The Chicago Bears swung a trade with Cleveland for Joe Tryon-Shoyinka on Tuesday. This move gave them some much-needed help on the defensive line. However, GM Ryan Poles wasn’t done. He had hoped also to give his injury-riddled secondary a lifeline. The player they had in mind was Alontae Taylor. A veteran cornerback in New Orleans, he’d developed under the watchful eye of Dennis Allen and displayed great versatility. The fit was obvious. All the Bears had to do was find the right compensation.

Until the end, it seemed as though the two sides were on the same page. The deal was close. Then, it fell apart. It wasn’t entirely clear why. Thankfully, Jeff Hughes of Sports Mockery provided some clarity. He revealed that both sides were near the finish line. Right as an agreement was about to be reached, the Indianapolis Colts dropped their blockbuster deal for Sauce Gardner. Once New Orleans saw the compensation of two 1st round picks, they increased the asking price for Taylor.

Unsurprisingly, the Bears and every other team backed off.

The Bears can circle back to Alontae Taylor in the spring.

He will be a free agent in 2026. If the Bears want to add some cornerback help at that point, they should have no problem making him an offer. It’s hard not to feel like the Saints overplayed their hand. They were all but guaranteed a solid return for Alontae Taylor and got greedy. Now their biggest hope is that he finishes the year strong and inks a large free agent contract in March, thus landing them a compensatory pick in 2027.

If that doesn’t happen, GM Mickey Loomis deserves tons of criticism for not getting his team some extra draft help when they had the chance. New Orleans isn’t going anywhere. They’re in a rebuilding phase. Keeping Taylor won’t help their bottom line. So many times the biggest enemy of a franchise is their search for a perfect trade when a good one stares them in the face.

The Chicago Bears coaching staff doesn’t have much time to devote to studying the 2026 draft class for obvious reasons. They’re focused on trying to get this team to the playoffs for the first time in five years. Still, GM Ryan Poles has kept them apprised of various prospects he and his scouts are intrigued by. This makes sense, as it gives coaches a chance to jot down names they like and may want to study further once they have the time. It appears at least one player has already made a significant impression, particularly on Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen.

A source revealed to SM that the Bears’ head coach and defensive coordinator are reportedly smitten with Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey. After three years at Stanford, he joined the Red Raiders this season and is having arguably the best campaign of any pass rusher in recent college history. Through nine games, he has 11.5 sacks and 14 tackles for a loss. There are only two games this season in which he was held without at least half a sack. The Bears coaches love his explosiveness, high motor, and elite instincts.

Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen know the situation.

While the Bears head coach is an offensive guy, his job is to recognize the needs of the entire team. Almost anybody with common sense can see that Chicago has a glaring weakness in their pass rush. Montez Sweat has been good, but outside of him, it’s been lots of bad. Dayo Odeyingbo had one sack in eight games before tearing his Achilles. Dominique Robinson has never been a good rusher. Shemar Turner shifted to defensive end from defensive tackle, only to tear his ACL. Austin Booker only just returned from a knee injury, so he’s still an unknown.

This team desperately needs another solution on the edge. Bailey’s speed and explosiveness would be a perfect complement to Sweat. Unlike Leonard Floyd, he would come with a far more proven track record. The obvious issue for Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen is whether the Bears will be high enough in the 1st round to draft him. At the rate things are going, that may not be the case.

Beating the New York Giants on Sunday is paramount for the Chicago Bears. Everybody knows their schedule gets a lot tougher after this week. The list of playoff-contending teams lines up throughout the rest of the schedule. That makes this game crucial. New York is 2-7. That tells you this should be a game the Bears win. They have home-field advantage and momentum from winning five of their last six games. Still, it is hard for some to buy into the idea, especially with New York’s strong pass rush.

However, there is an element that isn’t being accounted for enough. Reports indicate the weather will be a significant factor on Sunday. All of Cook County is under a Winter Storm Watch from midnight all the way through Monday evening. Models indicate anywhere from three to six inches of snow in the right conditions. That means Soldier Field won’t be the best place to throw the ball. If this proves true, the Bears stand to benefit far more from the Giants thanks to their much stronger running game.

The Chicago Bears are well-equipped to handle the weather.

They have the second-best rushing attack in the NFL right now, thanks to head coach Ben Johnson’s system as well as the efforts of D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai. Both also aren’t strangers to playing the elements. Swift did last year. Monangai did at Rutgers. New York is 31st in the NFL against the run, and that was without having to deal with bad footing from a wet field.

