After the Illinois spring legislative session ended on June 1st, the Chicago Bears announced their intent to focus on building their new stadium in Hammond, Indiana. It was felt they had little choice. Illinois government officials said there were no plans to call a special session in the summer to address the issue, meaning it would have to wait until at least November. The McCaskeys and team president Kevin Warren weren’t willing to wait that long when the path to a deal seemed clearer across the border.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, word surfaced that the state and franchise had re-engaged talks, with the Bears seeking assistance in putting together a bill strong enough to convince Governor J.B. Pritzker to call that special session. For some, this latest pivot was confusing. Wasn’t Indiana supposed to be the easier path? They’d already passed the necessary legislation. All the Bears had to do was settle on a site. Well, as it turns out, things are never that easy. Christopher Placek of the Daily Herald provided details.

Indiana made a major mistake in their pursuit of the Chicago Bears.

Republican Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston penned an Op-Ed in Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune that attributed the Bears’ interest in moving across state lines to the Hoosier state’s business climate. But some officials in Northwest Indiana in recent days have expressed opposition to increased local taxes intended to help pay the bonds on a new public stadium.

“What the Indiana legislature chose to do is to foist it all off on the counties and the cities around (the potential) stadium,” Illinois’ Democratic governor said Tuesday. “And so, guess what? They don’t have a tax that’s passed to help pay for it there. They don’t yet have the tolls that would be required to pay for it there. We don’t want to raise taxes on the people of Illinois.

“ … And so we think we’re actually as close as anybody to getting a stadium done here,” he declared. “I don’t think Indiana is a whole heck of a lot closer than we are.”

Rushing the process may have cost them.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun celebrated his state’s ability to get legislation on infrastructure and property taxes passed so quickly in the past couple of years. This was what initially intrigued the Bears. Unfortunately, doing things at such a rapid pace can often have unforeseen consequences. In this case, Indiana has run into two big ones. The first was that both prominent building sites in Hammond are entangled in environmental protection laws. In other words, it would require a long and costly legal battle from the Bears to overturn, if they even can.

Now it’s become apparent that the state passed those bills without consulting the local counties and townships that would be impacted by the stadium project. There was no plan to address the issues with taxpayers, who are understandably upset about being tossed into this situation without even being warned. Hence why opposition is building. This will only make efforts to pass any taxes to fund the project even more difficult. The Chicago Bears, likely sensing the stacking list of problems, thus chose to work with Illinois.

Illinois may have the advantage now.

Let’s not forget the state was agonizingly close to a breakthrough in May. It had passed a revised bill through the Senate. All they needed was the House to review it and make some final adjustments. Sadly, time ran out. Even so, the message was clear. Had the legislation made it past the House, Pritzker almost certainly would’ve signed it, and the Bears would be building in Arlington Heights right now. That is how close it was. Given the new details from Indiana, it feels like there is a new leader in the race.

Indiana has two problems that are not easily solved. Even if they somehow get local taxpayers on board in a timely fashion, which is almost impossible, it doesn’t erase the environmental issues in Hammond. There is no way both can be dealt with by the end of this year. Meanwhile, if the Bears can put together a strong enough bill proposal, they could cross the finish line before the end of summer. It is becoming easier to see why Pritzker feels so confident.

The Chicago Bears came out of nowhere to produce the 9th-best scoring offense in the NFL last season. It marked only the second time this side of the millennium that the team finished a season in the top 10 in scoring and total yards. The other was 2013. A big part of that success came from an assortment of talent that general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson had assembled.

You had Rome Odunze, who got off to a hot start before a foot injury slowed him down the stretch. D.J. Moore was Mr. Clutch most of the year, making season-defining catches in the biggest games. D’Andre Swift ran for the most yards in a season of his career. Cole Kmet had some big-time touchdowns. Yet the big story was their 2025 draft class. Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, and Kyle Monangai all exploded for big rookie seasons, catapulting the Bears into the playoffs. One would think this would earn the team some respect in ESPN’s ranking of best offensive weapon groups. Not so much, according to Bill Barnwell.

15. Chicago Bears

2025 rank: 25 | 2024 rank: 6

Odunze’s injury kept him from making the second-year leap many expected. DJ Moore took a step backward and was traded to the Bills. Replacing Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus with Kalif Raymond and third-round pick Zavion Thomas is a likely step backward. And while D’Andre Swift had his best year as a pro, I lean more toward Johnson and the line driving that success than any sort of massive shift from the veteran RB.

This is a young group with real upside, but I also get the sense that it wouldn’t be quite as appealing or productive with a less compelling playcaller.

