The Chicago Bears had themselves a pretty good offseason on paper. They got younger and faster on defense, headlined by the arrivals of 1st round pick Dillon Thieneman, safety Coby Bryant, and linebacker Devin Bush. They also added some extra firepower with Sam Roush and Zavion Thomas, improving both their blocking and vertical speed. Not to mention their return game. This feels like a team that got more explosive, which is not what opponents want to hear.

That said, not everything went according to plan. There were some moves made, or rather ones not made, that lots of experts believe could come back to bite the Bears at some point this season. Here are the five that stand out the most.

The Chicago Bears may soon regret some moves they didn’t make.

Signing a mid-tier edge rusher

It was never feasible for the Bears to go hunting for a true difference-maker at edge rusher this offseason. They’re way too expensive, and the odds of a good one falling to them in the 1st round weren’t likely either. Yet for them to ignore the mid-range of the free agent market entirely was a bad decision. Their explanation was that they want to give Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner fair shots to get going once they return. The problem is that both are coming off very serious injuries. Meanwhile, the Bears watched guys like Arnold Ebiketie ($4 million), D.J. Wonnum ($3 million), and Dante Fowler Jr. ($2.5 million) sign for highly affordable prices elsewhere. Any one of them could’ve been great depth at the very least. Big missed opportunity.

A stronger push for Taylor Decker

The explanation here is that Decker is reluctant to join any other NFC North team because of his loyalty to Detroit. Perfectly admirable. At the same time, the Lions aren’t showing him the same courtesy. The Bears seem content to leave the second-most-important position on their roster in the hands of Braxton Jones or Jedrick Wills. Neither has been healthy for at least the past two seasons, and they weren’t playing anywhere near Decker’s level even when they were. In a season where your expectations are a Super Bowl, one would think adding a good left tackle is a high priority.

Finding insurance for Kyler Gordon

Fourteen games. That is how many Gordon missed last season with a slew of different injuries. In truth, the cornerback has never played a fully healthy season since being drafted in 2022. Sure enough, he was dealing with another injury before the start of OTAs. As good as Gordon can be, he’s not reliable. The Bears had to think there was a strong possibility the same problems would crop up again this season. Opponents killed them in the slot last year, which was Gordon’s area. Yet the only notable addition they made at cornerback was 4th round pick Malik Muhammad, and he doesn’t have much experience in the slot. That feels like an unnecessarily dangerous risk.

Being more serious about running back depth

D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai made for an excellent pair last season, guiding the Chicago Bears to the #3 rushing attack in the NFL. One can understand why the team would be content to, pardon the pun, run it back for another year. The problem is that no position in the NFL suffers attrition greater than running backs. Expecting Swift and Monangai to stay healthy for a full season feels a little too iffy. Right now, the depth situation behind them isn’t great. Roschon Johnson has health concerns of his own. Brittain Brown has minimal experience. Coleman Bennett is an undrafted rookie. If one of them goes down, the Bears could be in big trouble.

Not adding serious competition for Tory Taylor

This one isn’t talked about enough. Nobody wants to address the fact that Tory Taylor has largely been an entirely average punter since the Bears drafted him. That was no different in 2025 as he failed to crack the top ten in any of the major stat categories.

• Gross Punting Average: 47.8 yards (13th)
• Longest Punt: 69 yards (Tied-12th)
• Total Punts: 60 (Tied-14th)
• Inside the 20 (IN20): 21 punts (Tied-21st)
• Total Punting Yards: 2,870 yards (16th)
• Net Punting Average: 40.4 yards

The Bears drafted Taylor in the 4th round. They clearly believe in his talent. Unfortunately, it hasn’t translated to NFL success. He’s pretty much the same as most other punters. To not at least bring in some competition feels like a decision they’ll regret at some point.

Colston Loveland is new to the Chicago Bears. This is a young man who made his name in football first in Idaho and then at Michigan. There is no reason to believe he had any knowledge of this organization beyond the obvious fact that it is a prominent NFL franchise. Everything from its history to the current roster setup was foreign to him when the Bears selected him 10th overall in the 2025 draft. He learned plenty of things quickly from that point. The big city was different from his other football stops. Head coach Ben Johnson was tough and demanding. His quarterback, Caleb Williams, was probably the most gifted Loveland will ever play with.

