Passing Game Upgrade Most Critical in Phase 3 of Bears Plan
Four key points about where this phase of the rebuild has taken the Bears heading into the draft, including the next crucial chapter where they finally own an actual 2020s NFL passing attack.
A reboot is occurring again for the Bears in a manner of speaking.
The Year 1 reboot was the tear-down job, a demolition of everything wrong in order to build the correct foundation for a successful franchise over the long haul. Some of the foundation got laid upon the destruction, the rest after Year 1.
The second year saw numerous essential pieces added but the next step became obvious the further into the season the Bears went, and the third year has begun with this change.
The essential parts for any successful modern team are a defense, a quarterback and a passing attack. The defense appears to have arrived as a potential force and can be one with only a player or two added.
No matter how painful to some, the trading of Justin Fields needed to be done after he failed to take a big enough step in his third NFL season but more so because the quarterback they perceive as being one who can lead a new-age NFL passing attack is theirs for the taking.
There are other parts of this great reformation as the Bears finally move from a 1990s style of thinking into the 21st century as that century is closing in on the quarter mark.
Here is what to expect in this great turnaround.
1. The Caleb Williams Selection
Anyone who doubted or thought the Bears' interest in Williams or expected they would trade back from No. 1 again even after the Fields trade had to have their minds changed by all the attention paid to Williams at his pro day and earlier. They spent a good deal of time with him over the course of three days, much more than the short workout and its aftermath on Wednesday as the Tribune's Brad Biggs reported. They had 10 people in L.A. talking with him at various points, including at the workout when receiver Keenan Allen showed up.
Reports of teams coming for the second pick now and trying to get a deal with Washington only reinforced the idea the Bears are taking Williams.
2. The Essential Passing Pieces
The quarterback is only part of it if they are, indeed, right about Williams' skils.
You need to surround the quarterback with as many tools as possible to give him a chance, especially as a rookie starter. The best rookie starters who lack proper backing will only win a few games. The Bengals team inherited by Joe Burrow, for example, lacked some of the necessary pieces and needed another year together and of tweaking before reaching its potential. Burrow won only two of his 10 starts as a rookie but by the next year they were in the Super Bowl and he threw 34 touchdown passes. He still threw 14 interceptions, a problem any young passer would have.
Darnell Mooney was best as a second receiver in a bye-gone offense. He never worked out under Luke Getsy as main receiver or second receiver. Enter Keenan Allen, a proven first down converter and big-catch receiver to complement big-play receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet.
The second tight end was always important for coordinator Shane Waldron's offense in Seattle and even a third at times, even though they had weapons on the outside like DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
For this reason, it shouldn't be surprising that Georgia tight end Brock Bowers has been reported to be on the list of those players making Top-30 visits to Halas Hall.
The Bears also had talked to Bowers at the combine.
"I feel like I’m yards after the catch and just being able to make people miss," Bowers said. "Just turn good plays into great plays."
This is a quality sadly lacking in the Bears offense since 2018. They were 27th at this last year after being last in 2022 and next to last in 2021. It says something about the receivers, the passing attack and the quarterback's ability to get the ball to receivers in stride and on time when they rank so poorly. When your offense has a strong running game like the Bears had, then you know something's amiss if they can't get yards after the catch with opposing defenses so focused on stopping their ground game.
Even after signing tight end Gerald Everett, Bowers or a tight end who can do what he did at Georgia could be an asset for a QB.
The idea is to use the "move" tight end in the slot like a slot receiver at times or even outside. An offense in 13-personnel would have the capability to run the ball with three tight ends on the field capable of blocking but the passing game with a good move tight end/slot receiver is not going to suffer.
Whether something like this as an extra part of the attack is worth spending the ninth pick of the draft on is another matter. Tight ends traditionally are not worth the effort then. Ask the Falcons, who have had only six total touchdown catches in three years from Kyle Pitts after spending the fourth pick in the draft to take him. He had one season with more than 53 catches and one with more than 667 yards and his fifth-year option is due May 2 at a reported $10.2 million.
There are more parts to this than receivers, but the Bears could stand to add real world-class speed at wide receiver if they can find it. Moore has great speed but not the 4.2-second kind or low 4.3s.
They addressed another aspect by bringing in a No. 1 running back capable of big plays as a receiver and being part of the passing game in D'Andre Swift.
The other aspect of this passing game improvement is pass blocking. The suspicion is the Bears offensive line is not as bad at pass blocking as the 135 sacks of Justin Fields showed over the last three years. The career-best 10.6% sack rate Fields had looked very telling last year when Tyson Bagent replaced him behind the same or similar line and had a 3.4% sack rate.
