Most of the starting jobs on offense are accounted for, aside from two on the offensive line. However, there are plenty of rotational backup roles that are up for grabs. None is more important than the third wide receiver spot. D.J. Moore’s trade to Buffalo and Olamide Zaccheaus signing with Atlanta have left the depth chart behind Rome Odunze and Luther Burden uncertain. It looked like free agent Kalif Raymond would slot into that position when he arrived, but the Chicago Bears chose to give him some competition by drafting Zavion Thomas.

The two players share a lot in common, which is why it wasn’t surprising the Bears added them. This coaching staff loves making players uncomfortable by reminding them that it’s unwise to feel safe on this roster. Though both players are likely to see action this season, only one will get primary snaps. That is why training camp will be imperative for both. Who will emerge on top? Let’s explore and find out.

Why Zavion Thomas could win

The Bears drafted Thomas in the 3rd round for a reason. This isn’t some late-round flier that they hope might fill out the back end of the depth chart. Head coach Ben Johnson and wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El saw something in him that others didn’t. His blazing 4.28 speed is one place to start. It certainly shows up on tape, with him able to take short throws and turning them into long gains. That is something Johnson covets highly in his offense. Yards after the catch can’t be overstated.

What stands out the most about Thomas is his strength. You wouldn’t think that his 5’10”, 190 lbs frame had much power in it, but he constantly showed an ability to stay on his feet through multiple tackle attempts. It is why he is such a good returner. Devin Hester was the same way. Lastly, don’t underestimate his ability as a route runner. He isn’t completely polished yet, but there are plenty of signs that he understands how to do it at a high level. When you mix that kind of speed with good route running, you get productive players.

Why Kalif Raymond could win

The irony in all of this is that Zavion Thomas and Kalif Raymond are pretty much the exact same player. Both are undersized wide receivers who are blazing fast and thrive in the return game. Raymond has the advantage of having done both at a quality level for several years. Though in his 30s, he remains a major factor in the return game and can still make an impact on offense when given opportunities. He just didn’t get many during his final season in Detroit because of their deep roster. We do know one thing: he liked playing in Johnson’s offense.

Raymond has a big advantage in that regard. He already has deep familiarity with the Bears’ system and the responsibilities expected of receivers in it. That should help him limit his mistakes in training camp, giving him more chances to stand out. He still has plenty of speed and knows how to work from the slot. Add his value as a locker room leader, and you can understand the appeal.

The winner: Raymond

This is a case of trust. Chicago brought Raymond in because the head coach knows and trusts him. Johnson knows what the receiver can do and how to deploy him. His game is already well-established, and he should be able to contribute immediately. Thomas has loads of ability. There is no question that the Bears will find ways to get him on the field during the season. However, he will need time to absorb the offense and learn its many requirements of wide receivers beyond just running routes. That separation between the two is what will decide it.

The Chicago Bears feel good about what they accomplished this 2026 offseason. Dennis Allen got some reinforcements on defense with big-ticket free agent Coby White and 1st round pick Dillon Thieneman. They gave the offensive line a boost with the trade for Garrett Bradbury and drafting Logan Jones in the 2nd round. Pretty much every concern was addressed in some fashion. Unfortunately, one was not. Many feel the Bears made a big mistake by not investing in the defensive line. They added only rotational backups at defensive tackle and no edge rushers at all. It was a baffling decision after the team finished with just 35 sacks.

General manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson insist things should improve in 2026 through a mixture of getting key guys healthy and better coaching from Allen and his staff. The problem is that this explanation might’ve worked if Bears fans hadn’t already heard it. Something similar was fed to them going into the 1996 season as well.

Chicago went 9-7 in 1995, riding a top-10 offense. Sadly, they missed the playoffs, ranking 19th in the league in large part because they had just 34 sacks. It was hoped the team would go hunting for another pass rusher in the 1996 offseason. Instead, they focused on helping the offense in free agency while drafting a cornerback in the 1st round and a wide receiver in the 2nd. Their defensive front remained almost identical.

1995 Chicago Bears Defensive Line

• Jim Flanigan (DT)
• Alonzo Spellman (DE)
• Albert Fontenot (DE)
• John Thierry (DE)
• Chris Zorich (DT)

1996 Defensive Line

• Jim Flanigan (DT)
• Albert Fontenot (DE)
• Alonzo Spellman (DE)
• Carl Simpson (DT)*
• John Thierry (DE)

*Zorich tore his ACL before the season. He had 1 sack the previous year.

Would it surprise you to learn that the pass rush didn’t get better in the ’96 season? The Bears finished with 30 sacks. What is worse, the offense took a big step back due to injuries, ranking 21st. Chicago went 7-9, ending what many felt was a notable window of opportunity. What makes it sting even more is that they had chances to get help. Five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Leslie O’Neal was available as a free agent that offseason. The same was true for future Hall of Famer Chris Doleman.

