It is hard for many people to understand why the Chicago Bears remain stuck in neutral at this stage of their stadium pursuit. They have two viable options on the table. One in Arlington Heights and the other in Hammond, Indiana. For months, they’ve been working with the Illinois state government to pass a megaprojects bill that would finally get them the property tax and infrastructure assistance they need. Unfortunately, the government continues dragging its feet, and multiple parties keep trying to block it.

One would think that this stalemate has gotten to a point where the Bears have had enough. Indiana has already passed the necessary legislation and is ready to help them get started. All they have to do is say yes. Yet the Bears continue waiting. Why? It seems like an easy decision from the outside. This can’t just be about nostalgia for the McCaskeys’ preference to stay in Illinois. At last, we may have an answer. Jason Lee, a senior advisor to Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, dropped the other shoe to the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Everything is worth less in Hammond: your naming rights; your suite sales, your PSLs,” Lee said, referring to personal seat licenses fans must pay in most stadiums for the right to purchase season tickets.

“And then, you still have to go from zero. No site plan, no architecture, no infrastructure. No nothing to having all of that stuff designed… You’ve got wetlands. You’ve got litigation off the top. You might win it. But who knows how long it takes.”

As always, it’s about money for the Chicago Bears.

The only reason they started this entire saga back in 2021 was that the Chicago Park District wasn’t receptive to some upgrade ideas to Soldier Field that would’ve increased revenue streams. This is why they want to build a dome, too. They want a venue that can be used year-round for all sorts of events, not just football. Sure, staying in Illinois would honor the legacy George Halas left behind, but the truth is, going to Indiana would leave a lot of money on the table in the short term.

One thing to remember about this is the location. Sure, Hammond has a sprawling property to offer with 340 acres. It sounds great. There is one problem. There’s nobody there. Hammond sits in Lake County, Indiana. Recent estimates put the population at around 504,000. By contrast, Arlington Heights is in Cook County, which is home to 5.18 million people. That is a difference of $105 million in potential revenue vs. $1.1 billion. Population density is king in these situations.

This is why the Bears are putting up with the government’s nonsense.

They’d be throwing away a lot of potential money each year by moving to Indiana. Yes, they’d get financial assistance from the state. The entire reason Indiana wants them there is to help make the region more attractive to more people. More people means more taxpayers and more taxpayers means more money. The problem is that such endeavors don’t happen overnight. It would take decades of work to build that area out to a point where people may want to move there. Let’s not forget the primary voices of the McCaskey family aren’t getting any younger.

George McCaskey is 70.

Patrick McCaskey is 76.

Brian McCaskey is 66.

These are not men with the time or vitality to take on such a project. They’d much prefer to build the stadium in a region already well-populated. That is Arlington Heights. Even if they drew fans from downtown Chicago, were they to move to Hammond, it wouldn’t be close to what they’d bring in at Arlington. That is the underlying reason for all of this stop-start nonsense. The Chicago Bears want to go with Arlington Heights and are squeezing Hammond for all the leverage they can.

Training camp will feature plenty of roster battles for the Chicago Bears. Yet none will be more important to their immediate future than the one at left tackle. Ozzy Trapilo, their promising 2nd round pick from last year, tore up his knee against Green Bay in the playoffs. There is a belief he may miss the entire season. The Bears didn’t draft any replacements. That means the job comes down to two likely contenders. One is incumbent Braxton Jones, and the other is former 1st round pick Jedrick Wills.

It isn’t difficult to see why the team went this direction. Both players have considerable starting experience, are still on the younger side, and have enough physical tools to function well in this offense. They also clearly believe Trapilo has a chance to return 100% healthy down the line. Now the task ahead is clear. Get both players onto the field in training camp and let them battle it out. Who will come out on top? Let’s explore what each brings to the table and who has the best chance.

Why Braxton Jones could win

Prior to the injury that ended his 2024 season, Jones had a case for being the best offensive lineman the Bears had. While not a dominant force, he was plenty reliable. His pass protection was decent and he was a positive factor in the running game. Sadly, injuries have been the story of his career after his rookie season. He missed six games in 2023 with a neck problem, broke his leg in 2024, and never looked healthy after rushing back from that last season.

The good news is that Jones has had more than enough time to get his body healthy. Sometimes all a player needs is an adequate rest period to let injuries heal. After months of not playing, every indication is that he’s 100% for the first time in a long while. If the Bears can get the early version of him pre-neck issues, then they’re getting a quality starter. Word is he arrived at Halas Hall in excellent shape, with Johnson even saying he was “yoked up.” That feels like a positive sign.

Why Jedrick Wills could win

Expectations were sky high for Wills coming out of Alabama when Cleveland took him 10th overall. Everybody saw a big, powerful, and athletic blocker who would anchor any offensive line for a decade. Things started out well. Wills was above average in his first two seasons. Then everything went sideways. His play regressed badly in 2023 and then a series of brutal injuries struck in 2024. It got so bad that he was forced to have surgery to realign his knee, causing him to miss all of last season.

