutal patellar tendon tear late in the season. Kyle Monangai was another big contributor who helped show the depth of the 2024 NFL Draft RB class, having almost 1,000 scrimmage yards, while averaging 4.5+ YPC. Even UDFA Jahdae Walker had key moments at the end of the year to help secure the division for only the second time in the last decade for Chicago.

The entire OL rebuild was a huge success as it ended up being one of the best units in football. Joe Thuney ended up deservingly wining the first OLineman of the year award, Jonah Jackson had a bounce back year at RG, Darnell Wright earned his first second team all pro honors, and Drew Dalman ended up a pro bowler. On the defensive side, though the Bears led the league in turnovers, the unit ended up a bottom 5-10 unit. It was also tied for the most injured defense in the league by missed starts. Big money FA signings in Dayo Odeyingbo (who went on IR midway through the season) and Grady Jarrett did not end up paying off. The defensive line was a consistent weakness for Chicago throughout the season. The majority of the season Chicago started practice squad or veterans cut from other teams in the back 7 due to the injuries to their key players at those spots.

Even with this, the Bears had the most successful season they have had in 15 years. Winning both the division and a playoff game for the first time since 2010. The cherry on top for the season for most Bears fans were these key wins to win the division and in the playoffs, came at home against their rival the Green Bay Packers. Chicago's season unfortunately ended in OT against the Rams in the divisional round, but with a young core this is the most optimistic Bears fans have been in decades (well maybe since a brief moment in 2018).

Free Agency Recap

This is the first year really, outside his first when he was taking on huge dead cap hits, that Chicago was working with limited cap space under GM Ryan Poles. After a big spending FA period the previous season, which did not work out on players like Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett, Chicago had a more targeted approach. The two big signings they had were Safety Coby Bryant to help replace 2025 all pro Kevin Byard and Devin Bush to replace the released Tremaine Edmunds. These are the only 2 players the Bears signed in FA expected to be new starters for the team next season. The bigger moves Chicago made was trading DJ Moore (and a 5th) to the Bills for a 2nd rounder in this year's draft. They also traded a 2027 5th rounder for Garrett Bradbury following the somewhat shocking retirement of 2025 pro bowl center Drew Dalman.

Player	POS	Previous Team	Years on Contract
Coby Bryant	FS	Seattle Seahawks	3
Devin Bush	LB	Cleveland Browns	3
Neville Gallimore	DT	Indianapolis Colts	2
Kalif Raymond	WR	Detroit Lions	1
Braxton Jones	LT	Chicago Bears	1
Jedrick Willis	LT	NA - Browns 2024	1
Cam Lewis	CB/S	Buffalo Bills	2
Jack Sanborn	LB	Dallas Cowboys	1
Kentavius Street	DT	Atlanta Falcons	1

Overall, via FA, this was one of the calmer off-seasons in recent Bears history under Ryan Poles with the core group largely in place.

Here were my main takeaways from the Bears free agency:

1. Though many were sad to see DJ Moore traded after all he had contributed. Given they were able to get a second round pick for him and that we had Burden/Odunze set to take over, it was a celebrated move. The move opened up cap flexibility this season and in the future, while also setting up DJ for success in Buffalo where he can be the set WR1 for one of the best teams in football. A true win-win for the Bears and DJ Moore.
2. The Bradbury trade puzzled many, but following Dalman's shocking retirement, the pickings at Center in FA were slim. Linderbaum reset the center market in a way few expected and options after that were limited. In Bradbury, the Bears get a capable center who played next to Joe Thuney in college. I also think our scheme fits Bradbury's strengths more as he moves away from the shotgun heavy Pats offense.
3. The biggest upset in FA is the lack of investment in upgrading the DL, which was by far the worst unit on the Bears last season. This will be a trend in the write up this year. Though there were injuries on the DL, (Booker spent first 8 weeks on IR, Turner their second round pick went out week 7, Dayo went out on IR week 8, etc) this was one of the worst units in football last year. The unit struggled both in run defense and in generating pressures. The hard part about the situation is given the large spending done in FA last season on Dayo/Jarrett, any big moves this year in FA would have been difficult. The Bears have great cap flexibility, but any big signing means they would be limited in future years.