O’Neal had seven sacks that season, and Doleman had 11.

As for the draft, they could’ve taken Duane Clemons (49.5 career sacks) in the 1st round or Lance Johnstone (72 career sacks) in the 2nd round. This is not a case where the Bears were just unlucky. They had more than enough money and draft capital to take a swing and chose to pass. Sure enough, they paid the price for it. Now it feels like the franchise is making the same mistake again.

This entire fiasco started last offseason.

The Chicago Bears had a salary cap to spend and came out aggressively in free agency. It was how they allocated those resources that became the huge issue. Their two big swings were for Dayo Odeyingbo, a middle-of-the-road defensive end from Indianapolis, and Grady Jarrett, a former Pro Bowl defensive tackle past his prime. Collectively, those two count $39.4 million against the salary cap in 2026. As Robert Mays said on The Athletic Football Show, the Bears are paying for their sins from last year.

Still, that doesn’t excuse the team from at least trying to find some help in the draft. They had four picks in the first three rounds. Only one of them went to the defense (Thieneman), while the other three were a center, a tight end, and a wide receiver. For all the talk about best player available, it’s hard to imagine they couldn’t have taken a calculated risk on one of the edge rushers during that sequence. It was a deep class with plenty of talent. Their stubborn unwillingness to do so could result in a repeat of 1996.

The offensive line will feature two battles this summer. Most of the attention will be on the left tackle spot between Braxton Jones and Jedrick Wills. However, that should not overshadow a fascinating matchup at center. It will pit recent trade acquisition Garrett Bradbury against 2nd-round draft pick Logan Jones. Head coach Ben Johnson has high standards at that position, so this battle will be one he watches carefully. Much depends on health, practice performance, and chemistry with quarterback Cale Williams.

Johnson has said Bradbury is the one holding the job right now, but don’t be fooled. The door will be left wide open for Jones to take it. Competition is always encouraged. Both men have good reasons to fight hard. Bradbury is a free agent next year and needs a good season to ensure somebody else picks him up in 2027. Jones is an older rookie who can’t afford to lose much time before starting his career. The urgency should be prevalent from the start.

Why Logan Jones could win

Iowa is the best offensive lineman factory in college football over the past 25 years. The list of big names they’ve sent to the NFL is extensive: Eric Steinbach, Brandon Scherff, Robert Gallery, Marshal Yanda, Tristan Wirfs, and Tyler Linderbaum. Usually, when you take a blocker from that program, you’re getting at least a serviceable starter. Most experts believed that Jones was the best overall center in the 2026 draft class. This stems from his mixture of athleticism and intelligence. He moves well in space, is rarely caught out of position, and has the fundamentals to hold up in pass protection.

“The mental is top notch,” (Bears head coach Ben) Johnson said. “We saw all the traits that we’re looking for, whether it’s the run game or in pass-pro, and we brought him in for a top 30, and I think that’s when it really solidified it for us that ‘yeah, he’s got the makeup.’ The guys at Iowa were raving about him, and then just the next level in terms of the football IQ as well. So, I think none of us have any qualms that he’ll be able to download the information and, once again, it’s just another spot that we’ll have high level competition at.”

When a coach like Johnson is that complimentary of a player, it is a good sign. What makes Jones so impressive is that he became a quality pass protector despite playing in a system that was heavily focused on running the ball. He led the way for some really productive ground attacks and cemented himself as an unquestioned leader. Guys like that always rise to the top.

Why Garrett Bradbury could win

You’d think that because he has never made the Pro Bowl, Bradbury is somehow a bad player. That has never been the case. It is likely more the fact that he was a 1st round pick and never became a truly dominant player. While not entirely fair, the truth is he has been a steady and reliable center for several years. Bradbury has been at the head of some really good offenses. Four of the six he played on in Minnesota finished top 10 in either points scored or total yards. Then last season, he helped the New England Patriots reach the Super Bowl.

This guy has played in big games and protected some really good quarterbacks. He’s smart, efficient, and athletic. Perhaps his biggest advantage is that he’s played in this type of offense before. Much of his time in Minnesota was spent in a wide-zone system. Bradbury will know his responsibilities almost immediately. It will just be a matter of learning the verbiage and developing chemistry with Williams. There is a reason the Bears traded for him. They knew he could step in on short notice.

The winner: Jones

A bit of an upset here. In most situations, pitting a rookie against a veteran for a starting job, the veteran always wins. Coaches prefer to lean on experience because they desire consistency. Logan Jones is a special case, though. Unlike most rookies, he is already highly experienced, having started 51 games in college. He is a full-grown adult. At 25 years old, there is no real sense in sitting him out for a year. He is ready to play immediately. If he performs at a similar level to Bradbury in training camp, the Bears will go with the younger option.