If that weren’t bad enough, their own running game is in a bad way. Standout rookie Cam Skattebo was lost for the season to a broken ankle. Nobody else has stepped up to fill that void. Most of New York’s production has come from Jaxson Dart’s scrambling. So, unless he goes crazy, the Giants might not be able to handle the weather conditions, while the Chicago Bears are perfectly situated to take advantage.

Caleb Williams is progressing along nicely at quarterback this season, accounting for 12 touchdowns and just four interceptions. The Chicago Bears are 5-3, winning five of their last six games. Williams is a key part of that, having executed three 4th quarter comebacks. Yet even now, some people are skeptical. Colin Cowherd said on his show recently that he is giving Williams until Thanksgiving to show real progress. If he can’t demonstrate true franchise quarterback ability by then, it likely will never happen. Herd told this to his guest, all-time great quarterback Tom Brady, and asked his opinion.

Brady’s response was fascinating. He contended that Herd is operating under the assumption that everybody in the NFL knows how to develop quarterbacks. There is more than enough evidence to indicate this is far from the case. It feels like Brady is taking a not-so-subtle shot at former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron. Both were widely criticized for their plan, or lack of one, when working with Williams last season. That inevitably stunted the quarterback’s development.

Tom Brady seems to think we’re finally seeing Williams in good hands.

Head coach Ben Johnson and his staff have already demonstrated clear common sense on how to handle a young quarterback. They’ve given him a strong running game to ease the pressure on him while also staying on top of his fundamentals every day, grinding him about footwork, cadence, pre-snap reads, and so on. The results speak for themselves. He is showing more and more confidence from the pocket, reading defenses better, and learning how to work off the run game with precision.

These are all things Tom Brady learned in his early days with New England. He was fortunate to work with Charlie Weis, one of the better offensive coordinators of his time. Aside from turning Brady into a star, he got career-best seasons from Vinny Testaverde and Matt Cassel. Johnson might be even better. Forget Thanksgiving. This is Williams’ true first year of development in the NFL. Let it play out.

The Chicago Bears were more active at the trade deadline than we thought. Everybody knows the deal that happened. They flipped picks with the Cleveland Browns for veteran edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. It should help their depth situation in a banged up area of the defense. We also know they were in discussions with the New York Jets about Jermaine Johnson, but the asking price was too high. As it turns out, there was another defender the Bears had their eyes on and apparently came really close to acquiring.

According to Ian Rapoport, New Orleans Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor was drawing lots of interest from teams. The Bears were the team that came the closest to landing him. For unknown reasons, it didn’t cross the finish line.

Before the Colts stuck their mega deal for Gardner, they had discussions centered around Saints cornerback Alontae Taylor, who drew real interest on Monday and Tuesday. In fact, sources say the Bears were deep in talks for Taylor before a deal ended up falling through. Taylor, who is in a contract year and likely will get paid this offseason, spent time with Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen when he was head coach in New Orleans and the fit made sense. Alas, the Bears ended up dealing with the Browns for pass rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.

Chicago’s interest in Taylor isn’t difficult to surmise. Their cornerback position is riddled with injuries. Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, and Terell Smith are all on injured reserve. Taylor played for Dennis Allen in New Orleans, displaying great versatility. A reunion made plenty of sense.

This outcome for the Chicago Bears is not uncommon.

The reality is that closing deals at the deadline is challenging. Asking prices are almost always too high, and most teams aren’t interested in being sellers, likely holding out hope they can turn things around. The Taylor situation likely fell into the former category. New Orleans wanted a certain level of compensation for the cornerback and there was a line GM Ryan Poles wasn’t willing to cross. The same thing happened with Johnson in New York. While unfortunate, it demonstrated fiscal responsibility. Those draft picks are valuable. The Chicago Bears need them to maintain a healthy pipeline of young talent onto the roster.

If the Saints were willing to part with Taylor for a later pick, great. If not, then it just wasn’t meant to be. You can’t say the Bears didn’t try. They understood the defense needed help, but smart teams don’t give away B-grade assets for C-grade talent.

If you missed it, there was a pretty interesting wrinkle to the Bears quiet trade deadline: according to a report from Sports Mockery, head coach Ben Johnson reportedly was the one who stepped in and stopped GM Ryan Poles from making what was considered a “reckless” move.