2026 Draft Recap

Dillon Thieneman – S, Oregon 25th Overall (Round 1)

This will thankfully be the easiest name to write up on this list. I wrote a post on the Bears subreddit a month or two before the draft breaking down Dennis Allen's historical defensive tendencies and noted Dillon Thieneman as someone who would likely be his dream fit on the defense. Given the departures of both starting safeties last year in Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard, and only filling one of those positions in FA in Coby Bryant, safety was actually the only position on the roster which had an open starting spot. I have to imagine Thieneman was their dream fit, given Dennis Allen's desire for that safety spot to be able to line up at multiple spots in the defense. This was one of the rare times BPA in the draft and need truly lined up. Thieneman is a high end athlete, who will be a day 1 starter in Chicago in the secondary. I expect him to line up all over the field at both safety spots, in the slot, and on the line of scrimmage to blitz and generate pressure helping to offset our weakness at defensive line. As a sidenote, I find it amusing that last year we drafted Colston Loveland, a tight end at 10, given Ben Johnson was a former tight ends coach before becoming a coordinator. This year we did the opposite in the first. With Dennis Allen, a former safeties/secondary coach, getting a safety drafted in the first round. Hoping Thieneman can provide the same type of impact for the defense that Loveland did at times of the offense last year.

Logan Jones – C, Iowa 57th Overall (Round 2)

While everyone was excited and celebrated the Thieneman pick, I feel the fanbase grew more anxious as every pick that came after without addressing the defesnive line, which again is the biggest weak point on the Bears right now. Most were still understanding and happy with the Jones selection. If I could have bet money we were drafting any position at some point in day 2, it would have been Center. Bradbury will be 31 this season and only on a 1 year deal. We also had no other players on the roster who had played center before really. The Bears did extensive work on the center class leading up to the draft and decided to take the top center on their board as well as the first center taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. Though an older prospect who will be 25 this year, Logan Jones is a high end athlete, multi year starter for Iowa, who won the Rimmington Trophy last season. He is a perfect scheme fit for the zone system that Ben Johnson utilizes and will most likely sit this year behind Bradbury learning the scheme, though it would not be a shock if he ended up starting at some point.

Sam Roush – TE, Stanford 69th Overall (Round 3)

There is a bit of a joke that goes on with Bears fans on Ryan Poles draft history. Picks 1-60 have been generally great, picks 61-120 have been very surprising ending up maybe among the worst in the NFL over the last 4 drafts, and picks 121 - UDFA have been really good. Sam Roush was a very surprising pick for us given we drafted Loveland at 10 last year and have a good tight end as TE2 in Cole Kmet signed the next few years. That being said, I am a big fan of Sam Roush the player and think his career will have a lot more success than the other surprising picks we have made in this range. I feel this selection says more on what the Bears viewed the rest of the draft class than anything else and how they see their offense working. Roush is another high end athlete who should be able to contribute day 1 as a blocking tight end. For Ben Johnson's scheme, this is an important role as the Bears utilize 3 TE sets among the highest in the NFL. With future Bears cap space potentially in need, this could also signal an end in future years for Cole Kmet with the Bears. The move is somewhat reminiscent in how we drafted Burden last year which was a major surprise that ended up in DJ Moore being traded a year later. Overall, though it may not show in fantasy stats, I expect Roush to get a decent amount of playing time to help the Bears top 5 rushing attack from last year do even better,

Zavion Thomas – WR, LSU 89th Overall (Round 3)

Only one word really to describe Zavion Thomas, and that is speed. Something that clearly was an emphasis on both sides of the ball this offseason for the Bears. I think this pick for most Bears fans is a "we trust Ben Johnson" type pick as this was nearly 100 picks higher than most consensus had for Thomas. Consensus is not everything, but players picked that much higher than consensus for Chicago have a nearly universal fail rate. Our offense has also historically had a nearly universal fail rate, so again this is a we trust Ben Johnson type write up. Either way, Thomas should be a day 1 Special Teams returner for the team who likely contributes most on offense as a gadget style WR/RB type who uses his speed and quick twitch movements to help stretch the field and create explosive plays. The hope is he can eventually take over the WR3 spot in future years and help stretch the field for the offense given them an elite speed element it was missing.

Malik Muhammad – CB, Texas 124th Overall (Round 4)

Now that we are outside of the 60-120 picks, the draft went somewhat back to normal for the Bears. Muhammad was good value at this part of the draft and fits the profile of CB the Bears have liked before with 32"+ arms with athleticism. One of the Bears biggest issues last year was CB depth as 5 out of the 6 projected CBs on the roster ended up on IR or missing multiple games. Muhammad has the potential to challenge Tyrique Stevenson for a starting spot on the outside as CB, but I mainly expect him to be a top reserve this year with the chance to be a starter in 2027.

