Three hottest seats on the Chicago Bears

With the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, the Chicago Bears (3-14) are in prime position to begin surrounding franchise quarterback Justin Fields with a strong supporting cast. With tons of cap space and multiple early draft picks, Chicago has a solid chance of seeing strong development in Year 2 under head coach Matt Eberflus.

Here are the three Bears with the hottest seats in 2023:

1. Justin Fields, QB

Although Fields had a rocky start to the 2022 season, he really come into his own around Week 5. He had 2,242 yards passing, 1,143 yards rushing and 25 combined touchdowns, and he presumably convinced the Bears front office not to use the top pick on a quarterback.

As good as his final 12 games were, the pressure is on Fields to carry that momentum over into 2023. The 24-year-old QB finished 27th in pass attempts (318), 32nd in completion percentage (60.4) and 33rd in passing yards per game (149.5). He’ll likely have to make drastic improvements to persuade Chicago it made the right choice passing up possibly drafting Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud or Anthony Richardson.

2. Cole Kmet, TE

Three years into his Bears tenure and Kmet has yet to surpass 60 catches or 612 receiving yards in a season. Although he did have seven touchdown catches in 2022, Chicago is presumably waiting for Kmet to take that next step in his development and become a featured part of the passing offense.

The Bears arguably haven’t had a difference-making tight end since Martellus Bennett in 2014 (90 receptions, 916 yards), and if Kmet stays around the 50-reception, 500-yard range in 2023, he could lose his starting job heading into 2024.

3. Matt Eberflus, head coach

A three-win season likely wasn’t part of what Eberflus envisioned when he took over as the Bears head coach last January. But with $90 million-plus in cap space and eight draft picks, including three in the top 64, the pressure is on Eberflus to build Chicago back into a playoff team.

However, after five underwhelming seasons with Marc Trestman and John Fox, followed by three subpar seasons in four years with Matt Nagy, Bears ownership could be quick to pull the trigger on Eberflus if it doesn’t see tangible progress in his second year.