The NFC North is the best division in football, at least based on what happened last year. Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota all finished with at least 13 wins and made the playoffs. Nothing like it has ever been seen before. Even the Chicago Bears, while going 5-12, weren’t far away from 9-8 if not for some cruel luck in some of their games after the bye week. Whatever the case, it was beyond obvious that GM Ryan Poles and his new coaching staff, led by Ben Johnson, needed a strong offseason if they were going to close the gap on their rivals.
Free agency seemed to go well. They landed three quality interior offensive linemen to protect Caleb Williams and secured two reliable defensive linemen for their rotation. That left the NFL draft. Through a tense 72 hours, Poles maneuvered the team into seven picks, including four in he first two rounds. While they didn’t get the highest marks in the entire NFL, they still got plenty of praise. Perhaps the most important came from Pro Football Focus, where they stated the Bears secured the best draft class in the NFC North.
Never a bad sign.
NFC North: Chicago Bears
The Bears followed suit with their offseason intention of building around Caleb Williams, landing premier playmakers while also addressing other weaker roster points.
Chicago nabbed Colston Loveland (90.6 PFF receiving grade) and Luther Burden III (80.2 PFF receiving grade) with its first two selections, rounding out a stellar receiving corps that also features D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet and Olamide Zaccheaus. General manager Ryan Poles also landed high-upside players in the trenches: Ozzy Trapilo (80.5 PFF pass-blocking grade) and Shemar Turner (76.6 PFF overall grade in 2023).
The Bears didn’t explicitly prioritize other positions of need, such as running back, edge rusher and safety. But given a weaker group of drafts in the NFC North and their finalization of Ben Johnson’s offensive vision, their draft was still relatively effective.
The Chicago Bears managed to stay with their board.
Put another way, they didn’t let pressing needs dictate who they took. It was more about just getting the best players. Such was not the case with their rivals. Detroit opted for a defensive tackle in the 1st round, no doubt still haunted by the slew of injuries they suffered last season. Green Bay drafted a wide receiver in the 1st round for the first time since 2002, driven by their inability to elevate quarterback Jordan Love beyond his current “fine” status. As for Minnesota, they seemed to start strong with quality guard Donovan Jackson, but didn’t produce much else.
Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears seemed to land at least two immediate impact players with Loveland and Burden. After that, they managed two more talented additions for both sides of the line of scrimmage. Their only weak area was day three, as Ruben Hyppolite, Zah Frazier, and Luke Newman didn’t generate much excitement from fans or the draft community. Truth be told, this draft was never rich in star power. If the Bears come away with two or three reliable starters, it will be a major success.
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