The Chicago Bears certainly have reasons to be offended.

Yes, Johnson is an outstanding play caller. His presence made life easier for everybody on that offense. Yet to say the Bears’ talent was downplayed because of this is ridiculous. Odunze had 473 yards and five touchdowns in his first seven games before the foot injury. Loveland had 597 yards and six touchdowns in his final 10 regular season games, then put up 137 against the Packers in the wild card round. Burden was 3rd in the NFL among all rookie wide receivers with 652 yards despite two or fewer targets in five of his first seven games.

Barnwell is putting a heavy emphasis on how important Moore and Zaccheaus were to the offense last season. Zaccheaus had 313 yards last season. That included five dropped passes. Moore had 682 yards. That equals 995 total between the two, meaning Kalif Raymond and Zavion Thomas would have to produce 497 yards each to equal that same production. Not exactly the highest bar to clear, and this is presuming Loveland and Burden don’t take considerable steps forward in their second seasons.

Then you have those who rank ahead of them.

Arizona? New Orleans? The Jets? All of those teams finished way out of range from where the Chicago Bears did offensively. New York doesn’t have the same depth. The Saints have major injury problems. The Cardinals are basically a massive bet that Marvin Harrison Jr. isn’t a bust. It is ridiculous that the Bears, who actually produced on the field, are getting disrespected this much. As great as Johnson is as a coach, even he can’t put up big numbers without the talent to do so. Using him as an excuse is weak.

Not that the Bears care. Statements like this from ESPN are merely fuel on the fire. They revel in being doubted. It only gives them an incentive to score more points and win more games. That is the type of culture Johnson has built. Competitors everywhere. Just give them a reason to get amped up, and they’ll take care of the rest. All of these comments about the offense not being that good or the team is due for a regression are chum in the water.

The pass rush was a problem for the Chicago Bears last season. Outside of Montez Sweat, nobody up front managed to take over games throughout the year. Gervon Dexter had strong spurts but could never sustain anything. Austin Booker finished the year strong, but still has areas to improve. Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner are both coming off season-ending injuries. See the state of things, you’d think the team would be a little more active in finding help. Instead, they’ve stayed silent, letting potential options disappear one after another. Now you can probably add Joey Bosa to that list.

Last week, veteran defensive end Cameron Jordan took himself off the market when he chose to re-sign with the New Orleans Saints. He admitted that 2026 is probably his last season. That left Bosa, the former Pro Bowler, as the only prominent name left available. Most assumed he was merely waiting to sign somewhere until the start of training camp. However, Adam Schefter of ESPN delivered an update that makes it seem like Bosa has no plans to return and is likely to retire.

“It is more likely than not that Joey Bosa has played his last NFL down. Now, again, could a situation like the 49ers come along that entices him enough to come out and play again? Yeah, absolutely. We saw it happen last year with Philip Rivers, so you never know when a player is fully done and when he’s not done. But the fact of the matter is, I think if the Niners wanted to pair those two together, it probably would have happened already. I think if Joey Bosa wanted to play football, it probably would have happened already.”

This decision from Joey Bosa is not all that surprising.

Over the first six seasons of his career, the defensive end was one of the elite pass rushers in the NFL, reaching four Pro Bowls. Things started going wrong in 2022. A bad core injury forced him onto Injured Reserve, where he missed all but five games of the season. Then in 2023, he missed another eight games due to multiple lower-body injuries, including hamstring and foot problems. All of this seemed to sap him of his once-great explosiveness, which in turn hurt his production.

While his season with Buffalo last year was solid, he was not the Joey Bosa everybody remembers. Couple that with the brutal way the Bills lost their playoff game against Denver, and you can understand why the 30-year-old might be done. Nothing sucks the love of football out of players faster than injuries and brutal playoff defeats. If this proves true, it leaves the market even thinner for possible pass rush options the Bears can consider if they realize what they have isn’t enough.

They have to hope what they have is enough.

The unfortunate truth is that the Bears were in a tough spot to do anything significant this offseason. Their salary cap was already razor-thin because of several bloated contracts they handed out in 2025. That made free agency unviable. As for the draft, their late positioning in each round saw several runs on edge rushers happen before they went on the clock. Rather than take a risk reaching on talents they felt weren’t worthy of going that high, general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson opted to go after higher-graded talent at other positions.

None of this says they were willfully ignorant of the pass rush concerns. It was just a case of them knowing their odds of landing a difference-maker without overpaying were negligible. So they chose to improve the interior rush and fortified the secondary. It isn’t a perfect solution, but it should keep them stable. If Booker picks up where he left off last season, it may turn out all right.