🔗 Full article for reference: Sports Mockery – Ben Johnson Stopped Ryan Poles From Reckless Trade
https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-bears/apparently-ben-johnson-stopped-ryan-poles-from-reckless-trade/

Poles even admitted it himself during media availability, saying Johnson pushed for patience and long-term team building instead of burning future assets. One of Poles’ key quotes:

“A lot of times you get into these moments and you get tunnel vision about right now. His ability to see short-term and long-term… is, as a front-office person, really awesome to have.”

He also noted that what excites Johnson is coaching and developing the young players the Bears haven’t even drafted yet. That tells you exactly where the new leadership wants the roster to go — slow build, not splash move.

We Talked Through the Whole Thing on Bears Film Room

Instead of just reading about it, you can watch the full breakdown — plus a full Bears vs Giants preview for Sunday — on this week’s episode of Sports Mockery’s Bears show, Bears Film Room.

🎥 Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bzuHtUtYEg

In the episode, we get into:

• Why Johnson shut down the trade
• What kind of move Poles almost made
• What this says about the Bears long-term strategy and deadline philosophy
• How it affects the matchup vs the Giants this week
• Whether this is a sign the coach-GM relationship is actually stronger than ever

The Chicago Bears are focused on one game at a time. That is the proper way to approach this season for them. They’ve reached 5-3 and want to be 6-3 by the end of the weekend. For that, they must get past the New York Giants on Sunday at Soldier Field. It isn’t an easy task. Despite their 2-7 record, the Giants have looked like a competitive team in spurts. They beat the Eagles a few weeks ago and should’ve crushed the Denver Broncos before a wild 4th quarter collapse. If you’re not careful, they will beat you. Ben Johnson isn’t that naive. He will be ready.

We all know the Bears’ head coach has never disguised his plan. His goal every week is to run the football well. That won’t change against a Giants defense that is second-worst in the NFL against the run. In fact, Johnson may not just have a plan for their entire defense. There is a reasonable chance he may target a specific player. That is middle linebacker Bobby Okereke. The 29-year-old has been brutal against the run this season, ranking 47th out of 50 linebackers in run defense grade. He has eight missed tackles, which is the most in the league.

Ben Johnson will likely force Okereke to read and react.

Great coaches study lots of film. They can almost always identify which players they should be able to exploit, whether it’s running the ball or in coverage. There is no question that Okereke is the guy Ben Johnson will highlight as a target. Though a good athlete and a veteran, he has been a liability for the Giants since they moved him to middle linebacker. He was initially an outside guy earlier in his career. The Bears have had lots of success with outside-zone and misdirection concept. Expect a heavy dose of those since Okereke has struggled with them this season, particularly against the San Francisco 49ers.

Don’t be surprised if you see Kyle Monangai get past him a few times in this game. Much will depend on how well the offensive line executes the game plan. If it’s anything like what happened in Cincinnati, the Giants might be in for a long day.

Rome Odunze didn’t become a top 10 pick in the NFL draft by accident. It began with his significant physical talent: a 6’3 “frame, long arms, and above-average speed. When he coupled that with an insatiable work ethic, it produced a superstar at the University of Washington, helping them reach the national title game. Once his draft prep work began, he enlisted the help of TJ Houshmandzadeh, a former Pro Bowler for the Cincinnati Bengals. He became a great sounding board for Odunze, teaching him all the tricks of playing at the NFL level.

Those lessons served him well. After a solid rookie season, the 9th overall pick is off to an excellent start in 2025. Through eight games, he has 473 yards and five touchdowns. At his current pace, he will be the first Bears receiver to eclipse 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns since Alshon Jeffery in 2014. However, certain people still think he is just scratching the surface of his full potential. That is why Chad Johnson, Houshmandzadeh’s All-Pro teammate from Cincinnati, sent out a plea to the Bears to let him work with the young receiver.

Rome Odunze could learn so much from Johnson.

The man formerly known as Ocho Cinco was arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL from 2003 to 2007, making the Pro Bowl every year and earning two All-Pro nods. While his speed and explosiveness were two big reasons for his success, Johnson’s superpower was his electric route-running skills. He had the ability almost to stop and start on a dime, creating separation from defensive backs with remarkable consistency. He made life hell for the Bears a few times. Many still remember his infamous Riverdance celebration in 2005.

Though Rome Odunze is already a sharp route runner in his own right, there is no denying he would benefit from the expertise of someone like Johnson. While working together is currently impossible, it wouldn’t be surprising if they come together at some point next offseason. Odunze is always open to learn, and no doubt Houshmandzadeh can vouch for Johnson.