4 burning questions for the 2025 Chicago Bears defense—Were the offseason fixes enough?

Linebacker, and it isn’t even close.

As of this writing, the only two 100% guaranteed starters are T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmumds, both of whom are coming off of productive seasons, and both of whom will need to ramp up their productivity, because, after them, the cupboard is relatively bare.

• Noah Sewell looks like he’ll start alongside Edwards and Edmunds, and while he’s a perfectly useful player, he ain’t exactly Brian Urlacher. (Hell, it’s debatable whether he’s even Jack Sanborn.)

• Behind Sewell, we’re looking at rookie Ruben Hyppolite II (drafted too high), Amen Ogbongbemiga (functional, but not a difference maker), Swayze Bowman (who?), and Carl Jones Jr. (also, who?)

There aren’t many great options available on the street—if Za’Darius Smith would be willing to sign on the cheap, it might be worth kicking the tires—so we’ll likely have to wait until T.J. Watt (maybe) becomes an unrestricted free agent next January.

Did Poles Do Enough to Fix the Defensive Front?

Almost.

Montez Sweat, Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter Sr., and Dayo Odeyingbo make for a nice foursome, but beyond them and backup tackle Andrew Billings, there’s concern.

If rookie Shemar Turner is a thing, they should be in decent shape. But if he’s a work-in-progress—or, heaven forbid, a bust—the trenches will be a problem.

That said, Bengals sack machine Trey Hendrickson is still making noise about wanting out of Cincy, so if Poles can somehow peel him away, problem solved.

What Happens If Jaquan Brisker Isn’t Recovered From His Concussions?

Chicago’s 2025 defensive secondary doesn’t look that much different than Chicago’s 2024 secondary, and we know how that worked out. So if Brisker is sidelined for any length of time, we’ll have a lather, rinse, repeat situation on our hands.

However, if Quanny B. regains his health and form, the D-backfield will be a solidly average unit. And after last season’s performance, average sounds just fine.

Will Montez Sweat Rediscover His Mojo?

A deep-ish dive into Sweat’s career stats tells us that his 12.5-sack campaign in 2023 was an outlier, as he hasn’t topped nine sacks either before or since. So if mojo means exceeding his career average of 7.8 sacks, then sure, we’ll consider that a rediscovery.

This all is somewhat contingent on Jarrett and Odeyingbo. If Jarrett can turn back the clock (dude’s 32) and if Odeyingbo can play up to his contract (three years, $48 million), Sweat will have a shot at eight-plus takedowns. But if the newcomers underperform, kiss Sweat’s mojo b'bye.