Bears Defensive Line Could Have the Biggest Impact on the 2026 Season

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

What are the easiest gains the defense can make despite a lack of big-ticket investments this offseason? Any chance the Gervon Dexter Sr. trade is about getting to a baseline competence on run D so they don’t have so many second- and third-and-shorts? What’s the plan to at least be average on D? — @gregfeltes

Having a healthy No. 1 cornerback is the easiest gain for the Bears defense this season. I’ve alluded to the re-emergence of Jaylon Johnson a couple of times over the past few weeks. He was never 100% or really close to it last season, and he looked a lot closer during training camp to being the top performer he was in 2023 and 2024.

I didn’t think that Biggs addressed the comment about the run defense in his answer.

Its fairly evident that the Bears are looking to penetrate more at the line of scrimmage, especially in the interior of the defensive line. In 2025 the Bears recorded 66 tackles for loss as a team. For context, individual leaders like Myles Garrett (33) and Maxx Crosby (28) accounted for almost half of the Bears aggregate total just as individuals.

This matches what my eyes told me last year.  The Bears were too passive in run defense and struggled hit runningbacks behind the line of scrimmage.  It’s fairly evident that they will want to change that in 2026 by acquiring players who can do a better job of penetrating into the backfield.

If they accomplish this, it should help the defense enormously because, as the question writer points out, they won’t have to deal with as many situations where they have to defend short yardage while simultaneously limiting explosive plays.

Of all of the aspects of team play for the Bears this year outside of quarterback, I think I’m looking forward the most to seeing how the interior of the defensive line plays.  I’m not sure that they have the horses to be difference makers as a group.  But if they do, it will have a very significant impact on the way that the defense plays.  These guys could be the difference between a winning and losing season.

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The Bears Did a Good Job of Maximizing Gervon Dexter’s Trade Value

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Gervon Dexter.

Gervon Dexter chicagobears.com

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune on the Bears latest acquisition at cornerback:

Physically, Clark Phillips III projects as a slot cornerback, but the majority of his experience in Atlanta the last three seasons came on the outside.

He was competing to be the Falcons nickel back in 2025, but a triceps injury wound up limiting him to one game. The Bears acquired the 5-foot-9, 185-pounder and a fifth-round pick Sunday for defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr.

Phillips played in 27 games in his first two seasons with the Falcons, getting 821 snaps. We’ll have to see what the coaches say about how he’ll be used.

“I liked him coming out of Utah in 2023 as a nickel,” one pro scout said. “Kind of twitchy and he played downhill with some juice. Willing tackler and competed and had decent speed. He struggled to stay connected downfield, though, and that’s where his length — his arms are less than 30 inches — showed up.”

I loved this trade by the Bears.  Dexter has done next to nothing in the NFL after the Bears took him in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft as a barely servicable rotation player.  

Ian Cunningham, the current Falcons GM obviously liked Dexter when he was assistant GM with the Bears. So the Bears found the one team in the NFL that might have given them a 5th round pick for Dexter, let alone a player to go along with it.

If Clark Phillips contributes any depth at all at slot cornerback this year, I’d say the Bears got a steal.

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The Bears Get Tough With High Risk Decisions at Defensive Tackle

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Jayden loving.

Jayden Loving from chicagobears.com

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune empties his notebook.   He notes the surprises that have emerged at defensive tackle over the summer:

[Jayden] Loving, who spent two seasons at Bethune-Cookman, two at Western Kentucky and finished his college career at Wake Forest last fall, was one of 10 defensive linemen on the initial 53-man roster and the fifth defensive tackle.

He played his way onto the roster with four tackles, one sack and two pass deflections in the preseason. The hope is he can develop into an explosive force on the interior.

 

Loving had 2½ sacks last season for the Demon Deacons. How he fits into the puzzle at the bottom of the depth chart will be interesting, but it’s clear the Bears see developmental potential at a position that’s likely to have some turnover next offseason.

He primarily played nose tackle and five-technique at Wake Forest and believes he can do whatever he’s asked in the team’s front.

