Building through the draft is critical for any NFL team to have success. This has been a consistent problem for the Chicago Bears in the past 20 years. Aside from some nice standouts along the way, they haven’t been able to string together multiple good classes. That might finally be changing under general manager Ryan Poles. He landed All-Pro tackle Darnell Wright and solid defensive tackle Gervon Dexter in 2023. A year later, he secured quarterback Caleb Williams. His 2025 class is easily his best yet, at least based on last year, as Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, and Kyle Monangai all shined.

Yet the 2026 class presented the biggest challenge to date. Poles would not have the benefit of a high draft position for the first time. That meant he’d need to be more dialed in than ever to find good players. Early impressions from training camp were inconclusive. Some of his draft choices had some nice moments, but nobody had a truly standout practice yet. That changed on Saturday as not one but two rookies took a big step forward.

The first was tight end Sam Roush.

It’s clear that the 3rd round pick showed everybody that his reputation as a blocker-only player was overblown. He has legitimate pass catching skills. Not to be outdone, 4th round pick Malik Muhammad had himself a day at nickel cornerback with Kyler Gordon still absent.

The Chicago Bears rookie class is stepping up.

Roush looking that sharp isn’t a huge surprise. He’s a 3rd round pick who went to Stanford. His intelligence was never in question. Plus, he has no pressure on him with Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet getting most of the attention at tight end. Still, knowing he can be a legitimate threat beyond blocking just makes this offense more dangerous. The bigger story is Muhammad. Chicago’s secondary has taken a beating in camp. Kyler Gordon was already out to start. Now Coby Bryant will miss two months with a knee injury. If that weren’t bad enough, Cam Lewis left Saturday’s practice on a cart.

The Bears needed somebody to step up. Despite limited experience playing at nickel corner, Muhammad seems to have grasped it quickly. Every day, it gets easier seeing why the team liked him so much. All of this goes without mentioning Jordan Van Den Berg. The 6th round defensive tackle was already making noise in 1-on-1 drills over the past few days. He’s made such a strong impression that coaches have begun working him in with the starters during scrimmages.

Don’t worry about the other guys.

Dillon Thieneman might not be getting tons of buzz lately, but the 1st round pick hasn’t been silent. He made some really nice plays in practice, showcasing more of his trademark range and instincts. The problem is that he’s been matched up with Loveland a lot, which hasn’t ended well. Logan Jones is situated as the team’s backup center with Garrett Bradbury as the starter. That leaves wide receiver Zavion Thomas. Despite being on a crowded depth chart, the 3rd round pick is flashing his unique speed, along with improving route-running.

There is no telling what will happen with the Chicago Bears’ 2026 draft class. Not until they actually get opportunities to play in real games. That said, it’s looking more and more like this group is not intimidated by the NFL. They took their early licks in camp and have begun fighting back. Their confidence and comfort are clearly growing. If this carries over into September and beyond, the team could take another step forward in their pursuit of a Super Bowl.

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is not your normal offensive wizard. For decades, people have associated that title with coaches who were ardent advocates of the passing game. The more electric you made the quarterback, the higher standing you held in the NFL. So you can imagine the surprise when Johnson stepped to the podium and stated that his focus would be on running the ball. It was jarring to hear something like that from a man deemed one of the two or three best play callers in football.

Bears fans have heard that statement before. Most of the previous head coaches in modern franchise history have said the same thing. They were going to run the ball, control the clock, and minimize turnovers. Efficiency is the name of the game. New Bears offensive coordinator Press Taylor was asked about this during his latest presser at Halas Hall. He immediately shut down any idea that Johnson’s goal with the running game was efficiency or clock management. It’s all about finding every way possible to attack the defense.

“I don’t think Ben has ever mentioned the word efficiency. We talk about explosive. We are trying to attack a defense. I think there’s a perception of a lot of people, we’re gonna run the ball, we’re gonna stay efficient and control the clock. We are looking to attack the defense. We are looking to attack fronts, to expose space, to create run lanes, to create explosives and we don’t look at the run game as a way to stay on track. We look at the run game as a way to attack defenses and really be explosive and continue to just put our foot on the gas the entire game.”

Ben Johnson brought a new way of thinking to old school football.

Many greats of the game have stated that the true essence of football is running the ball and stopping the run. If you do that, your chances of winning are much higher. Yet in an era where quarterbacks reign supreme, most consider that line of thinking outdated. At one point, some even theorized that the run game would eventually go extinct. What they failed to grasp is that the NFL is a league of constant adaptation. It was only a matter of time before defenses learned to adapt their personnel and schemes to make life difficult for quarterbacks.