This offensive line looks like it's set but the focus for Poles is not always going to be on short range. It also must be remembered how willing he is to part with players or draft picks if he can improve the team.
With Teven Jenkins' career so plagued by injuries and Nate Davis ineffective like he was, it would not be a surprise to see Poles looking for a potential replacement or even trade Jenkins while drafting another guard. Jenkins is due a contract after this season and if Poles has reservations about signing a player long term who has been effective but started only 24 out of a possible 51 games. He just cut safety Eddie Jackson and brought in a player of comparable age and experience in Kevin Byard, a player who has never missed a game after Jackson missed three games or more each of the last three seasons and 13 total. If a player was not drafted by Poles, like Jenkins, then they have even fewer credits built up on their side. Then again, Poles was willing to forget a similar issue with Jaylon Johnson but he was one of the league's best cornerbacks. And missing two or three games a year like Johnson isn't the same as missing 27 out of a possible 51 starts like Jenkins.
Remember also that just because a lineman in the draft played one position not open for the Bears doesn't mean he can't fit somewhere else or move an lineup hole at another position. This can explain how they like Braxton Jones but they had Chris Morgan at the Notre Dame pro day last week paying a lot of attention to tackles Joe Alt and Blake Fisher through some on-field work afterward. Both have exceptionally long arms, good for being a tackle. But there's nothing that says a guard can't have longer arms, especially in a zone-blocking scheme which requires them to get into open space and then reach out after a defender.
They've also shown great interest in Yale's Kirran Amegadjie, a massive tackle with 36-inch arms who Justin Melo of The Draft Network reports will visit Halas Hall. He is from Hinsdale, so this is a local visit for him.
All of this interest shown by the Bears may or may not mean anything. Last year they had top-30s visits at Halas Hall with edge Tyree Wilson, Smith-Ngijba, Paris Johnson, Broderick Jones, Jaelyn Duncan, Payne Durham, Deslin Alexandre, Ricky Stromberg, Jonathan Mingo, Zach Charbonnet and Jordan McFadden but didn't draft them. They did have those visits with Tyler Scott, Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson and Gervon Dexter, then drafted them.
Georgia Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers (19) runs after a catch during the third quarter as Auburn. Jake Crandall Photo / USA TODAY
Jake Crandall / USA TODAY NETWORK
Eventually many of the players they draft will be on their visits list but many visiting will not get drafted, especially this year when they only have four picks.
3. Preventing Defensive Backslide
They know they need to continue to improve the pass rush. Consider this the reason they are showing interest in Dallas Turner and have him slated for a top-30 visit.
No doubt they'll eventually take a closer look at Jared Verse and others, like Chop Robinson or Laiatu Latu, or players even back more in Round 3 and Round 4.
Eberflus' Colts defenses never ranked higher than 12th in sacks or 15th in pressures while still getting top 10 or better in takeaways every season. However, the Bears led in interceptions last year and were tied for fourth in takeaways even while being next to last in sacks and 25th in pressures, according to Sportradar. Consider what a defense could do to help their offense if they just got the pass rush pressure and sacks up to the middle of the pack.
How many more takeaways could this result in, how many more scoring opportunities for an improved and updated offense?
How much of this is going to be possible if they backslide on run defense is the big question they face in this draft. They're currently counting on a 3-technique tackle in Dexter who was among the worst against the run last year according to Pro Football Focus. They lost Justin Jones, who wasn't great but effective enough. So unless one of their draft picks is for a defensive tackle, they could be looking at the run defense fading after ranking No. 1 in 2023. The run defense is the foundation for a pass rush since they'll face far fewer passes if opponents can simply run all over them like in 2022.
Expect to see some defensive tackle names surface among those top-30 visits.
4. The Future
Poles must have his eyes on the more distant future now after seeing the team make strides late last season.
The near future should be addressed first but there needs to be an emphasis on long term.
Look for draft picks who can figure in should they lose a player like Jenkins after next season.
No one can be sure now what type of contract extension they'll pursue for Allen, because he's in the final year now. Maybe they find another receiver to prepare for 2025 if Allen is a one-and-done.
They signed Byard for two years. A safety in the middle rounds who can take over when that contract expires is always possible. For that matter, if Jaquan Brisker doesn't develop more in two years they may want to change the entire safety group. He had a 110.6 passer rating against when targeted last year and allowed six TD passes, per Sportradar. It has to be better.
The future becomes meaningful when you're taking measures to make the present meaningful and the Bears are already there.
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