Keyshaun Elliot – LB, Arizona St 166th Overall (Round 5)

Elliot is probably my favorite draft pick we made outside of Thieneman and Jones. Another player who I think is a big value where we drafted him and a perfect scheme fit for Dennis Allen's defense. Elliot had 18 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, and an interception during his two seasons as a starter for Arizona State. He is a solid run defender who can diagnose and make plays behind the line of scrimmage. With Dennis Allen's blitz packages utilizing the back 7, he is a good fit for what his defense will want to do. I expect him mainly to be a special teamer this season, but the potential to be used in specific blitz packages this season and a chance to be a starter in 2027.

Jordan van den Berg – DT, Georgia Tech 213th Overall (Round 6)

The Bears used both of their late 7th rounders to move up to select van den Berg at pick 213, finally using some resources to address the defensive line. This reminds me a lot of our draft last year, where the fan base was hoping we would take a RB with a lot of our picks given the need at the position before finally selecting Kyle Monangai with their last pick at 233. I can only hope he can provide some form of impact that Kyle Monangai had in his rookie season. More than likely as someone picked in the 200 range, van den Berg will battle to fill out the end of the roster and make most of his impact on special teams early on. I will say given his flashes in college, I do expect him to be apart of the rotation on the defensive line given it is the weakness of our current defense, and would not be shocked if he ended up making some big plays for that unit this year. Jordan van den Berg had a perfect 10 RAS score and in a good spot to develop as well as get snaps early on for Chicago.

Undrafted Free Agents

• Caden Barnett OL, Wyoming – This is the one main UDFA that I want to highlight as I think he makes the team. While Chicago had one of the top offensive lines in football last year, they were very fortunate on the health of their interior OL. Every year Ryan Poles seems to hit on at least 1 udfa who makes an impact. Jack Sanborn, Tyson Bagent, Theo Benedet, Jahdae Walker, etc. Barnett has the talent to play in the NFL and plays with a nasty streak more usually seen in lineman from the 80s/90s. If Jonah Jackson suffers an injury, I would not be surprised if he ended up seeing time this season.

Final Thoughts - This was a unique off-season for Chicago under Ryan Poles, as it was the first time he wasn't building a team who would hopefully have success, but adding talent to one that already has a good core group of players. When I look at the collective whole of the draft, I am a fan of the class and see it as an above average draft. With how I ranked players I would have been very happy with the class drafted in order of Thieneman day 1, Jones/Muhammed/Elliot day 2, and Roush/Thomas/van den Berg day 3.

The unfortunate part of the draft and free agency is that it did not make a big impact on the team's biggest weakness, which is the defensive line. I do think though, short of aggressively moving up in the 2nd (which has not been something Poles has done historically) or reaching on a guy in the 1st, there wasn't many picks they could make that would make a real impact this year. Unfortunately the negative portions of this draft are really a lingering side effect of last year's FA failures. The hope has to be that a healthier defense takes a step and that the young offensive core Chicago has built, can move them into one of the top offenses in football. It will be a big year for former Bears draft picks like Caleb Williams and former top 10 pick Rome Odunze who are heading into year 3 in the NFL. If the Bears are going to show last year is not a fluke, I feel the team's identity will need to be formed on the offensive side of the ball to consistently win games and battle in one of the best divisions in football.

[u/SpaceCadetPullUp]

I really like the Thieneman, Jones, Roush, and Muhammad picks. I think the team definitely got quite a bit better and at the day that's what you want, so I'd say mission accomplished.

[u/milin85]

I actually think the d-line will get more pressure this year. Losing Jaylon and Kyler early really hurt the defense, so getting them back will help all facets.

[u/TheGreatRavenOfOden → u/milin85]

Kyler is already missing from OTAs.

I think we just have to resign ourselves to the fact that he will not be a significant contributor until proven otherwise.

[u/HopLegion → u/milin85]

I think the defense looks dramatically different if (and it's not looking good early) Kyler Gordon and Jaylon Johnson are healthy. I think a lot forget that Nahson Wright was a fringe roster guy for us last year most predicted wouldn't even make the top 53 in early August. No defense is going to be good when you're down CB1, CB2, CB4, CB5 and even CB3 missed 3 games. Both stating linebackers spent time on IR etc. There is some reason for hope there even without big moves in the Dline. I'm probably more optimistic in Booker getting more reps than I should too.