That left offensive coaches with a choice. Double down on the passing game or adjust their way of thinking. If defenses were geared up to focus on stopping the pass, logic dictated they should look to run the ball more. Ben Johnson has been one of the leading proponents of that revolution. However, his goal wasn’t about just easing pressure on the quarterback and keeping the defense honest. He wanted to weaponize the running game. If it could produce big plays at a similar clip to the passing game, defenses would have no choice but to respect it.

What Johnson accomplished in 2025 cannot be overstated.

Chicago ranked 3rd in explosive run plays. The two teams ahead of them, Buffalo and Baltimore, both had Pro Bowl running backs, James Cook and Derrick Henry. The Bears made it happen with D’Andre Swift, a good but not great player, and rookie 7th round pick Kyle Monangai. Of course, they were also aided a few times by quarterback Caleb Williams, who used his considerable mobility for a few big plays as well. Johnson used those ingredients to brew a concoction that defenses weren’t ready for.

That isn’t even the craziest part. By his own admission, Johnson used maybe about a quarter of his full playbook last season so as not to overwhelm the players. He wasn’t even digging deep into his bag most of the year. That is the terrifying part. Now that the team is much more acclimated to the system, he figures to add even more layers to an already deadly rushing attack. Don’t be surprised if the Bears top that explosive runs mark of 18 this season.

The Chicago Bears 2026 draft class has been settling into their first NFL training camp over the past week. Fans are excited to see how they develop. The obvious question on everyone’s lips: Is anybody standing out so far? One must be careful answering that because there have only been three padded practices. That said, the name that has garnered the most buzz is surprisingly 6th round defensive tackle Jordan Van Den Berg. He’s already getting work with the starters in drill. While people are excited to hear that, a select few inevitably resort to the elephant in the room. What about Dillon Thieneman?

The Bears selected the young safety out of Oregon in the 1st round. One must assume that he should be the one turning heads at Halas Hall. Yet through the first several days, he hasn’t been mentioned much. Some are worried that he might be floundering. Based on recent updates, that isn’t the case. Thieneman is going through an acclimation period in Dennis Allen’s defense, which can be challenging for rookies. The safety often looked hesitant on several of his reads. However, head coach Ben Johnson has noticed a shift since Tuesday.

Coach Ben Johnson has noticed. When he watched film of Tuesday’s practice, he saw, for the first time, something closely resembling Thieneman’s college tape.

“You can see that play speed start to show up,” Johnson said.

Thieneman is still thinking too much. But Johnson thinks that he’ll begin to play more instinctively with more practice time.

Dillon Thieneman can’t be expected to click immediately.

Something to remember is that safety is a difficult position to play at the NFL level. The days of having a single role like coverage or run support are long gone. More than ever, safeties are expected to be hybrids of multiple positions. Basically part cornerback and part linebacker. That requires a significant mastery of their craft, which rarely happens right away. They need at least a month or two before they start getting it. Thieneman just completed his first week of training camp. Expecting him to tear it up was never realistic.

Truth be told, the history of 1st round safeties, like most things, is mixed. There are ones who were studs from the start, like Eric Berry and Earl Thomas, and those who took a few years to find their footing, and others like Minkah Fitzpatrick and Kyle Hamilton, who needed a year to get acclimated.

Thieneman will be fine.

This is not one of those prospects who come in super raw with nothing but athletic upside. Dillon Thieneman was lauded in college for his work ethic and excellent knowledge of the game. He studies it at a far deeper level than most players his age. Combine that with his wide array of physical tools and it’s only a matter of time before things click. The key for the Bears is not to press. They must let him develop at a natural pace. That means staying on him about details and letting him learn.

We saw last season how well this approach works. Colston Loveland and Luther Burden were hardly instant hits in 2025. Even so, the work eventually paid off. By the end of the year, they were arguably the two best weapons the Bears had. Thieneman can follow that same blueprint. As he gains experience through practice, his comfort level will increase.

In the past few days, the Chicago Bears absorbed some brutal shots to their secondary. By far the worst of them was safety Coby Bryant. Their projected starter was expected to anchor the back end of the defense over the next few seasons. Instead, an awkward landing saw him tweak his knee. Initial projections see him missing at least two months. If that weren’t bad enough, the news got worse a few days later when reserves Dallis Flowers and Gervarrius Owens both went down with injuries of their own.

Suddenly, the safety position was looking alarmingly thin. Rather than continue exploring their depth, general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson have decided to bring in some outside help. Their choice is veteran safety Xavier Woods, most recently of the Tennessee Titans. A nine-year veteran, he was a 6th round pick of the Dallas Cowboys. He worked his way into the starting lineup. After a short stop in Minnesota after that, he spent three years in Carolina before bouncing over to Tennessee.

