Bears Looking for a Rebound Season

Everyone on an NFL roster is out to prove they belong.

Some players have more to prove.

The burden of failures past weigh more heavily upon some players than others.

As a 3-14 team, every player on the roster who took part in getting the first pick of the draft to Chicago—before it was traded—needs to be considered a player seeking redemption of some sort.

However, there is a group of Bears with a bit more heightened sense of urgency when it comes to proving something.

Here are the guys who should have a bit larger chip on their shoulders than others when they report for the start of training camp on July 25.

8. DE Trevis Gipson. The one thing Gipson failed to do last year that he had done in the past was finish plays with sacks, or with strip sacks. He had seven sacks and five times stripped the ball in his second season. But in Year 3 he had only three sacks. A contract year and needing to prove he can be a player up front in a one-gap system are all incentive enough. Working on his side was what ESPN said was outstanding ability against the run. They graded him sixth among edge players at run-stop win rate last year. He'll want to bounce back, and bringing in not one but two defensive ends like the Bears did can provides some incentive for him. While Gipson has some things to prove, there are far fewer than some other players.

7. K Cairo Santos. It seems hard to believe after Chicago went through the double-doink with He Who Must Not Be Named (whispered: Cody Parkey), but there has been an undercurrent all off-season on social media expressing disenchantment with the current Bears kicker. Logically, this is ridiculous. The reason it's ridiculous is Cairo Santos missed two field goals and made 91.3% of his field goals on the year. He is the most accurate kicker in franchise history for field goals at the moment. Five missed extra points last year and seven since he rejoined the Bears in 2020 are problematic. Dallas kicker Brett Maher didn't get a new contract from the team after his extra-point problems, but then again he missed five straight extra points and not just five on the season. Perhaps part of this is the Pro Footbal Focus grade Santos had of 48.5, lowest for all kickers. It's more a sign PFF needs to revise how it grades kickers than an indictment of Santos. PFF actually named Santos as the top Bears "cut candidate." The team went 3-14 without a late missed field goal resulting in a loss, the kicker had two field goal misses and they should cut the kicker? Two of the missed Santos kicks came in the monsoon that hit Soldier Field in the opener. Santos worked to correct his problem by changing the spot point for his conversions.

With a contract for 2024 at stake and Robbie Gould lurking at home in Chicago without a team at this moment, it's plenty of incentive already. But add in the extra-point misses and Santos has reason to have a chip on his shoulder.

6. CB Kindle Vildor. He has never had a season when his passer rating against when targeted finished below 110.0. He actually had his best season in 2022 in this regard, and also made his first career interception. But his season ended on injured reserve and since then they drafted two players at his position. That's usually a sign it's time to pick up the pace, and the fact he's in a contract year has to add to his angst.

5. C Lucas Patrick.Touted upon arrival as their new starter at center, Patrick wound up snapping only 10 times before his season-ending injury. He played in six games at either guard spot due to injuries and had just five overall starts. As a result, Patrick looks to be the backup center/guard. It's difficult to bounce back when you go from starter to backup. It seems more that he's the swing guard/center now behind Cody Whitehair, Teven Jenkins and Nate Davis.

"Certainly you have to have guys that flex inside and out," coach Matt Eberflus said. "Lucas does that."

Being in a contract year doesn't help.

4. RB Trestan Ebner. His production wasn't necessarily good and there wasn't much of it. With 24 rushing attempts and only 54 yards—or 1,944 inches—Ebner failed to make an impact as their third back in his rookie year. Their sixth-round pick was supposed to be a receiving threat and possibly even a third-down back. He had only eight targets, caught only two of those passes and had just 8 yards receiving. If all of that wasn't enough incentive for Year 2, Ebner watched as David Montgomery left in free agency but instead of relying on him the team decided to bring in three other backs: D'Onta Foreman, Travis Homer and fourth-round draft pick Roschon Johnson. There is incentive for Ebner to take it up about three or four notches at every point.

3. DE Dominique Robinson. After the rookie year Robinson had, many teams would have cut bait on this fifth-round pick. Instead, the Bears didn't draft a defensive end and really focused their edge acquisitions on players stronger against the run. Robinson is getting a reprieve of sorts, pending the acquisition of one more free agent edge rusher. It wasn't a case where the Bears failed to give him a chance. He started seven of the last eight games and throughout the course of the season never participated in less than 30% of the defensive snaps in a single game. Yet, Robinson made 1 1/2 sacks in the opener and then had no other sack. He had two QB hits in the opener and then no more the rest of the year. He had a tackle for loss in Week 1 and another in Week 5 but none the rest of the season. He deflected passes in Weeks 7 and 8 but not at any other point in the season. Player development is apparently what they're looking for from a player who has played defense for only three seasons. It's time he shows some progress.

2. Velus Jones Jr. Jones had returned punts in college, although only 18 of them and all in his final year. Yet they saw his explosive potential on kicks and punts but the results from the latter were muffed punts against the Giants and Commanders at crucial times that made wins impossible. Benched as a punt returner, Bears coaches stil see what he could mean as a punt returner and are giving him another chance.

"Gonna be a big part for us if he can work that and be consistent going through camp and show he can do that on a full-time basis," Eberflus said.

For one, if he proved he could do it, they could open up a roster spot to use for another need position, or a game-day active at another spot. It might make Dante Pettis' roster spot unnecessary. Beyond that, you want to put the ball in the hands of a player who has 4.31-second speed for the 40, and is 200 pounds.

1. Chase Claypool. It seems the whole league is critical of Claypool, not just Bears fans. What he did during the season, with only 14 catches for 140 yards after coming over from Pittsburgh, could be forgiven because of the whirlwind nature of his season and lack of time to fit into a passing attack that has been labeled complicated by some. The fan criticism based on some things that happened in Pittsburgh or how he was modeling in France in the off-season are simply picking of nit. Not being able to practice at OTAs and minicamp is a little more of a problem but the Bears insist he had some form of injury. What Claypool can't do is fix the fact the Bears surrendered what became the 31st pick in the draft for him. What he can do is make them glad they did, and he's going to get his chance.

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