Bears' D-Line Struggles, Gervon Dexter's Red-Hot Start Makes Perplexing Trade Look Awful

When the Chicago Bears traded Gervon Dexter to the Atlanta Falcons before Week 1, it was at least a bit surprising.

After all, the Bears had a shaky offensive line to begin with, and while Dexter was indeed part of the reason why it was shaky because of his lackluster run defense, the veteran defender was also the team's best interior pass-rusher.

Another reason it was perplexing was the return. All the Bears got for his services was a fifth-round pick and a depth piece in defensive back Clark Phillips, who by the way has not played a single defensive snap yet.

Fast forward through two weeks of the 2026 season and the trade is looking terrible for the Bears, partly because Dexter is off to a red-hot start.

Gervon Dexter outproducing Bears' DL by himself

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Troy Fautanu (76) looks to block Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. during the secnd half at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Dexter has registered one sack and eight pressures, with the latter ranking third among interior defenders, according to Pro Football Focus.

Dexter also sports the 11th-best overall defensive grade (78.7) and the fourth-best pass-rush grade (83.2) at the position. Dexter is even doing better in run defense, with his 66.3 grade there ranking 26th. That's 23 points higher than where it was last season.

Meanwhile, Bears interior defenders have combined for seven pressures and one sack, and all but one has a worse run defense grade and is even close to Dexter's overall grade, which is Grady Jarrett, who has marks of 70.5 and 70.2. Jarrett also has Chicago's best pass-rush grade at 59.6.

Bears' Dexter replacements struggling

Chicago Bears defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg. — Chicago Bears defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg (96) makes a tackle against Cincinnati Bengals running back Kentrel Bullock (31) during the second quarter at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The guys the Bears were depending on to step up without Dexter haven't done much, if any, of that.

Kentavius Street has the lone sack we just mentioned, but he's producing grades of 50.7 overall and in run defense, and 55.8 in the pass-rush.

Then, there's rookie Jordan van den Berg, who has registered just one tackle and no pressures and has grades of 53.5 or worse in every key category, and he saw his snaps cut by more than half from Week 1 to Week 2, going from 22 to nine because of his struggles.

You'll hear the argument that Dexter was a bad fit in Dennis Allen's defense and he was likely going to be gone next offseason anyway, and all of that is true.

However, when you consider the lackluster return the Bears got for him, which again was just a fifth-round pick and a player who hasn't made any semblance of a contribution on defense, it still didn't make sense for the Bears to subtract its best interior pass-rusher.

Maybe things change and the script gets flipped as the seasno progresses, but right now, general manager Ryan Poles has egg on his face for trading Dexter.

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