Some in Cleveland wondered if he’d lost his love of the game. They started noticing his energy and effort were dipping. The commitment to get better had died. Maybe so, but would Wills have bothered returning in 2026 if that were the case? Probably not. He’s healthy now and still only 26 years old. He was a dominant force in college and might be a perfect situation under offensive line coach Dan Roushar. If he brings the necessary work ethic to the table, the ceiling is considerably higher than Jones.

“Wills is one of the most impressive tackles in the draft; he has basketball-caliber foot quickness and the quick hands of a boxer, and all of it is wrapped in a stout, powerful package of bad intentions. His game is tailor-made for the NFL, and his range of success is good starter to All-Pro.”

The winner: Jones

There are a few factors that go into this. For one, Braxton Jones already has experience in this offense. He started four games in it before he was benched last season. That prior knowledge can’t be understated. He already knows the protections and responsibilities required of him. Wills must spend most of the spring and summer catching up. Then there is Roushar. The Bears’ offensive line coach hasn’t been shy about stating his admiration for Jones. He feels the young tackle has loads of capability, but acknowledges the health problems have slowed his progress. It sounds like the coaches remain hopeful he can achieve bigger things, which gives him the inside track.

The Chicago Bears had one of the best schedule reveals of the 2026 offseason. It involved Rome Odunze dressing like television icon Bob Ross and revealing every game through painting. He even had the mannerisms and everything. It was a perfect homage. Other teams had creative reveals as well. The Philadelphia Eagles opted for something a little more grounded. Several of their best players gathered in a conference room and learned about each game for the first time, getting their genuine reactions.

One would think they’d be eager to hear when they get to face Chicago. After all, the Bears went into their building last season and dealt them an ugly 24-15 loss in which their defense was gashed for almost 300 yards rushing. It was a humiliation for the defending champions. Getting some revenge must be on their mind, right? Well, their reaction upon learning the matchup date was rather subdued. They seemed more grateful that the game is in September before the cold weather hits than anything else.

The Chicago Bears certainly have momentum on their side.

That loss by the Eagles last season kind of derailed them. Up to that point, they were 8-3 and battling for the #1 seed in the NFC. Then the Bears stomped them on national TV, which was the second of four losses in their final seven games. Their swagger and momentum were gone. Sure enough, in the playoff opener, they were upset at home by the San Francisco 49ers. Now they look like a team at a crossroads. Star receiver A.J. Brown is all but certain to get traded next month. There are rumblings of discontent around quarterback Jalen Hurts. They changed offensive coordinators again. Key parts of their vaunted offensive line are nearing retirement.

This is not the team that stampeded its way to a championship in 2024. There are cracks in the foundation. That doesn’t mean they’ll be pushovers. Philadelphia has way too much talent for that. Still, the Bears now know they can beat the Eagles. Once that threshold is crossed, the confidence grows even more. This time they’ll be in Chicago at Soldier Field. No raucous Philadelphia crowd to save them. If the Bears play like they did last season, the result will be the same.

There is added motivation for this game, too.

One interesting wrinkle is that the Eagles have won eight of their last ten games at Soldier Field dating back to 1999. That includes four of the last four. The Chicago Bears haven’t made it inhospitable enough for them. A big part of that is because they just haven’t had good teams for most of that time. Brian Urlacher was still on the team when they last took down the Eagles in that building. You can bet Coach Johnson will make sure his players are aware of that in September, knowing the players will need a reminder of who they’re facing.

Philadelphia has been a tough team for most of the past quarter-century. Controversies aside, they remain a well-balanced roster with good coaching at the top. Underestimating them is a simple path to defeat. On the other hand, this game represents a golden opportunity for the Bears to make a statement. If they can beat the Eagles on Monday night in front of a national audience again, maybe they’ll start getting more respect.

The Chicago Bears were the story of the 2025 season. After almost a decade of irrelevance, capped by arguably the worst three-year stretch of football in franchise history from 2022 through 2024, the team found magic in a bottle. New head coach Ben Johnson put together their first top 10 offense since 2013. Quarterback Caleb Williams led six 4th quarter comebacks in the regular season. The defense led the NFL in takeaways. All of it culminated in an 11-6 record and an NFC North championship.

Having come an overtime away from the NFC Championship, many wonder if the Bears can build on this success. They showed they could hang with the best in the conference. Now all they have to do is clean some things up, and they could be knocking on the door of a Super Bowl. However, people who cover the league aren’t hearing much belief for Chicago. Dan Graziano of ESPN reported as much in his latest column, confirming the widespread belief that they’ll take a step back this season.

The Chicago Bears will miss the postseason…

…In the long term, the arrow is definitely pointing up for the Johnson/Williams pairing — and there’s room for Williams to get even better. He finished 32nd out of 33 qualifying QBs in completion percentage (58.1%) last season and just 16th in QBR (58.2) even as he led the Bears to their first division title in seven years.

But … the Bears have the hardest schedule in the NFL, based on the 2025 win/loss records of the teams they’ll play in 2026. And while that is certainly not the only indicator of schedule strength, history says it’s definitely not nothing.

Verdict: NOT AN OVERREACTION

The last team to win a playoff game after entering the season with the hardest schedule by that metric was the 2016 Falcons. Over the past 10 seasons, seven of those teams missed the playoffs entirely.