Jordan van den Berg, who has been a more high profile development, had 3 sacks at Georgia Tech and lasted until the sixth round for the Bears to take him in the draft. However, he did have 11 tackles for loss.

I’m both nervous and excited about what the Bears are doing at defensive tackle this year.  Neither of these players was high on anyone’s radar going into the draft and neither had spectacular years in college.  The Bears are taking a risk in depending upon their ability to develop players that haven’t shown a lot to this point at other, lower profile stops.

Like the Bears, I like what I’ve seen from these players, especially van den Berg, in preseason games against backups.  Presumably both performed well in competitive practices against the Bengals and the Titans.

That’s good because the Bears are presumably going to depend a lot on generating pressure on the quarterback up the middle this year.  This could offset presumed deficiencies in the pass rush from the outside.

Its goingo the be an interesting year once again for the Bears defense as they once again attempt to overcome adversity in the form of injuries by relying upon the coaching staff to adapt and extract performances from what they have been given.  Its going to require mental toughness from everyone involved.  I can’t wait to see it.

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Another Reason Why Braxton Jones May Be Better in 2026

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Braxton_Jones_(240808 N HR150 1097)_(cropped).

I found this tidbit bit from Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune to be interesting.  He notes that Braxton Jones had a tendency to wear down over the course of games last year as he came back from injury:

“I think the joint practices were both stepping stones in the right direction,” Jones said. “From a year ago to now, I’m proud of myself for having better practices and just feeling better after the practices.

“(Tennessee) was a big confidence block in building toward the season and being in alignment with what the whole team wants, finishing and being strong toward the end. It was big for myself realizing I can do a lot of things that I probably couldn’t a year ago. Both practices were very positive. I’m grateful to go out there and execute on a higher level than I did a year ago.”

Those practices in the heat in Tennessee probably really helped the Bears.

I may fairly big rugby fan, and one of the things that coaches will do in that sport is drive athletic performance under adverse conditions, for instance, in the heat of an afternoon practice the day before a warm-up game. This forces athletes to practice perform mentally under adverse conditions both in the practice and during the game the following day when they are tired, and when performance would ordinarily degrade.

The practices in Tennessee probably really helped Bears players in this regard. Forcing the players to concentrate in high heat in a competitive practice against an opponent other than themselves will stand them in good stead during the season in games when exhaustion might ordinarily result in lapses in concentration.  It seems that Jones in particular benefited from these conditions.

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Ozzy Trapilo Might Be Back Early. But Will he be Good Enough to Start?

Posted on August 30, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Ozzy trapilo.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

Are the Bears going to be forced to push Ozzy Trapilo into the lineup before he’s ready? So far, none of the above seems to be the answer to the question of who’s leading the way at left tackle. Braxton Jones is still setting too deep and catching rushers. Jedrick Wills Jr., Theo Benedet and Kiran Amegadjie have been inconsistent against twos. — @felicellijoe

What the Bears say now and what they do down the road could differ. But if you put stock in the message they’ve delivered since Trapilo returned to practice on a limited basis, they’ve made it clear he’ll have his own plan for recovering and returning. One thing Ben Johnson said that resonated with me is they want to give him time to build his confidence back up.

One of the things that’s been bugging me about this is th eimplicit assumption by both fans and the media (not necessarily Biggs) that Trapilo is just going to return to the field and be as good as he was before he was ruptured his patellar tendon in January.  His return to this point has been impressive given the initial estimates that he’d be unable to play until at least December.  

Accoriding to a study published in The Physician and Sportsmedicine, though About 77% of professional athletes are able to return to their sport, athletes frequently see a statistically significant decrease in their performance metrics during their first post-operative season. For many, performance does not fully recover to baseline levels until the second or third season following the injury.

It is not coincidence that Trapilo has been unable to practice in 11-on-11 drills ot this point and it would be great to see him geet back onto the field.  But he’s still facing an uphill battle to get back to the point where he was and he may still not be significantly better that Braxton Jones for quite a while yet.

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Evaluating Bears Safety Xavier Woods and His Role in the Bears Defense

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Xavier Woods (cropped).