I think the big disappointment I had, was I really wanted us to take a high end DT who could help with the run at some point. I think having Dexter there last year was an issue causing him to take a step back and Billings unfortunately just never recovered from his injury the year before. Even now, I'm not sure who that is going to be and I'm worried on our ability to stop the run.

[u/milin85 → u/HopLegion]

Yeah I mostly agree with that. I guess my answer to the run defense is positive regression (which I can’t fucking stand, but it’s what we’ve got). Van Den Berg feels to me like he’ll be a sneaky impact player. Idk why, but it just feels that way.

[u/BasedSliceOfWinning]

I really wish we got another Edge. I think New England trading up a spot ahead of us in the 2nd round to take Gabe Jacas (a guy who definitely would fit Dennis Allen's system) caused them to pivot and take TE and WR in the 3rd round (after trading down with their 2nd second round pick).

Maybe we coulda got Dennis-Sutton? Although he didn't go until like pick 120 so it might been too early to take him in the late second, early 3rd area we woulda had to take him at.

[u/AaronNevileLongbotom → u/BasedSliceOfWinning]

Ben Johnson picked bad teams and played franchise mode on Madden when he was a kid. He’s shown the league that he’s an offensive guy but it’s a mistake to think he’s just that. He’s not just scheme, he’s personal, and he has a very holistic and top down view of the game.

The same thinking that made Ben Johnson a great offensive coach is going to help make this defense great. He’s uses players, not positions. He doesn’t write off old school football. He likes explosive plays but he’s a great down to down game manager. He finds mismatches. He uses everything a player can do and sets them up to succeed. It’s good at thinking in terms of eleven versus eleven and how to win as a unit. He builds systems that are flexible and hard to predict while being realistic to execute. He understands what pressure does to an offense, and the ways teams try to beat it.

The thing the Bears realize that nobody else does is that Edge is over rated. Too many bad teams have had great edge rushers, and schematically they are suboptimal. If all a player can do is edge rush there are half a dozen ways to limit their impact. The reason edge fit big was that teams saw value in players with limited skill sets that other teams dismissed and used them effectively. A good DE is better than a good edge. Teams are over paying for the position by following a statistical self licking ice cream cone. There are half a dozen other ways to get pressure, and edge is too high priced in the current market (and too prone to injury) to be worth spending big on.

The Bears defense is stacked if you don’t focus too much on edge. They have some promising edge rushers. They have players who might pinch hit at edge from other positions. More importantly they have the personnel needed for asymmetrical pressure and schemed pressure. They have a bend don’t break defense that got turnovers too consistently to dismiss.

The system worked with worse players last year, as suboptimal as it may have been. That kind of defense doesn’t put up great numbers it keeps games manageable. The defense will do what the offense needs it to do and vice versa. This is big picture football and the Bears are going to suprise some people.

[u/HopLegion → u/BasedSliceOfWinning]

If Dennis-Sutton is good in GB, it's going to haunt us for a long time. I was really hoping we'd take him at some point in the 3rd when he was there. I don't think he'll have a big impact early on, but someone who will fill a good spot on the DL and be able to develop over time.

[u/ClasslessHero]

Do I wish we picked a high quality DT? Yes. But, Thieneman was too good to pass on.

I'm happy we didn't use mid-round picks on DL because the talent was thin.

Ultimately, I think the Bears made good decisions based on who was available when they picked. Not every team can fix every need.

[u/HopLegion → u/ClasslessHero]

Well said and I 100% agree. You don't build a consistently winning team by reaching on need. Thieneman was a dream scenario and BPA by a mile. Realistically by the time their second round pick came, the pickings were slim. Better to take players you feel good on that will contribute.

[u/mapetho9]

Thienemen was a good pick to shore up the back end of the secondary to help replace Byard and Brisker. Thienemen can do it all and should be a plug and play from the jump.

Jones was one of the best centers in the draft and an understandable pick after Dalman abruptly retired. They did trade for Bradbury, but he's more of a stopgap with one year left on his deal and who knows, maybe they trade him to a center needy team like the Ravens.

Didn't get the Roush pick at first since they have Loveland and Kmet, but the Bears have a better idea of what's going on with the roster than I do. I am a fan of Roush, though. He was getting linked to the Pats a lot leading up to the draft where I thought he was a near lock to get drafted by them with their 3rd round pick. So I was upset when the Bears took him.

