Chicago Bears 2026 NFL Season Preview

Offense

It appears that the Bears have finally found the franchise quarterback they’ve long been seeking in Williams, who last year set a team passing record with 3,942 yards and ranked fifth in the NFL with a 27:7 TD-to-interception ratio.

Williams was at his best in crunch time, routinely delivering highlight-reel throws, often after eluding pass-rushers and extending plays. Tom Brady deemed Williams’ 46-yard walk-off touchdown pass in overtime against the Green Bay Packers the best throw of the NFL season. Williams hit some remarkable half-court shots but didn’t always make his layups in 2025, completing only 58.1% of his passes. Johnson’s focus this season will be to help the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft increase that percentage. 

Top returning targets in the passing game are tight end Colston Loveland and wide receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III. Last year, Loveland became the first rookie to lead the Bears in receiving yards (713) since Willie Gault in 1983 and the first rookie tight end to do so since Hall of Famer Mike Ditka in 1961. Odunze will look to rebound after being slowed by a foot injury in 2025, while Burden will try to build on a promising rookie year during which he demonstrated elite run-after-catch ability.

The ground game is led by running backs D’Andre Swift (1,087 yards) and 2025 seventh-round pick Kyle Monangai (783), the only NFL teammates to both rush for at least 750 yards last season.

A revamped offensive line fueled the offense’s success in 2025, after general manager Ryan Poles fortified the interior by trading for Pro Bowl guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and signing free-agent center Drew Dalman. After being voted to his first career Pro Bowl, Dalman unexpectedly retired at age 27. The Bears acted quickly to replace him, trading for veteran Garrett Bradbury and spending a second-round pick on potential long-term solution Logan Jones, who won the Rimington Trophy last year at Iowa as the nation’s best center.

With second-team All-Pro Darnell Wright manning the right tackle position, the only question mark is at left tackle. Rookie Ozzy Trapilo emerged as the starter over the second half of last year but sustained a knee injury in the wild-card win over Green Bay that could sideline him for most or all of the season.

The most intriguing competition for a starting position in training camp figures to be at left tackle, with bulked-up fifth-year pro Braxton Jones seemingly the favorite to reclaim his old job. He’ll be challenged by Theo Benedet, Kiran Amegadjie and free-agent acquisition Jedrick Wills Jr.

Press Taylor replaces offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, who left the Bears for a similar role with the Baltimore Ravens that will include play-calling duties. The transition is expected to be a smooth one because Taylor was Chicago’s passing-game coordinator in 2025, and Johnson remains the play-caller.

Defense

One of the Bears’ top offseason priorities was to add speed on defense, and they accomplished that by signing safety Coby Bryant and linebacker Devin Bush and drafting safety Dillon Thieneman in the first round and cornerback Malik Muhammad in the fourth.

Bryant boasts excellent play speed, as does Bush, whose 4.43 in the 40 at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine was the fastest time among linebackers. His speed was evident last season when he was the league’s only player with two interceptions returned for touchdowns, including a 97-yarder. The Bears feel that Bush’s speed and pass coverage ability fit perfectly in coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense.

Thieneman appealed to the Bears because he possesses tremendous speed, versatility and football character. He ran a 4.35 in the 40-yard dash at the combine and can play both strong and free safety as well as nickelback.

Thieneman will be paired at safety with Bryant, the team’s marquee free-agent addition. Johnson views Bryant as a tone-setter, saying: “The best defenses usually have two or three trained killers,” and, “When we watched the tape, we felt like that jumped off when Coby was on the field.”

The secondary should be the strength of the defense, especially if two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson (groin) and talented nickelback Kyler Gordon (calf and groin) return to form after missing parts of last season with injuries.

The Bears are confident that their pass rush will improve. They expect more of the same from veteran Montez Sweat, who has recorded double-digit sacks in two of the past three seasons, and believe that promising third-year pro Austin Booker will take another step. Booker recorded 3.5 sacks in the final four games last season after missing the first seven contests with a knee injury. The Bears are also counting on veteran Dayo Odeyingbo (Achilles) and 2025 second-round pick Shemar Turner (ACL) to rebound from season-ending injuries.

Specialists

Veteran placekicker Cairo Santos returns after another strong season in which he earned three game balls for clutch performances in wins over the Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings and Packers. After making 25-of-30 field-goal attempts in 2025, he remains the most accurate kicker in Bears history, having hit 88.3% of his kicks (159-of-180) over seven seasons.

Punter Tory Taylor also will be back after breaking his own franchise record with a gross average of 47.8 yards in 2025, topping the mark of 47.7 he had set as a rookie in 2024.

One key offseason move was the signing of return specialist Kalif Raymond, who averaged 11.3 yards on 132 punt returns with three touchdowns the past five seasons with the Detroit Lions, earning second-team All-Pro honors in 2022 and ’24.

Final analysis

Led by one of the NFL’s most highly regarded play-callers in Johnson, the Bears’ offense boasts the talent and explosiveness to be one of the top scoring units in the league. The goal is to perform at a high level for 60 minutes, rather than turning it on late in games like they did in 2025, when they were dubbed the “Cardiac Bears.”

The defense led the NFL with 33 takeaways and 23 interceptions in 2025 but ranked 23rd in scoring defense, 29th in total defense and tied for 22nd in sacks. If the Bears are to repeat as NFC North champions, they likely must improve their pass rush, be stouter versus the run and reduce the number of big plays that they allow.