Yet one truth stood far above the rest.

Everybody who supports the team, from the fans all the way up to ownership, hates the Green Bay Packers. It had been that way for decades, ever since both teams came into existence in the early 20th century. However, it took on a whole new meaning for Bears fans in the past 30 years as the Packers dominated the rivalry. It got to such a point where Green Bay expected to win every game, and often did for a while. Johnson finally changed that last season, both through good coaching and stoking that hatred of the Packers.

Now it has gotten to a point where even the youngest fans are taking up the battle cry. Loveland found that out at a youth football camp recently.

Colston Loveland at least understands rivalry.

After all, he was part of what is probably the most storied rivalry in college football history between Michigan and Ohio State. It wouldn’t have taken him long to immerse himself in the same mentality as the Bears. However, seeing actual children chanting their hatred for the Packers is a perfect encapsulation of how deep this goes. Most of those kids spent their earliest years watching the Bears get trampled by the Green Bay. They watched their parents endure unrelenting heartache.

So you can imagine how quickly they embraced the hate, and how much they grew to love Colston Loveland. After all, his stellar performance in the wild card round of the playoffs was a key driving force of the Bears’ epic comeback to beat the Packers. It’s little wonder his camp had such high attendance. He’s probably a hero to those kids, despite only being in his second season. Who knows how much of a fandom he’ll build if he can continue that trend of taking down Green Bay?

The future is in good hands.

Some may have worried that younger fans could not connect with Bears football the way older generations did. That video serves as proof that such concerns were overblown. The franchise’s long legacy of hating Green Bay will continue for many years to come. Hopefully, Loveland can help author a new chapter. Chicago hasn’t had a winning record against the Packers in a given decade since the 1980s. They currently hold a 10-3 lead. That gives the Bears four seasons and eight games to turn things around.

Support for this effort is higher than ever. The team finally has the talent to truly go toe-to-toe with Green Bay. Loveland is a key part of that. Their defense had no answers for him. No doubt they’re trying to craft solutions, but it may not be enough. The tight end is too talented, and Coach Johnson is too good at finding him openings. The fun is only beginning.

The Chicago Bears didn’t add an edge rusher this offseason, much to the surprise of both fans and media. Part of it was a lack of opportunities. They didn’t have the cap space to do any serious spending in free agency and the draft didn’t fall their way in terms of quality prospects. However, there is an undercurrent of belief that general manager Ryan Poles did this on purpose. He wanted to leave the door open for Austin Booker. Chicago’s former 5th round pick finished last season strong after missing nine weeks with a knee injury. It is felt that the 23-year-old is poised for a big year if he can stay healthy.

To that effect, reports indicate Booker has attacked this offseason with a will. He’s put in more work than ever before, preparing his body for the upcoming season. The results have been hard to miss. The defensive end looked bulked up in his recent appearances. As it turns out, the results are significant. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, Booker has put on ten pounds of weight from last season, including six pounds of pure muscle mass.

“Only 23 — his birthday is in December — Booker has a huge opportunity in front of him and is one of the players who can help raise the profile of a defense that was inconsistent rushing the passer and struggled too often to stop the run last season.

As he did last offseason, Booker went to Florida to work out after the season ended, adding a nutritionist to his program and doing more volume workouts at the end of the day. He currently weighs 255 pounds — he played at 245 last season — and his lower body is more defined. A recent dexa scan at Halas Hall showed he had added six pounds of muscle to his frame.”

This is what the Bears have been building to with Austin Booker.

They knew when they traded back into the draft to grab him in the 5th round two years ago that he was a project. Booker had tons of natural ability and a relentless mindset as a pass rusher. The problem was his body. He was skinny and underpowered. Scouting reports listed him at 240 lbs coming out of Kansas. Many experts saw him as more of a 3-4 outside linebacker because of that. True defensive ends tend to weigh at least 260 lbs. There was skepticism about whether he could put on enough pounds without losing his explosiveness.