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:

What are the top safety options that Ryan Poles reasonably can trade for? Andre Cisco from the Jets an option? With a rookie at safety, the Bears are very weak at this position and have draft picks and players to fill this gap. — @rgbears69

The Bears still are getting a feel for how Xavier Woods might fit into the structure of Dennis Allen’s defense after signing him last Friday. Coincidentally, that was the day Coby Bryant underwent surgery on his left knee, a procedure that Ben Johnson revealed Tuesday [last week] will sideline him four to six months.

So unless Woods is a flop, and I don’t think anyone expects that, I’m not sure what the need would be to trade for a safety. Teams can find safeties with experience on the street, and no one is going to trade a top-tier safety unless they have a replacement on hand or envision moving on from the player after the season. In either situation, you’d have to pay a pretty penny to get a difference maker.

Woods is entering his 10th season and has started 121 games in his career in a variety of systems. That experience should make him a quick study when it comes to Allen’s defense and calls on the back end. I touched base with a personnel man who was with a team Woods previously played for, and he gave Woods high marks for intelligence and said he’s a good fit for a locker room. If that report is spot on, you’d expect he’s a good player to help out first-round pick Dillon Thieneman. He’s not Bryant, but he is a pro and has had solid durability in his career.

Woods became available because the Tennessee Titans released him just one year into his two-year contract. The Titans primarily moved on from Woods to clear salary cap space and make way for rookie safety Kevin Winston Jr.

His primary strength lies in his pass coverage. During his 2025 season he earned a 70.3 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking 24th among qualified safeties, and allowed just a 75.5 passer rating when targeted. He also brings versatility, having played both free and strong safety throughout his career, as well as some nickel cornerback in his early days.

His main weakness is his run defense. In 2025, his PFF run-defense grade ranked 89th at the position. He is also rarely utilized as a blitzer, so it is not considered a major part of his game. Over his nine-year NFL career, he has recorded just two total sacks—one with the Minnesota Vikings in 2021 and one with the Tennessee Titans in 2025.

Significantly, Woods missed six games during the 2025 season due to a hamstring injury. He has issues with durability, also missing time with hamstring problems with the Bengals (2018) and the Panthers (2022 & 2023).

I’d say that with Woods in the defensive backfield instead of Bryant, the Bears will be looking for Thieneman to do more in run support and to potentially blitz from that position.  They are also crossing their fingers that Woods be able to put those durability issues behind him and remain healthy.

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The Screen Game: A Missing Piece for the Bears’ Offense?

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune has 10 thoughts after the Bears preseason game against the Browns.  

10b. It was interesting to hear Ben Johnson go into fine details of the screen game, something that has been a major focus for the offense in training camp practices. Salvon Ahmed scored a touchdown on one, but as Johnson noted, there’s so much that goes into a productive or explosive screen.

“We’ve been harping on those details,” he said. “We’ve got specific landmarks. We drill them every single day. I think our defense has done a really good job throughout the week of practice to make those hard for us. So, we’ve had a lot of very difficult looks. Some of our worst plays in practice over the last couple weeks have been our screens.

“I just think it’s a really good job up front, executing the timing, the rhythm, and then we always talk about those screen runners when they get the ball in the hands. We’re trying to get vertical for a few steps and then it turns into a punt return after that. That’s certainly what that one looked like as he was taking it across the field. So, good to see those guys blocking down the field. A guy like (receiver) Kaden Davis, who really is trying to run coverage away from the screen, ends up making a key block, and it’s good to see things like that.”

I addressed Ahmed and his uphill battle to win the third running back position battle in a previous post.

I was glad to read that the Bears have been working on their screen game.  

As I emphasized in a previous post, the Bears won only 2 games within the division last year. And one of those was a miracle, once-in-a-generation comeback against the Packers. A big reason for tha tis the Bears scored an average of 20.5 points per game against division opponents Vs. 28.9 overall against the league. They need to work on the offense to add dimensions to their game to make it harder for teams that know them well to stop them.