To date, he has 15 interceptions across his nine seasons, proving to be a steady and opportunistic presence.

Woods gives the Bears flexibility with Coby Bryant out.

Right now, the best option for the team has been moving veteran Cam Lewis to safety alongside Dillon Thieneman. There is one big problem, though. It leaves the nickel cornerback spot in a very dicey situation, what with Kyler Gordon also out. Woods has played in multiple defenses during his career. He is usually good about picking a system up quickly. He has worked in a similar system to Dennis Allen’s before. By dropping him into Bryant’s vacated spot, it allows the Bears to move Lewis to nickel corner, where he has far more experience than anybody else on the roster.

It is a smart decision all the way around. They get a player with over 100 games of starting experience on the back end. He won’t make too many glaring mistakes and should serve as a good instructor for Thieneman as he develops. Lewis can focus on nickel corner, allowing the Bears to no longer rely on Gordon’s health. Then, whenever Coby Bryant does return, the team can rotate him, Woods, and Thieneman similar to what they did with Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson last season.

It didn’t stop there for the Bears.

They also added rookie defensive back Will Wright after a tryout as well. He spent five years playing for the Tennessee Volunteers, signing as an undrafted free agent with the Denver Broncos back in May. Given their deep secondary, he had little hope of making the roster. They soon released him. Wright was a walk-on in college, climbing up the depth chart to become a starter. He understands the value of hard work. The Bears’ interest in him isn’t hard to surmise. Wright played 435 snaps on special teams during his final three college seasons. This is unquestionably a Richard Hightower signing.

This should stabilize things as Bryant works his way back from his injury. It isn’t an ideal solution, but the Bears could do way worse. Woods is a competent player. He should have no trouble using the next few weeks getting up to speed. It will be interesting to see how the Bears decide to use him. Traditionally, he’s been a free safety by trade. Yet at age 31, maybe they find other ways.

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen earned a viral moment last week when he complained the NFL was putting too much attention on Caleb Williams. He said this in complaint about his team not getting more love after going 13-4 last season. His quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, also had a better statistical season. Why is the Chicago Bears‘ signal caller the apple of the league’s eye all of a sudden? Well, there are certain ways to explain it. However, the best might be showing him a clip of Thursday night’s Hall of Fame game between the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals.

Panthers quarterback Hayden King was trying to drive his team down for a score late in the first half. Facing 3rd and 10, he got some pressure and tried retreating from the pocket, only to throw the ball while doing so. He thankfully fell incomplete. The announcer duo of Mike Tirico and Chris Collinsworth was quick to point out that King’s decision is a big no-no in the NFL. Quarterbacks can never get away with dropping straight back and throwing the ball at the same time.

With one exception, of course.

Caleb Williams’ reputation is well-earned.

This is in reference to the quarterback’s now iconic moment in the divisional round against the Los Angeles Rams. Facing 4th down at the end of regulation, the Bears needed a touchdown to force overtime. Williams took the snap and faced pressure. He retreated several yards, trying to create space. Knowing he couldn’t take a sack, he heaved the ball toward the back of the end zone. The absolute shock of his teammates, coaches, and opponents, the ball fell into the waiting arms of tight end Cole Kmet for the score.

Tirico and Collinsworth were at that game. Tirico’s call might go down as one of the best in NFL history. The utterly flabbergasted and ecstatic response is evident throughout. Things like that don’t happen in this league. Quarterbacks aren’t supposed to have the ability to pull it off. Yet Caleb Williams did. It was a reminder of his exceedingly rare mix of improvisational skill and sheer arm strength. No wonder the announce team started laughing when they mentioned that moment.

One thing is undeniable about Williams.

He is must-see TV. This is nothing new. It’s been that way since he stepped on the field the first time in college. Even people who weren’t Oklahoma or USC fans tuned in just to see what kind of wizardry he’d pull next. The Bears have never really had somebody like that at quarterback. A player who can genuinely be called an attraction. One thing you can say about the NFL, they know how to market their attractions. Pushing him onto the cover of Madden was no coincidence.

Coen must be fuming from all of this. After complaining quite publicly, the coach watched Williams get back on national TV without even trying. He wasn’t even at the game or within a hundred miles. That is how high his celebrity has elevated. By most accounts from Halas Hall, the Bears quarterback is looking even better than he did at the end of last season. He’s calmer, more poised, and in far better control of the offense. All of this without losing his knack for late-game magic.