No Guarantees for Bears with Cap Space

It would be good for the Bears to know their standing atop the league as the team with the most salary cap money heading into free agency actually means something.

The truth is it can, but it doesn't really guarantee anything.

When it comes to spending money against recent salary caps, the Bears can look at the teams who had the most space available heading into free agency and determine they all met varying fates.

The situations show success all depends on who they spend the money on, how wisely they spend the salary cap cash, and that the real key remains drafting over time.

The Bears have $88 million in effective cap space according to Overthecap.com. It's the most any team has had since the Colts were on the verge of free agency in 2019 and had $106.7 million.

The Colts went 7-9 that year when they had $106.7 million to spend, but a year afterward they had an 11-5 record.

This doesn't necessarily indicate it takes two years before the spending kicks in, so to speak. The Colts had $46.7 million to spend in 2021 and that was the fifth-most available. They then went 9-8 that fall. But in 2022 they were 4-12-1. The Browns had the most money any team has had in the last five years in 2018 with 108.7 million and went 7-8-1 in the fall. But another year later instead of being a playoff team they were worse at 6-10.

Yet, there were incidents where teams had a lot to spend, finished well that season, and then were even better the next year. In 2019 the Bills were coming off a 6-10 2017 season, had $75 million to spend and finished 10-6, then the next year asended even higher to 13-3.

The Jets have been in the top five in terms of cap space four of the last five years and never got better than in 2019, when they were 7-9.

Of the 25 teams comprising the top five teams in cap space each of the last five years, 12 had winning records, 12 had losing records and one was .500.

It all says the Bears need to spend wisely, good draft picks and use their talent wisely because the spending for free agency only helps dictate success part of the time.

Top Five Teams in Cap Space

Starting Free Agency Since 2018* **Won Super Bowl

2022 Team, Cash	2022 Record	n/a	n/a
Colts $67.8 million	9-8	n/a	n/a
Jaguars $60.5 million	9-8	n/a	n/a
Dolphins $51.3 million	7-10	n/a	n/a
Seahawks $49.9 million	9-8	n/a	n/a
Jets $48.5 million	7-10	n/a	n/a

2021 Team, Cash	2021 Record	2022 Record	n/a
Jaguars, $73.8 million	3-14	9-8	n/a
Jets, $69.3 million	4-13	7-10	n/a
Patriots, $68.5 million	10-7	8-9	n/a
Saints, $53.6 million	9-8	9-8	n/a
Colts, $46.7 million	9-8	4-12-1	n/a

2020 Team, Cash	2020 Record	2021 Record	2022 Record
Colts, $86.4 million	11-5	9-8	4-12-1
Buccaneers, $85.1 million	11-5**	13-4	8-9
Bills, $83 million	13-3	11-6	13-3
Cowboys, $74 million	6-10	12-5	12-5
Giants, $73.7 million	6-10	4-13	9-7-1

2019 Team, Cash	2019 Record	2020 Record	2021 Record
Colts, $106.7 million	7-9	11-5	9-8
Jets $101.4 million	7-9	2-14	4-13
Steelers $98.2 million	8-8	12-4	9-7-1
Bills, $75 million	10-6	13-3	11-6
Texans $74.2 million	10-6	4-12	4-13

2018 Team, Cash	2018 Record	2019 Record	2020 Record
Browns, $108.7 million	7-8-1	6-10	11-5
Jets, $89.3 million	4-12	7-9	2-14
Colts $72.7 million	10-6	7-9	11-5
Buccaneers, $69.8 million	5-11	7-9	11-5**
49ers, $66.3 million	4-12	13-3	6-10

Salary cap figures from Pro Football Focus, Overthecap.com

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