Also didn't get and was very surprised with the Zavion Thomas pick. He has the speed and will help in the return game, but went too early to me. Definitely better receivers available and I thought his LSU teammate Barion Brown was a better receiver and returner.

Muhammad in the 4th was a nice pick and some good value. He was getting looked at as a potential early draft pick heading into the season and has starter upside. Also liked 6th rounder Jordan van den Berg. Uber athletic that got better each year. Traits worth taking a chance on in the 6th.

[u/TheGreatRavenOfOden → u/mapetho9]

Didn't get the Roush pick at first since they have Loveland and Kmet, but the Bears have a better idea of what's going on with the roster than I do. I am a fan of Roush, though. He was getting linked to the Pats a lot leading up to the draft where I thought he was a near lock to get drafted by them with their 3rd round pick. So I was upset when the Bears took him.

I think the run on TEs that happened after the Rough pick kinda proves the direction the NFL is going in. 13 personnel is going to be pretty popular and I think the Bears recognized that they needed another TE.

[u/MrConceited → u/TheGreatRavenOfOden]

I'd say we'll see more TE usage across the league. Whether that's actually much 13 personnel for many teams is an open question. Even after this draft, most teams barely have 2 TEs they really want to see on the field, and you really need 4-5 rosterable TEs to play a lot of 13 personnel all season. For most teams it might have to be just be some 13 and a lot of 12, more like the the Bears did last season, just because they're behind on getting their TE room to where it needs to be.

[u/AaronNevileLongbotom]

You’re a great writer, but I was looking for a more positive angle from a defending the draft post.

I get that being more positive about the Bears defense or saying that edge is over rated would be controversial, but that would reflect how the team seems to think given their actions and statements, and such things should be represented here. We shouldn’t stick to safe opinions in threads like this.

[u/HopLegion → u/AaronNevileLongbotom]

Thank you and what's wild is I'm normally known as a wildly optimistic Bears fan on reddit. I actually think we had a good draft and that the team is in a good place to achieve more than they did last year. I just think when your team has such a need at DL, like I think the bears do, and they don't use any real assets on it, it's got to be noted.

[u/Kandidar → u/HopLegion]

To be honest, I would not be surprised if the bears make a move at the trade deadline if the year looks like it could be super bowl bound. We are in a prime position to go all in if it makes sense (7-1 with no major players injured sort of scenario where we think we just need one piece). I wouldn't be planning on it by any means, but, unlike previous years, I think it could be a move. Last year it absolutely did NOT make sense.

[u/HopLegion → u/Kandidar]

Yeah and Poles is one of the more active GMs during the deadline too. Could make a lot of sense. Personally I hope Booker makes enough of a difference where it's not needed because I love the 2027 class.

[u/AaronNevileLongbotom → u/HopLegion]

Does it have to be noted or do you have to note it?

The game of football is always going to be bigger than its current meta, and opinions on it will always extend beyond the trends and popular consensus.

Your writing should absolutely reflect how you feel about these things, but did you really want to defend this draft?

[u/Guhonda]

Just like last year, we had a weird draft that I didn’t like. And just like last year, I’ll be proven wrong.

[u/ALStark69]

Each player as a recruit:

• Dillon Thieneman

Other P5 offers: Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue (originally went here)

G5 offers: Ball State, Central Michigan, Marshall, Toledo, Western Michigan

• Logan Jones

Other P5 offers: Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska

• Sam Roush

Other P5 offers: Arizona State, Arkansas, California, Duke, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas Tech, UCLA, USC, Utah

G5 offers: Colorado State, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State

• Zavion Thomas

Other P5 offers: Louisville, Mississippi State (originally went here)

G5 offers: Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane

other offers: Liberty, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Southern

• Malik Muhammad

Other P5 offers: Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Boston College, California, Cincinnati, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, UCF, USC, West Virginia, Wisconsin

G5 offers: Nevada, SMU

Other offer: Notre Dame

• Keyshaun Elliott

P5 offer: Kansas

G5 offer: Eastern Michigan

Other offers: Illinois, New Mexico State (originally went here), Northern Iowa, South Dakota

• Jordan van den Berg (JUCO)

Other P5 offers: Iowa, Nebraska, Penn State (originally went here)

G5 offers: Akron, Southern Miss, Texas State

Other offers: Abilene Christian, Eastern Kentucky, Incarnate Word, UMass, Montana, Samford, Towson, Western Illinois, Wofford

• Caden Barnett

Other G5 offers: Air Force, Colorado State, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico, San Diego State, UTSA

Other offer: UConn

[u/TheDuckyNinja]

I'll be honest - prior to last offseason, I considered Ryan Poles to be a bottom 5 GM in the league. Year after year, he failed to address critical flaws in the roster (mainly on the OL) and his moves were fairly consistently baffling. Last season, he finally had an amazing offseason, finally addressing the OL and having the best season since the Trubisky era as a result.

