Bear Digest

Five Steps for Piecing Together Better Bears Defense for Next Season

Analysis: Unlike on offense, the Bears' defense requires plenty of work with little money to pursue free agents, but it's not an impossible reboot.
Gene Chamberlain|
Kansas City's Leo Chenal attempts to tackle Amon-Ra St. Brown. Chenal is a free agent who would fit in well with the Bears.
Kansas City's Leo Chenal attempts to tackle Amon-Ra St. Brown. Chenal is a free agent who would fit in well with the Bears. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

It will go down as one of the truly remarkable accomplishment of the 2025 Bears season, and one few think about because of the success by Caleb Williams at converting lost causes into remarkable wins.

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen put together player groups and game plans good enough to hold six of the final nine regular-season opponents below their season scoring averages. Then, in the playoffs, they held Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to seven combined catches for 80 yards. No one did this better than the Bears except Baltimore (6 for 67) this season.

This, in and of itself, is a nice accomplishment for any season within a points-happy league. However, Allen did this all with a lineup completely shattered by injuries and with several players picked up off the NFL discard pile. At one point, they had only four starters on the field.

When players finally started trickling back, he had to find ways to keep juggling players who hadn't been on a field in weeks, some for months.

FIVE SOUND WAYS FOR BEARS OFFENSE TO IMPROVE BEFORE NEXT SEASON

None of this eluded GM Ryan Poles’ attention.

"I saw a lot of players level up throughout the season, if that was from rookies or guys that were maybe not even on the roster when we started, they were prepared and ready to go," Poles said. "Specifically,  DA (Allen) and his defensive staff's ability to do that.

"There were a lot of challenges, guys were up and down (availability), and anyone that came in there was ready to go to compete and help us win football games. He did an incredible job putting that group together."

Imagine, then, what Allen might do with a bit more of an upper hand on opponents or at least with a more stable lineup. And what he did was in the first year of a new defensive scheme, one extremely different than anything many players he had were brought here to play.

If they want to get even better, here are five real ways to make it happen.

Restructurings

The Bears are $17.6 million over the cap per Overthecap.com, and the only way they get better defensively with a ledger like that is to start by maxing out with the restructuring of deals for Montez Sweat, DJ Moore, Jaylon Johnson and a few others.  

The amount of bonus money given out for proration purposes is difficult to project but they could do it with five players and get back money for this year if they wanted.  Then they can recover some with cuts.

Cutbackers

The Bears didn't play poorly on defense when they were without T. J. Edwards and later when they were also without Tremaine Edmunds. D'Marco Jackson might have been their best linebacker this season. The Bears were especially bad against the run this season and it wasn't all on their defensive line. Linebackers contributed greatly to 5.0 yards allowed per rush. It doesn't say much for the value of their big-ticket linebackers. They can save more money under the cap by cutting both Edwards and Edmunds.

One name as a replacement who fits what  they need from a run-stopping linebacker with blitz ability is Kansas City free agent Leo Chenal. He is actually graded a top 20 linebacker against the run this year and Pro Football Focus has him as a top 20 overall free agent even though he hasn't had a history of dominance. Even then, he would be a bargain player. In 2022, free agent linebacker Germaine Pratt was No. 1 in the NFL against the pass at his position. He could come in as a lower-priced linebacker contributor. Both of these are undervalued players per Spotrac.com salary projections. It might cost as little as $11 combined.

If they can't sign Pratt, then Detroit free agent Alex Anzalone would be ideal except his cost is likely to be higher. Edwards and Emunds are slated to count $27 million against the cap combined for 2026. Considering their contributions in 2025, it can be easily replaced for much less and Allen knows how to do it.

Sign

Khalil Mack is a popular name being floated and his salary projection by PFF is $14 million or a year. He's 35 and not 30. The Bears don't necessarily need another big-ticket edge rusher like Trey Hendrickson, who could cost as much or more than Montez Sweat and has injury issues. Austin Booker is on the up escalator and many don't realize this. He played half a season and the two playoff games and had better production than many NFL starters at his position. He'll only get better. They need the complementary veteran edge rusher who fits into a rotation. Mack would command respect even from Sweat and definitely from younger rushers.

Now at 35 he is still capable of a decent number of pressures and sacks, especially if he stays healthy by playing fewer snaps. He also has never been an edge to give away the run and this would be appreciated by Allen. His price should be well down from other top edge players. If not Mack, then Houston's Derek Barnett would be a good option. His higher pressure rate per limited number of attempts, and a solid run-stopping grade the last few years makes him a strong alternative. Plus he'd be cheaper for a rotational player at what Spotrac.com projects would be $4.4 million.

Bring Back

Safety Kevin Byard returns on a one-year contract. It would be a good idea to keep together defensive continuity. His age will keep him from commanding too large of a contract, anyway. Jaquan Brisker is the player who underperformed in a contract year with a 125.7 passer rating against and 75% completions allowed. They can find help in the draft at safety. Their vacant backup safety spots are not a real problem. It's backup money and both of last year's would be fine, or someone else's backups would be fine.

Bringing back C.J. Gardner-Johnson shouldn't really be a consideration and judging from his commnts on "X," he's not exactly a team priority. He was always a stop-gap and there's a reason other teams let him go, too.

The main reason for letting him leave, though, was the way Green Bay just picked on his lack of speed.

Draft

Either Kayden McDonald or Caleb Banks, whichever one remains at pick No. 25, would be the future at defensive tackle. McDonald probably has better overall grades. Both fit Allen's scheme in different ways. Banks' versatility and athleticism does it while McDonald's ability to be low and break down the blocking schemes works for a team sadly lacking against the run and for interior pass rush.

Then they should draft USC safety Kamar Ramsey in Round  2, or if he's taken already look to Penn State's Zakee Wheatley to replace Brisker. Both show qualities to be second-round picks and starters as versatile types.

They must replace Dominique Robinson and another middle-round edge like Keyron Crawford from Auburn would be ideal, as a player in their edge rotation and also because Dayo Odeyingbo's return at the outset is not guaranteed because he had an Achilles tendon tear and healing it completely requires time, maybe more than a year.

Crawford is close to the 260-pound edge minimum Dennis Allen likes for the position.

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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.