Plus, the Bears won an NFC North division in which literally every other team had a winning record last season. The Lions and Vikings should bounce back to contender status, and the Packers were a playoff team last season along with the Bears. Chicago plays all three of those teams — plus the Bills — over the final month of the season.

The Bears don’t have many believers.

It isn’t a total surprise. When you need seven 4th quarter comebacks to reach the divisional round of the playoffs, everybody knows that kind of football is unsustainable. The Bears must prove they can actually win games the normal way, which didn’t show up enough in 2025. There are also the losses they took on the roster. D.J. Moore was traded. Drew Dalman retired. Ozzy Trapilo tore up his knee. Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson all departed as free agents. Several key names who fueled that playoff run are gone.

Throw in a schedule against nine playoff teams from last season, and you start to understand the pessimism. However, some factors feel overlooked. For one, the Bears accomplished all of that with a pretty banged-up roster. Several key starters missed large chunks of the season, including most of their cornerback room. It is reasonable to assume they’ll have better luck in that area this year. You’ll also have Williams entering his second year in Johnson’s offense, which should lead to much greater efficiency.

Last but not least, the Bears have one of the shortest travel schedules in the league. They won’t have to worry much about jet lag and extensive road fatigue.

They aren’t intimidated by this challenge.

Coach Johnson has made the standard clear. He expects this team to carry itself like a champion. That means believing that you can beat every opponent you line up against. For the most part, the Chicago Bears lived up to that last year. Of their six losses last season, only two were by more than seven points. It’s not like they were constantly getting clobbered whenever they ran into other good teams. They almost always played them tough. This is not a team that hopes to win.

They expect to. Sometimes, that is the only difference you need. It is impossible to tell what the future holds each year. Crazy stuff can happen. What we know for certain is the Bears will arrive at this season with zero illusions. Johnson has made it clear to them for months that last season means nothing. They are basically starting over from scratch now. It is up to everybody to put in the work necessary to take the next step. Players have bought in, and that is half the battle.

The Chicago Bears wanted to upgrade their pass rush. Contrary to what they said about improving from within, the reality is that they explored plenty of possibilities. They tried trading for Maxx Crosby in March. That fell through after the Baltimore fiasco. Free agency didn’t offer any viable options. As for the draft, the board never fell their way. All the best options were often long gone by the time the Bears picked. Rather than reach in hopes of getting lucky, general manager Ryan Poles opted to take players with higher grades. The Bears would just have to hope what they have is enough, or that somebody unexpected becomes available. Enter TJ Watt.

The former Defensive Player of the Year has been a fixture of the Pittsburgh Steelers for a decade. An eight-time Pro Bowler, he is all but guaranteed to make the Hall of Fame after he retires. However, it appears his future in Pittsburgh is on uncertain ground. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN revealed that the Steelers are debating whether to pay edge rusher Nate Herbig. This would create a problem since they already pay Watt a ton and also extended Alex Highsmith. If they do, it’s felt that Watt might end up being sacrificed.

T.J. Watt becomes a trade candidate

To the point above: If the Steelers end up signing Herbig long term, having three large contracts allocated to one position is a tough proposition.

Watt, for all his greatness, turns 32 in October and has guaranteed salaries of $32 million in both 2026 and 2027.

Watt is a legacy player, something Pittsburgh values more than most. But some teams could see Pittsburgh at least considering moving on from him.

TJ Watt could be a worthwhile gamble in the right conditions.

Namely, it would require the Bears being good again. Remember, Watt will be 32 years old this October. He is no longer in his prime, but he can still impact games as a pass rusher. Acquiring him would depend on if the Bears think their team is reaching a point where they have a legitimate chance to go after a Super Bowl. What makes this idea palatable for them is that it likely wouldn’t cost a 1st round pick to make happen. Given where Watt is in his career, you’re probably looking at a couple of day two picks or a day two pick and a day three pick.

Both of those trades ended up working out in a big way. Los Angeles won the Super Bowl later that same season in 2021 with Miller. Pierre-Paul was a core member of that 2020 Buccaneers championship team. Older pass rushers can still sway things in the right direction if they end up in the right situation. Watt would join a Bears defense that has a very talented secondary, which would immediately benefit from his rush capability.

The Bears should watch Pittsburgh carefully.

That team is in a truly difficult spot. They just changed head coaches for the first time in almost 20 years. Their roster is older in several key areas, and they still don’t have a starting quarterback. It would not be shocking if the team took a tumble in the standings this year. Such an outcome might convince them that it’s time to shake things up. Trading TJ Watt would be an obvious first step. Doing so would free up $32 million in cap space and net them some draft capital to start retooling the roster.

Taking on that large contract would be difficult for the Bears given their cap limitations. That said, Watt would instantly be the best pass rusher on the team. A trio of him, Montez Sweat, and Austin Booker would finally give the defense some real bite. Is it likely? No. A lot of things must happen for it to become possible, but the fact that it’s even being talked about is noteworthy. The Bears would be wise to keep one eye on Pittsburgh as the season unfolds in September and October.