Well, it appears he met that challenge. At 255, he is now in a much more comfortable zone. The added muscle mass should bring more power to the table, which was already a growing advantage for him even last season. If he continues adding to his pass rush repertoire along with his trademark long arm, this is a player who is likely destined for double-digit sacks this season. That would certainly help solve the Bears’ biggest problem and put Booker in line for a considerable payday next spring.

Chicago badly needs a stroke of good fortune.

As of right now, it looks like the team is moving towards a complete overhaul of the defensive line next year. Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett are almost certain to be cut. Montez Sweat will be approaching his 31st birthday, so his future remains uncertain. Gervon Dexter will be a free agent. Depending on what happens with Austin Booker, they may have to replace all four of their starters. Doing that in one offseason is almost impossible. The Bears badly need somebody young to step into the role of a front-line starter.

Dexter still has a chance to do that, but most believe the best odds are with Booker. Given the kind of work he’s putting in, that seems like a smart bet. The only obstacle remaining is health. He must put together a full season before the Bears feel comfortable making him one of the guys moving forward. That is the one variable nobody can predict. The only thing to do is sit back and see what Booker does.

The Chicago Bears won their first division title in seven years last season and only their second in 15 years. It was a crowning moment for new head coach Ben Johnson, who took a team that went 5-12 the previous year and turned it into a contender almost overnight. Not many coaches can pull off something like that. Now comes the hard part. Doing it again. Can the Bears defend their crown despite losing several of the players who made it happen the first time, departing via free agency or trade?

NFL insider Albert Breer doesn’t think so. He believes the division will pass to one of the Bears’ rivals. Will it be the hated Green Bay Packers, who hope to get two critical pieces in Micah Parsons and Tucker Kraft back? No. Will it be the Minnesota Vikings, who signed Kyler Murray in free agency to solve their quarterback problems? Not them either. Breer believes it will be the Detroit Lions reasserting their control of the division after a down season in 2025, with help from one of Johnson’s best friends.

You can bet Ben Johnson won’t like that idea.

James, that division remains perhaps the NFL’s most wide open from year to year and I could see any of the four winning it. The one team that would surprise most, Minnesota, won 14 games in 2024. But if I had to pick now, I might actually go with the Lions.

The first reason is the schedule. They could, maybe should, go into their Week 6 bye at 4–1, and don’t have any sort of murderous stretch after that to sink their momentum.

The second reason is because so many things went wrong last year that I think will correct themselves. With Cade Mays and Blake Miller coming in, and Tate Ratledge in his second year, there’s promise that the line that set the tone for Detroit for its rise to prominence will bounce back. New offensive coordinator Drew Petzing will bring back the creativity the team missed last year with Ben Johnson gone. And at some point, the defense has to stay healthy.

So give me Detroit at this early juncture, while I reserve the right to change my mind.

Johnson still has a monkey to get off his back.

Many view him as primarily responsible for elevating Detroit to the status of a true contender. Their significant regression after he left serves as evidence. However, it came with a price. The Lions beat the Bears in both meetings last season, including a 52-21 humiliation at Ford Field. You can bet money Johnson hasn’t forgotten this. He hates to lose regardless, but losing to his former team twice must be eating at him. Now you throw something like this into the mix and it’s liable to drive him insane.

The facts are the facts. Detroit didn’t magically stop being a talented team. Their GM, Brad Holmes, has loaded that roster with tons of good players. They still have a capable quarterback. The big question was whether the defense could stay healthy and whether the team could replace left tackle Taylor Decker and center Frank Ragnow. Breer seems confident that both issues will be resolved. Either way, the Lions will be a major obstacle to the Bears’ 2026 goals. Johnson knows that.

It seems fitting that the two teams won’t meet for months.

Their first showdown will be on Thanksgiving in November. Those matchups tend to get crazy. After that, they’ll reconvene in the second-to-last week of the season at Soldier Field in the cold for what could be a decisive showdown for the division. Ben Johnson has that much time to prepare his players. Detroit has every reason to feel confident. They have beaten the Bears in seven of their last eight meetings, including the last four in a row. They’ll go into those games fully believing the trend will continue.