The screen play can be a devastating weapon for a team that can execute it well. While the league average for screen plays generally hovers just under 5 yards per play, teams like the Lions, Buccaneers, and Cardinals have all averaged at least 6.5 yards per play and 0.2 Expected Points Added (EPA) per play on screen passes.  I can remember some seasons where the Packers repeatedly absolutely killed opponents with well timed screens.

Furthermore, screens have a high floor compared to traditional dropbacks. Offenses can generally mitigate negative plays while still maintaining a higher explosive play rate than standard designed runs.  It also, obviously  effectively neutralizes the pass rush.

If the Bears can get this play right, it can be a very effective antidote for a lot of things that aggressive defenses like the Vikings try to do.  In addition, as Johnson tries to push the ball downfield, the screen can add a short field counter punch if defenses are leaving an excessive amount of space underneath in response.  It adds an extra dimension to the offense and will be one more thing that teams have to worry about.

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Salvon Ahmed and the Battle for the Bears’ Third Running Back Spot

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Salvon Ahmed.

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune has 10 thoughts after the Bears preseason game against the Browns.  At one point he addresses the competition for the thirrd running back position:

An interesting option is Salvon Ahmed, a 27-year-old who played previously for Studesville in Miami and missed all last season after suffering an ankle injury on a hip-drop tackle in an Indianapolis Colts practice.

Ahmed got two carries — one for 15 yards and another for 2 — and caught three passes for 55 yards, scooting 49 yards for a touchdown on a screen from Case Keenum at the start of the third quarter.

“We feel good about those top two backs right now and where they’re at,” Ben Johnson said. “So, the battle for three, four, five, whatever that looks like, a lot comes down to special teams. A lot comes down to how do you separate yourself from those top two guys? What’s your skill set? How’s it different?

“(Ahmed) has got that slashing mentality where he’s hard to bring down in space, and that showed up again today. Showed up in practice really throughout camp so far. We’ll continue to challenge him to find a defined role there on special teams where he can help us out the most there. And then pass protection, how do we continue to improve? When you’re a little bit smaller as a running back, that’s always what I’m looking for. How well, how stout are we holding up to a blitzing linebacker?”

At 5-foot-11 and 197 pounds, Ahmed has a good feel for a lot of the outside-zone concepts because they mirror what he did with the Dolphins. The third running back is usually a main cog on special teams. Ahmed got 38 snaps on special teams for the Dolphins in 2022 and 70 in 2023. Conversely, Roschon Johnson has logged 386 snaps on special teams over the previous three seasons.

Ahmed might give the Bears a little more juice on offense, as he showed while sprinting to the end zone, but if the top two backs are healthy and rolling, is Roschon Johnson a better fit in the overall picture when it comes to the 53-man roster?

It’s one of the questions the team needs to sort through in the coming weeks. They have to challenge Ahmed and see what he can do on special teams. With some good fortune, the offense won’t have to lean on the third back to carry a significant load during the regular season.

That was a long quite but there’s a lot in it to unpack.  I’m really glad that Biggs brought Ahmed up.  I was hearing alot about his performances in camp and I was looking forward to seeing him.  And I wasn’t diasppointed.  Like many of the teams’ fans I’m sure, he cuaght my eye during the game, epsecially when you contrasted him with Johnson, who had a pedestrian performance.

First, I’ll get back to the screen play in another post but its worth noting that one of Ahmed’s particular skills is pass catching.  When he was with the Dolphins he was often prasied for his speed and route running ability.  That’s going to be important to Ben Johnson, espcially if Ahmed is significantly better at it than D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai.

Second, it probably isn’t a coincidence that Ben Johnson brought up pass protection. Ahmed’s lack of size can be a disadvantage when matching up against blitzing linebackers. In the past, coaches have consistently noted that he needs to improve his effort and stoutness in pass protection and he’s had a hard time in the past earning significant playing time on third downs.

But its those special teams stats that BIggs cited are really going to hurt Ahmed.  With his speed, you would think that earning time no special teams should be sonething he could do,  But there’s a reason that he hasn’t played more in that phase in the past.  He needs to imporve in that area.

