Bear Digest

What Bears Defense Needs to Battle Both Super Bowl Teams Next Season

The Bears defense in 2026 faces both of Sunday's Super Bowl offenses and plenty of other strong attacks, and must sharpen one aspect of their game to handle them.
Gene Chamberlain|
The Bears had problems stopping the Patriots in 2024 when they played, and with a new coach, and after making the Super Bowl, it's going to be difficult next season when they play.
The Bears had problems stopping the Patriots in 2024 when they played, and with a new coach, and after making the Super Bowl, it's going to be difficult next season when they play. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears fans might want to look closely at Sunday's Super Bowl from a scouting standpoint and especially the offenses for both the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks.

The Bears face both Super Bowl teams next season.

It's the Bears' defense most in need of rehabbing this offseason and trying to stop some of the teams on their schedule will be difficult without improvement, including the Super Bowl teams.

As the 2025 season progressed for the Bears, it became apparent  which side of the football had become more dominant and it was a complete reversal from most years.

Caleb Williams, the passing game and the third-ranked running game took it to opposing defenses. Meanwhile, their injury-riddled defense had problems stopping teams except when they took it away a league-high 33 times.

Defense must get better

It's this side of the ball where the Bears need to improve most in the draft or free agency, or simply by healing. Every team deals with injuries but not every team as their entire linebacker corps and their two highest-paid cornerbacks sidelined for major chunks of the season.

The Bears led all of the NFL in games lost to injuries according to Sports Info Solutions at 336, and most of it was on defense but somehow defensive coordinator Dennis Allen coped.

"There were a lot of challenges, guys were up and down (on the game-day roster), and anyone that came in there was ready to go to compete and help us win football games," coach Ben Johnson said. "He did an incredible job putting that group together."

Getting better and also deeper on defense needs to be an aim, and in this case it's the run defense most in need of repair because of what happened and what's ahead.

The Bears were 27th stopping the run and allowing teams to move it on the ground makes it tougher to rush the passer. What they face next season dictates improvement against the run.

More good ground games

In 2026, the Bears face what is deemed now as the toughest NFL schedule, but if examine closely what they must improve most to be competitive against those teams, it's the run defense.

They play the No. 1 rushing team in the league in a road game, the Buffalo Bills with NFL rushing leader James Cook. The Bills are aided on the ground by the fact they have the league's top rushing quarterback. Josh Allen's 579 yards was the top QB total in 2025.

Atlanta (8th), New England (6th), Seattle (10th tie) and the Jets (10th tie) ranked top 10 in rushing and face the Bears. Buffalo, Seattle and Atlanta are road games.

Overall, the Bears play 10 of their 17 games against teams ranked in the top half of the league in rushing. They'll need to draft or sign players to help bolster a defense that was 24th in EPA per rush last year.

When Allen had his best Saints defenses, they finished fourth or better four straight years against the run and then were also able to rush the passer. As coaches so often remind players, you need to earn the right to rush the quarterback by stopping the run.

What the Bears are attempting to do won't work unless they get better stopping the run.

The positive side of all this is they're also playing teams that were fairly mediocre at running. Minnesota finished 23rd and they'll play the Vikings twice. Jacksonville (20th), New Orleans (28th) and Tampa Bay, (21st) were all poor running teams and are on the schedule.

On the other hand, they need to improve the pass rush after only 35 sacks but there will be only four games againt teams ranked in the top 10 in passing. Two of those are against the same team, the third-ranked Lions.

They play 10 of their 17 games against teams ranked in the bottom half of the league in 2025 in passing.

The two Super Bowl teams are the only other opponents the Bears face  who made it into the top 10 in passing.

Get a good look at them Sunday. Maybe when the Bears see those teams next season they'll have a way to stop them, whether it's on the ground or through the air.

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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.