Chicago Bears Who Should Be Feeling the Heat Following 2 Weeks of OTAs

The Chicago Bears capped off their second and final week of OTAs on Thursday, which was our latest inside look at practice because the Bears once again opened it up for the media.

With OTAs now in the books, the Bears will now turn their focus to three days of mandatory minicamp, which begins on June 9 and runs through June 11.

But before we turn the page to mandatory minicamp, let's take a look at the Bears players who should be feeling the heat most following OTAs.

Kyler Gordon

Availability was a major issue for Gordon last year after he missed 14 games due to injury. And, so far this offseason, Gordon is off to an ominous start as he looks to rebound in 2026.

Gordon did not take part in practice over the Bears' two weeks of OTAs, and that led head coach Ben Johnson tp note that trust could be an issue because of Gordon's injury woes.

"We spoke last year and neither one of us were really happy with how it went, just from a perspective of being available to get to know each other," Johnson said. "I think he only played in three games when I look back at it, and so, you know, this spring was going to be a springboard for us to get going in the right direction."

"We're still working through that," Johnson added. "We're still trying to get that availability piece going. We know he's a good player when he's out there, but trust level is a huge thing for this team, for this coaching staff, for the locker room, and you can only develop that trust by being available."

Barring injury, Gordon is going to be the starter in Week 1, but based on what Johnson said, the leash might be short for him should Gordon struggle.

Tyrique Stevenson

Stevenson is competing for a starting job after a season in which he was benched for Nahshon Wright, who is no longer with the team. Stevenson's top competitor figures to be rookie Malik Muhammad.

But things are not off to a good start for Stevenson, who got burnt twice on deep balls from Caleb Williams to Zavion Thomas and Rome Odunze during the first open practice of OTAs.

There's still a long way to go and we can't put too much stock in what takes place this early in the offseason, but Stevenson didn't appear to make any headway these last two weeks in his quest to show the Bears he should start opposite Jaylon Johnson.

Scotty Miller

While there were different levels of praise for wide receivers Luther Burden, Zavion Thomas, Jahdae Walker and Kalif Raymond, it was crickets for Miller, who is fighting for a roster spot this year.

Miller was already facing an uphill climb to grab a significant role, but with a quiet showing at OTAs, the veteran is no better than WR6 and that puts him squarely on the roster bubble.

Theo Benedet

There was a belief Benedet would be one of the top competitors in the left tackle competition, but we found out that might not be the case this past week.

During the latest open practice of OTAs, it was Kiran Amegadjie who shared reps with the favorite for the left tacke job, Braxton Jones, and not Benedet, according to Sean Hammond of the Chicago Tribune.

Instead, Hammond noted Benedet "largely worked at right tackle," which is already locked up by Darnell Wright.

That is not a good sign for Benedet's chances of grabbing a starting job in 2026.

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