Every team in the city of Chicago has its large share of diehard fans. People who are ready to pick a fight if you say the wrong thing about it. It’s true for the Bulls. It’s true for the Blackhawks, and it is definitely true for the Cubs and White Sox. However, there is also one other fundamental truth that all of those people accept. The Chicago Bears are the true rulers of this city. While they may love those other teams with deep fervor, the fact remains that this is a Bears town, and there was never a greater example than Saturday, May 16th.

The Cubs and White Sox were in the middle of their Crosstown Classic series. The Cubs had taken the first game 10-5, but it looked like the Sox were on course for some revenge with a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th inning. It was here that the entire crowd at Guaranteed Rate Field, Cubs and White Sox fans alike, began loudly chanting “Green Bay Sucks” during a pause in the action. It was a glaring reminder that, for all the dislike the two fanbases had for each other, they do share one thing.

Hatred of the Packers.

The Chicago Bears have brought back the rivalry.

There was a period from 2011 through 2023 where things bottomed out for the Bears in their eternal blood feud with the Packers. They were 5-25 in that stretch, finding every way possible to lose. Green Bay grew so confident that they began to just assume the outcome would always end up the same. That started to change when quarterback Caleb Williams arrived in 2024. After almost beating them in the first game of the season series before a blocked field goal saved them, Green Bay tasted defeat for the first time in six years when the Bears took them down at Lambeau Field in the season finale.

Things really took off the next season when Ben Johnson took over as head coach. One of his first declarations was his genuine dislike of the Packers and his personal delight in beating their head coach, Matt LaFleur. If people weren’t sure if the cold war had gone hot again, that was the first shot. The Packers held off a late Bears rally in the first matchup at Lambeau. Then magic happened. Chicago stunned them at Soldier Field in overtime with a Williams bomb to D.J. Moore for a touchdown. Then in the playoff opener, the Bears erased a 21-3 deficit to stun Green Bay 31-27 for the biggest victory in the rivalry in decades.

The city was vibing like never before after that game.

Fans finally felt like a metric ton boulder had fallen off their shoulders. At last, the Chicago Bears were out from under the shadow of the Packers. They’d vanquished the boogeyman in epic fashion. Months later, people are still talking about those games as if they happened yesterday. Cubs and White Sox fans are busy enjoying a fun season from both clubs, but even now, the Bears remain on their minds. People can’t wait for next season to start. They want to see where this thrill ride goes next.

Expectations are sky high. If they could go 11-6 and win the division with a team that was banged up for most of the year and a young quarterback still developing, there’s no telling what possibilities exist if both improve this season. One thing is certain. Those “Green Bay Sucks” chants will be way louder once football resumes in September. The Bears and Packers will meet on October 11th in the late afternoon window and then on Christmas Day. Cubs and White Sox fans won’t be wearing gear from their respective teams for those games. It will be a season of navy blue and orange.

Al Michael has called NFL games for 51 years. The man is a legend who belongs in the same conversation as John Madden and Howard Cosell. He has called some absolutely iconic games in that time, from the Bills-Giants “Wide Right” game of Super Bowl XXV to the unforgettable Malcolm Butler interception against Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX. In all of that time, Michaels has often gotten a good grasp of which games have the best chance to become classics based on matchups, history, and players involved.

He knew, going into the 2025 playoffs, that the game everybody wanted was the rubber match between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. It was the oldest rivalry in football. It was Caleb Williams vs. Jordan Love. Ben Johnson vs. Matt Lafleur. The previous two games had gone to heartstopping finishes. It was only the third playoff game between the two teams in history. Michael hadn’t gotten to call anything like it. Sadly, he knew the NFL would never award such a game to Amazon. It was too important. They would almost certainly give to an established TV network.

So you can imagine his reaction when the news came down that he’d get to call the game after all. Michael described the entire sequence on Sports Media with Richard Deitsch.

Al Michael was dumbfounded.

“There was a seminal moment last year in terms of how the league felt about Prime, when there were six Wild Card games at the end of the season, and they didn’t apportion them until the final whistle on Sunday,” he said. “Our whole group gathered, and we said, you know what, they’ll probably give us the third or fourth best game.

“We knew the best game, number one, Green Bay-Chicago, we weren’t going to get it. San Francisco-Philadelphia, doubtful. So we would probably wind up with the— I think Jacksonville played Buffalo, the Rams were playing Carolina. I can’t remember what the other game was, but we were stunned when they gave us Green Bay-Chicago.

“I think I kidded [Fox Sports CEO] Eric Shanks about it, too. I said, ‘You guys were stunned over at Fox.’ He said, ‘We were.’ I said, ‘You can’t do every Green Bay-Chicago game, you know.’ And then we did 32 million people in the game, it was phenomenal.”