As impressed with Ahmed as I was with what I saw, I’m definitely pumping the brakes on him.  He might be destined for the practice squad with Johnson sticking in the third running back spot for his special teams play.  This would allow them to bring Ahmed back onto the 53 man roster if there is a rash of injuries and the services of a dynamic back on the offense are required.

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Mediocre at Best: Browns QB Concerns Continue Against Bears

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Charean Williams at profootballtalk.com on Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s play yesterday:

Browns coach Todd Monken said it was “cool” and “awesome” to watch Deshaun Watson play on Saturday. It was Watson’s first game of any kind since Oct. 20, 2024.

The quarterback, who is competing with Shedeur Sanders for the starting job, was 11-of-15 for 126 yards and lost a fumble in the first half. The Browns scored 10 points while Watson was in the game [for the first half].

He may have won the starting job.

I kind of doubt that.  Neither Browns quarterback looked all that good to me.  Watson didn’t throw a single deep pass.  This may have been in part because he was having yet another health an issue, this time with his elbow.

Watson has played only 19 games since the Browns acquired him in a 2022 offseason trade with the Texans. He served an 11-game suspension in 2022, underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in 2023 and twice tore his Achilles, which kept him out 10 games in 2024 and all of 2025.

Watson, who turns 31 in September, said he had no problem with his Achilles. He experienced brief numbness in his forearm during the game.

“It was just my forearm and elbow,” Watson said. “Just a little numbness, but it went away as the game continued to go on. It was just a little funny bone thing.”

Sanders took the positives from the terrible interception that he threw but it was emblematic of his performance.

“What’d I see? The right read, just slipped. It was the right read, it just slipped,” Sanders said. “That’s what makes me mad a little bit. But any decision I make, I know is the right decision, I just didn’t execute the decision, but the right decision was made. So every day I look at my decision making. How’s my decision-making? That’s how I grade myself. Obviously turning the ball over is not great and I won’t survive a long time in the league doing that, but as long as my eyes and my feet and everything were in the right place, being able to execute, it just may happen.”

Sanders didn’t execute consistently and Watson continually settled for the short throw against a mostly vanilla Bears defense.  I would call both quarterbacks mediocre at best under conditions where true NFL starters should have excelled.  

It isn’t the only problem that they have.  But the Browns problems are going to start at quarterback again this year unless one of these players gets a lot better.

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Ben Johnson’s Wants a Historic Offensive Year. I’m On Board.

Posted on August 15, 2026 by Tom Shannon

Mike Florio on Bears head coach Ben Johnson’s stated goal of being the highest scoring offense of all time.

There’s a certain logic to setting goals higher than the ultimate goal. Still, the only goal that matters most to NFL fans is winning Super Bowls. Scoring doesn’t matter. Winning streaks don’t matter.

The goal is to get to the playoffs and then be the one team that runs the table.

Florio has a point.  But he’s not accounting for the fact that Bears fans have been starved to offensive success for 20 years now.

In 13 of the last 20 seasons, the Bears have ranked 20th or worse in total offensive yards and between 2016 and 2024 the team ranked 20th or worse in scoring offense seven times, bottoming out at 32nd in total yards during the 2024 season.

Even when the Bears have success as a team, it’s almost never because of the offense. During their 2005 playoff run, they managed to win 11 games despite fielding the 29th-ranked offense in total yards and the 26th-ranked scoring unit.

Honestly, Bears games were so misserable to have to watch that I felt the need to apologize to fans of other teams becasue they were forced to watch their offensive incompetance in prime time slots on national television.

It’s been so long since the Bears have had sustained offensive success that they barely remember what a good quarterback looks like.  Before Caleb Williams hit the scene, many Bears fans wouldn’t recognize one is they saw one.

I guess what I’m saying is, yes, team success is the ultimate goal.  But Bears fans are starved for more more and, given the recent history of the franchise, how the team wins is going to count for a lot with them.  

Johnson is playing to the crowd when he sets offensive success as a major priority.  Win or lose, the Bears are finally playing an entertaining brand of football.  Bears fans can appreciate and respond to that perhaps more than fans of any other team in the NFL.

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