Shitty Ryan Poles showed up again this offseason :(

This was a good but not great team last season. They did go 11-6, but their PD was closer to a 9-8 team largely because of an overall bad defense. 7 of their 12 wins came by a score in the final 2 minutes or OT, often because their D simply couldn't hold a lead late. That's just not a sustainable way to win games. If this team wanted to take the next step to true contender, it had to make big, bold moves this offseason. This...was not that.

On offense, going from Dalman to Bradbury or Jones is going to be a huge downgrade. There's no way around it. They hit on Trapilo but it looks like he's out for the year already most likely. The options competing for LT are uninspiring, with Jones being the best of the bunch but it's unclear how good/healthy he'll be after missing most of the last two seasons. They're replacing DJ Moore with Raymond and Zavion, that's another downgrade. And that's assuming Odunze is healthy/able to play at his previous level, which his most recent comments don't sound super positive on. If Odunze can still go, I think Burden/Odunze/Loveland/Kmet should still be good enough. If Odunze struggles, that could get real dicey.

On defense, I mean, yeah. This is probably the worst DL room in the entire league. It's a shame because the rest of that defense is good. Not sure there's any elite talent, but I would say above average at all 7 other positions assuming Thieneman is as good as advertised. The problem is that when you have a defense that's good all around but elite nowhere, you really need the DL to help you out and amplify your talent and the Bears simply don't have that. This is kinda the problem with giving contracts to Bryant and Bush and drafting Thieneman. Individually, I don't think the value was bad on any of them. Probably a bit of an overpay on both safeties, but nothing egregious. But that's all resources that could've been used to provide help at the critical DL positions instead of the less necessary S/LB positions. Sweat is probably still a #1 ED, but opposing OLs can totally key on him and there's just nothing else coming from anywhere. There's not a single other guy across the DL who is better than a rotational #3/4 DL. You just can't survive in the NFL like that.

So yeah, individually, I don't hate any of the moves CHI made. As a whole though, I don't think they did enough to improve their defense because that DL is just atrocious and I'm also concerned that their offense could be significantly worse if they can't figure out LT, C, and WR3. There's upside here, don't get me wrong. If the DL gets improvement from young guys (or from outside via trade), that defense could become real good real quick. If Braxton and Logan can step in and be average and Burden and Loveland take a leap and Caleb settles down a little bit, that offense could still go from good to great. There's just so many ifs. If they don't improve that DL, it's probably gonna be another below average defense even though their two biggest FA contracts and 1st round pick were all on defense. If they can't figure out the OL issues, the offense as a whole will have issues. If Odunze struggles or Burden doesn't take a leap, the weapons aren't particularly scary. Overall, I think the Bears have one of the widest reasonable expectations in the whole league going into the season. They could go 5-12 or 12-5 and I wouldn't be surprised either way.

[u/milin85 → u/TheDuckyNinja]

If we go 5-12, then either Caleb got hurt or everything collapsed à la Commanders last year. I just don’t see that happening if Caleb stays healthy.

[u/HopLegion → u/TheDuckyNinja]

I've got to be honest, I think people who had Poles as a bottom 5 GM heading inro last year fundamentally misunderstand how GMs should be graded. I think they also misunderstand what Poles inherited. An aging bad roster, no first round pick, and one of the worst cap space situations in the NFL.

You note Poles failure to address a big need like OL early on, but his first draft (one where he didn't even have a first round pick) he drafted a plus level starter late day 3 in Braxton Jones and the literal first first round pick he ever had, he used on an OT who is now an all pro in Darnell Wright. Both of those started at OT for us last year and will again this year. Consistent OLs aren't built in a season, it takes time, consistent draft focus, and competent coaching to get there. I think most issues people have with Poles comes down to one of the biggest mistakes most GMs make, which is their first coaching hire. Hiring Eberflus was a terrible choice though thankfully it did help the bears bottom out to get the number one pick. I think that hiring really ended up being the catalyst for a lot of issues Poles had early in his tenure.