Michaels reached into the wayback machine for that game.

He’d been accused of losing his fastball as an announcer over the past couple of years. The same sharp analysis and emotional investment didn’t seem to be there. It can be forgiven. The man is 81 years old. It is difficult to maintain an edge at that age. However, Michaels turned back the clock for that game. He was into it the entire way, reminding everybody how good he is at infusing games with excitement. There is no telling how much longer he’ll be doing this, but if that game is the last great one he ever calls, it will be a hell of a swan song.

In truth, Al Michaels admitted that part of his regression the past few years was partly due to the schedule of games he was given since moving to Amazon. The NFL saddled the new network with some ugly matchups, and that made it hard to get invested. Mercifully, the league changed things up last season, sending some strong games their way. That Bears-Packers matchup was the icing on the cake. It makes him hopeful that Amazon has proved it belongs as part of the core rotation moving forward.

No doubt he’s hoping for an encore.

The Bears and Packers play in two prominent game slots next season. One will be in the late afternoon, and the other will take place on Christmas Day at noon. The latter seems the likelier of the two options for Amazon to snag, since they primarily air primetime games. After the numbers those teams did in January, you can bet the media giant would jump at the opportunity to get them again. Michaels is no stranger to calling rivalry games over the years. He was right there for the wars between Baltimore and Pittsburgh in the 2000s, along with San Francisco and Seattle in the early 2010s.

This man was there for the entirety of the Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers eras in Green Bay. It seems rather fitting he’d stick around to hopefully see the full ascent of Williams. Either way, that game during the wild card round will go down as one of the greatest in franchise history. Having an all-time great like Michaels call it only makes it 100x better.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, Caleb Williams hates the Green Bay Packers. The Chicago Bears quarterback knew that would be a prerequisite when he took over his current job. However, after getting a taste of the rivalry as a rookie, he seemed to fully embrace the hate like never before. Since then, Williams seems to have taken a special delight in taking shots at the Packers every chance he gets. His viral moment of shredding cheese after knocking them out of the playoffs has been viewed billions of times across social media.

Does he regret it? Not in the slightest. If anything, he’s leaning into it more and more. That was evident with a recent post on his Instagram. In it is a photo of his iconic overtime touchdown pass to D.J. Moore that beat Green Bay last December. Playing in the background is a song by hip-hop superstar Drake called “Whisper My Name.” A specific set of lyrics is the following words.

“Baby boy, please
I heard what you said to lil’ bro about mе
Yeah, and when you run into the Iceman, what you gon’ do except freeze?
You not ’bout to squeeze, you not in the streets
I’m cuttin’ niggas off at the knees, there ain’t no standin’ on business with me”

One thing you can always say about Williams is he’s deliberate in everything he does. This was a clear message to the Packers that what they’ve experienced so far is only the beginning.

Caleb Williams has a certain trait that other Chicago greats had.

That is a willingness to play head games with his opponents. Michael Jordan was notorious for doing that during his peak years with the Chicago Bulls. He carefully used the media to psyche out his opponents, then deliver the killing blow on the floor. Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios was famous for being an all-time agitator for the Chicago Blackhawks, both with his play and his mouth. Nobody can forget how incredible A.J. Pierzynski was, finding little ways to get under the skin of his opponents during his run with the White Sox.

It looks like Caleb Williams is built in that same mold, blending a boisterous personality with enough talent to back it up. Such players are the absolute worst if you’re an opponent. It’s one thing to get beaten by a guy. It is something else entirely when he’s taking jabs at you before, during, and after the games. Clay Matthews was that guy for Green Bay in the 2010s. Aaron Rodgers dabbled in it as well. Now that the shoe is on the other foot with Williams, Packer fans can’t handle it.

The rivalry is back on.

As much as people wanted to call Bears-Packers a rivalry, the truth is it hadn’t been anything close to that for the better part of 13 years. From 2011 through 2023, Chicago was 5-25 against Green Bay. That isn’t a rivalry or anywhere close to it. Everything changed from the moment Caleb Williams arrived. He is currently 3-2 against them across two years, and if not for a blocked field goal, would be 4-1. Everybody kept saying that Green Bay’s dominance at the quarterback position was the decisive factor. Now we see clear evidence of it.

For the first time since the 1980s, the two franchises sit on equal footing at quarterback. The problem for the Packers is that Jordan Love seems maxed out as a player. Williams has so much more room to grow. He had a Pro Bowl-caliber season in 2025 despite some highly erratic play at times. Imagine what could happen if he gains a great grasp of Ben Johnson’s offense and cleans up his fundamentals. That is a reality fast approaching, and one Packers fans dread.