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Bears' Dayo Odeyingbo Decision Could Cost Austin Booker the Starting Job He Earned

The Bears have 4 roster flash points heading into 2026. From Dayo Odeyingbo's return to Chicago's run defense issues, trouble could be brewing prior to camp.
Gene Chamberlain|
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love suffers a concussion after being hit by Austin Booker last season.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love suffers a concussion after being hit by Austin Booker last season. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Every NFL team has its flash points and the Chicago Bears are no exception.

A flash point is just as it's defined and doesn't necessarily have to be a team weakness, although it can be. It's a sort of hot spot, flammable at lower temperatures so that it isn't always on fire. But it can ignite at any time under the right conditions. Maybe they think it's solved, but it isn't. Or maybe the solution creates other problems.

This shouldn't be confused with actual obvious problem roster spots. The quarterback position was always a Bears problem and everyone knew it, prior to Caleb Williams. It wasn't boiling up, hidden underneath. It was right there in all of its ugly glory for all to see and they just didn't fix it until now.

Everyone knows now how they need an edge rusher for the rotation but there's much more to that situation than simply signing someone to help out.

There are other potential problems waiting to happen throughout the roster and here they are.

4. Bargain or bargain basement

Kyler Gordon's soft tissue injury already has caused plenty of angst. They weren't expecting it to happen again so soon, but they addressed this situation by signing Buffalo free agent Cam Lewis. And he sat out offseason work on the field with an injury while they had to use a variety of people at the position. This included rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad, who never really played there at Texas.

"You can put him on the outside, you can put him on the inside as a nickel," DB coach Al Harris said of Muhammad. "Just from his evaluation on tape, I see a ball guy, you know what I mean? So now, once you give him the rules that what we do here, I think it's going to be good, because you know the ball is life for us."

It's never ideal to play someone straight out of college at a position they haven't played.

If Gordon is available all year, the problem is gone. However, if he's injured again, it's going to put the spotlight on Lewis. They signed Lewis for two years, averaging $3 million a year. The Bills replaced Lewis by signing C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who the Bears didn't want to pay. Gardner-Johnson got $6 million for one year.

This sets up a potentially touchy situation. If Lewis doesn't work out well and Gardner-Johnson continues to be a playmaker like he was at times in Chicago, the Bears look like they decided to go on the cheap and got burned. If Lewis works out, then Poles looks like a genius because he got a needed player for half the price.

Either way, no matter what they say Muhammad is not really a slot and was drafted as a potential Tyrique Stevenson replacement after this year.

3. Braxton Jones reboot

There's a lot riding on Jones' one-year return as Ozzy Trapilo's replacement.

Losing Trapilo is one thing but they had all offseason to fix the issue. The answer was a healthy Braxton Jones on a one-year deal, now that he's past the ankle issue he had at the end of 2024. Jedrick Wills Jr. is a player they brought in just in case the chief plan didn't work out but he was only used sparingly and with backups during the offseason as he comes back from knee problems.

They do have Theo Benedet, but they lacked enough confidence in him to start him in the playoffs last year. If it doesn't work with Jones, the Bears could find themselves in drastic need of a trade at left tackle because the options are never really good in free agency among the unsigned players at tackle just before training camp.

They'd essentially be right back where they were in Year 1 under Poles, signing someone like Riley Reiff again, or in the previous year under Ryan Pace when they had to bring in 39-year-old Jason Peters. Now Peters is 44. Maybe he could return.

Perhaps they might finally move Darnell Wright to left tackle after years of denying they needed to do it. Who knows?

2. Replaying the nightmare

The greatest Bears defensive weakness last year was not their poor pass rushing. It was an inability to stop the run. Their entire pass rush plan is based on an ability to stop the run, and force teams into passing situations. They couldn't do the most basic thing so naturally they also couldn't rush the passer.

So, their solution at defensive tackle was to replace the entire backup group and assume Grady Jarrett, at 33, would return to his old form. Jarrett last year had more injury issues, and he was considered overpaid then as well.

Poles replaced the backup defensive tackles with Kentavius Street and Neville Gallimore, who were known as better pass rushers than run stoppers.

They signed inside linebacker Devin Bush as part of their run-stopping solution and he was excellent in Cleveland at this, as Pro Football Focus ranked him eighth in the league two straight years. However, he was playing behind a defensive line with Myles Garrett on it and teams focused their blocking on stopping that force from nature rather than the linebackers. How good will Bush be in Chicago as a run stopper? In 2021 at Pittsburgh, PFF graded Bush dead last among 87 linebackers at stopping the run.

If Gervon Dexter was the dominant force they hoped for in the 2023 draft, their answers would be solved. But he remains a better pass rusher than run defender.

Putting all of this together and expecting the defense to improve from 29th in yards allowed per carry seems a bit of a stretch, and definitely a potential sore spot or even a disaster for 2026.

1. Dayo Odeyingbo debate

An obvious reason edge can be a problem area is Poles failed to bring in a third pass rusher and doubled down on Odeyingbo, despite a torn Achilles.

It's not so simple as blaming Poles and being angry, however.

It might actually be worse. There might be controversy over who plays more.

There is the possibility that Odeyingbo will be ready to play to start this season. He participated in padless offseason team scrimmage, and this seemed unlikely when the 2025 regular season ended. So he's apparently ahead of schedule. This should be a good thing.

In the meantime, third-year player Austin Booker became the starter and helped in the playoff push as well as in the playoffs. His 5 1/2 sacks included 4 1/2 for his last six games, including the playoffs, as he showed definite improvement over his rookie year. Booker had 5 1/2 sacks for 12 games total and 942 plays. Odeyingbo had one sack in 369 plays.

The flashpoint here occurs if the Bears deem Odeyingbo 100% healthy. They paid $16 million a year for his services. Will they bench Booker and put Odeyingbo in the starting lineup opposite Montez Sweat? You don't put $16 million run stoppers on the field for only third downs or passing situations. He is supposed to start.

For now, this doesn't seem a consideration because Odeyingbo is only 7 1/2 months recovered from surgery. However, by training camp or shortly thereafter they might consider this.

Odeyingbo's fit in their defensive scheme would be their reason to do it. He's supposed to be a stout run defender.

Bears fans took to Booker because he supplied a rush, and even knocked Packers QB Jordan Love out of a game.

Would the Bears actually put Odeyingbo into the lineup as starter ahead of their budding young pass rusher?

This is one potential upcoming move that would not be popular. It would bring down fan wrath for Poles as well as defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and possibly even Ben Johnson.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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