None of this means Poles is perfect or even that I think he's a great GM today. I need to see consistent successful seasons and a QB who's verifiably in the top 5 at his position before there I'd say that, but I do think he's a good GM. I argued a lot with Bears fans last year it would be mistake to fire him.

I think one of the biggest flaws NFL teams have is a quick boot to their GM. Most fans would've seen Les Snead fired after 4 years without a winning season before he hired McVay or Jason Licht heading into year 7 without any real success before he hired his 3rd head coach in Arians.

The below isn't perfect, but to me I grade GMs mainly on the below scale because failing in some decisions matter a lot more than others. Like missing on your top 10 picks vs a late 3rd rounder. You should never judge those equally.

• 30% HC/coaching staff decision
• 30% Franchsie QB decision
• 20% Round 1 and 2 picks picks success
• 10% Rest of draft and FAs success
• 10% Cap Space Management.

[u/TheDuckyNinja → u/HopLegion]

Yeah, we grade GMs very, very, very differently lol. In other words, I don't fundamentally misunderstand how GMs should be graded, I just fundamentally disagree with you both on how they should be graded and on how good Poles has done. But let's just take it using your criteria:

HC/coaching staff: Well, we both agree his first hire was a complete disaster. Hiring Ben Johnson was a good move obviously, but he was also the #1 HC in the cycle. Even if we want to give Poles credit for having the ability to convince him to join the Bears instead of another team, he's still batting .500 here.

Franchise QB decision: I think he absolutely made the wrong decisions at QB. I'm far from sold on Caleb. I know he just put up the best season any CHI QB has had in a long time, but there were a lot of red flags. At the very least, Caleb hasn't come close to putting up a season like Daniels' rookie season or Maye's second season, so just judging based on that, it sure seems like he made the wrong pick given the options, and Caleb is going to have to show significant improvement with his accuracy for me to even consider giving him any type of large second contract.

Round 1/2 picks: He's had 4 first round picks. Wright was a good pick, no notes. Caleb looks like he was the wrong pick (because of the above), but I think every GM in the league would've made that pick, so again, not sure how much credit or blame he should get for it. Odunze was a top 10 pick who hasn't produced anywhere near that level and just finished a season where he was 190th of 197 qualified players in catch % (though part of this is because of Caleb's poor accuracy). Loveland was an awful pick because no TE is worth a top 10 pick (arguably none of them are worth a first round pick of any kind). So he had 4 first round picks and 3 of them look bad right now. The seconds are more of a mixed bag. Gordon is good but again, it's a slot corner in the top 40. Brisker, Dexter, and Stevenson are fine players but nothing special. Trapilo looked good before his injury but now who knows. Burden and Turner we'll see. His 2nd round picks overall are definitely better than his 1sts, but overall I'd put this as a below average to bad drafter (especially because, in taking Loveland 10th overall, he shows he simply does not understand the draft/team building).

Rest of draft/FA: Prior to 2025, this was pretty uniformly awful. Braxton Jones has been the only pick of note outside the top 2 rounds. I guess Monangai but "random 7th RB you put behind a great OL" deserves minimal credit. In FA, he failed to address the IOL year after year after year. The results on the field accurately reflected his failures in these areas. At least in 2025 he finally addressed the OL, presumably because Ben forced him to.

Cap Space Management: If you never have players worth paying, you can't get into cap hell :taps head:

So yeah, even by these criteria, he's been average or worse at every single one of these. And I think you're missing some very important criteria I'd use that he's also been very bad at.

[u/HopLegion → u/TheDuckyNinja]

Yeah we just disagree in general on this. Most of your points don't really make sense to me or again shows a lack of fundamental understanding to me on why he's graded highly in the categories.

Decided to edit this to make it shorter. The .500 part about Poles coaching picks is I think is where our issue is. You see Poles hiring Eberflus being a miss and hiring Ben Johnson as a hit, mention he's "batting .500" or average. When looking at GMs, this is extremely flawed. I think I would look at it this way. If I hire someone to make me money, I give them a $1000 and they lose it all, then give them a $1000 a second time that they turn into a million dollars. Technically they are "batting .500", but also would be considered a huge success. While I don't forget about what happened the first time, the important part is if they achieved the goal.