Johnson isn’t afraid of challenges. He knew overcoming the Lions would be one of the biggest obstacles when he took over the Bears. The goal hasn’t changed. Thankfully, the team seems a little better equipped this coming season. They’re younger, faster, and more experienced in big games. If Detroit truly is the final boss this year, so be it. Johnson isn’t naive. He understands that if the Bears wish to be champions, they’ll have to beat good teams. The Lions are one of them.

The Chicago Bears stadium saga has reached a crescendo. Sadly, the result isn’t what anybody wanted. According to State Senator Bill Cunningham, the megaprojects bill that would officially give the team the tax certainty and infrastructure support they need to begin building in Arlington Heights won’t move forward. There aren’t enough votes in the Senate to pass it before the legislature adjourns from its spring session on May 31st. Most felt that if this happened, it was almost a foregone conclusion that the Bears would move to Hammond, Indiana.

Cunningham stated that the government is attempting to introduce new legislation focused solely on giving the Bears the tax certainty and infrastructure support they want without involving the rest of the state. That was one of the primary sources of opposition. There is also uncertainty about how such a bill would impact local tax revenue. To help prevent the Bears from immediately jumping to Indiana, several lawmakers are pushing for a realistic way to keep the team in Chicago.

This feels like a Hail Mary by Illinois to keep the Chicago Bears.

State Sen. Bill Cunningham stepped out of a two-hour private Democratic caucus meeting and delivered a bombshell Saturday night: A PILOT bill aimed at keeping the Bears in Illinois is off the table and the city of Chicago is back in the mix.

Cunningham, a top negotiator on legislation aimed at giving the Chicago Bears tax certainty so they could move to suburban Arlington Heights, acknowledged the proposal “does not have the support to pass” the Illinois Senate. Chicago-based lawmakers want to “put the city on an equal plane” to “compete” for a stadium project.

“I would say that the PILOT megaproject structure is one we’re having difficulty with and we’re trying to figure out if there’s another way to make sure the Bears build a stadium in Illinois without using that model,” Cunningham said.

He also pushed back on the accepted narrative that the Bears had ruled out the city and had little dialogue with its officials — statements the Bears themselves have made within the last few weeks.

“I would point out, though, that it’s been established that the Bears have met repeatedly with the City of Chicago over the last several months to talk about this,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about a Chicago stadium being off the table. “So although they publicly said that, there have been talks between the City and the Bears.”

It feels like the state government is trying to appease Kevin Warren.

Chicago’s team president was the one who stated from the outset that his goal was to build a new downtown stadium. The image of that skyline on the lakefront is priceless. He and Mayor Brandon Johnson put together a proposal and everything. It never went anywhere. The state government was unwilling to even contemplate the idea. It was very expensive and faced immediate resistance from activist groups. Everything the team has said and done publicly since then suggested that Chicago was off the table permanently.

However, based on what Senator Cunningham says, the team never fully gave up on the idea of staying downtown. It would be the perfect solution. Of course, that begs the question. What could possibly have changed in the past few years that suddenly makes such an option viable? One is the looming threat of Indiana. That wasn’t a concern during the first attempt. The only other possibility is that there is another potential site in the city that the Chicago Bears might be warming to, which the state would be willing to help with.

One thing will become clear in the next week.

If the franchise doesn’t announce its decision to begin moving to Indiana in the wake of the megaprojects bill failing, it will start to look like all of this was nothing more than an elaborate bluff. They never had any intention of leaving Illinois and were using every tactic possible to get the public support they wanted. If they do announce it, then it will be a landmark moment in NFL history. The Bears have called Illinois home for over a century. Leaving for Indiana will bring that to an end.

It is hard to imagine either the government or anybody else can work out a downtown solution in such a short span of time that would be truly viable. The realistic hope is that they can pass legislation that gives the Bears the tax and infrastructure support they need. Yet even that is hard to see happening. There are too many factions involved in this process that are at odds with each other. It feels like the state is asking for more time despite repeated warnings that the Bears have run out of patience.