Super Bowl LXI Road Map: Why the Bears Can (or Can’t) Win It All

Chicago is loaded offensively with quarterback Caleb Williams and skill-position talent, but its lack of talent on the defensive line could be its downfall.

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is the Madden cover man after throwing for 3,942 yards and 27 touchdowns a year ago. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

Super Bowl Road Maps: Why the Jaguars can (or can’t) win it all 

Welcome to Super Bowl LXI road maps, where we look at every team’s chances of winning it all in 2026. We’ll analyze the summer optimism before providing a reality check of what’s to come. Next path to assess: the Bears.

It’s one thing to have hope. It’s another to have a reason for hope.

For the first time since entering the 2011 season, the Bears come into a season with a playoff win to their credit. Chicago showed the football world its ability to make a postseason run, rallying from an 18-point deficit to beat the Packers in the wild-card round before taking the Rams, now Super Bowl favorites, to overtime in the divisionals. 

Offensively, the Bears are loaded with young talent led by second-year coach Ben Johnson. Quarterback Caleb Williams is the Madden cover man after throwing for 3,942 yards and 27 touchdowns a year ago, while 2025 first-round tight end Colston Loveland has All-Pro potential after a 58-catch, 713-yard rookie season. Throw in receiver Rome Odunze (661 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games) and a pair of All-Pro linemen in guard Joe Thuney and right tackle Darnell Wright, and there’s enough juice to be a top-ranked unit.

The big questions are almost all on the defense, starting with the lack of a pass rush. While Montez Sweat had 10 sacks last season, nobody else had more than six. And despite having four draft picks in the top 100, Chicago eschewed taking a pass rusher to fortify other areas, including safety, center and receiver.

But for the Bears, who sit 25/1 to win their first Super Bowl since the 1985 season, there’s reason for optimism that hasn’t been justified in more than 15 years.

Leadership

There was a bit of a brain drain in Chicago this offseason. While Johnson looks like a star after leading the Bears to their first division title since 2018, he’ll now be trying to win without a pair of his top assistants. 

In January, the Ravens hired former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to replace longtime coach John Harbaugh. One of Minter’s first moves was to hire Declan Doyle, Chicago’s 30-year-old offensive coordinator, who has a league-wide reputation as being one of the best young coaches in the game. Doyle didn’t call plays for the Bears (Johnson does), but he handled weekly installs while providing an important voice on the headset for his boss. Now, he’ll be running the offensive show in Baltimore.

Chicago also lost veteran assistant Eric Bieniemy, who returned to Kansas City to take the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator job, a post he held from 2018 to ’22. Bieniemy served as the running backs coach and helped rookie Kyle Monangai develop, who rushed for 783 yards on 4.6 yards per carry with five touchdowns. 

This isn’t the first time Bieniemy has helped a young back. In Minnesota, he oversaw Adrian Peterson’s entrance into the league before he turned into a future Hall of Famer. With Bieniemy, Peterson rushed for 5,782 yards and 52 touchdowns in his first four years.

To replace Doyle and Bieniemy, Johnson promoted Press Taylor to offensive coordinator while going outside the building to hire Eric Studesville. Studesville, 59, has been a running backs coach for the Giants, Broncos and Dolphins for the past 25 years, bringing a wealth of experience. He’s long been well-respected, as evidenced by being named the interim coach in Denver during the 2010 season after Josh McDaniels’s midseason firing. 

Most influential roster move

There’s never a good time to lose a key player, but there’s no worse time than when it comes by surprise. 

Such was the situation for the Bears with Pro Bowl center Drew Dalman. Dalman, who last offseason signed a three-year, $42 million contract with Chicago after four quality seasons with the Falcons, abruptly retired in March. As a result, general manager Ryan Poles scrambled for solutions and found a pair of potential answers. He traded for veteran Garrett Bradbury and used a second-round pick on Iowa’s Logan Jones. 

Bradbury, 30, has started 105 games over eight seasons with the Vikings and Patriots, helping New England reach Super Bowl LX in his only season. However, Bradbury is a replacement-level player, ranking 29th among 37 qualifying centers on Pro Football Focus in 2025 with a 60.6 overall grade. He was also part of a Patriots line that allowed Drake Maye to be sacked 47 times, fourth-most of any quarterback in the NFL.

As for Jones, he spent six years at Iowa, making 51 starts. He won the Rimington Award in 2025 as the nation’s top center while earning All-Big Ten honors each of the past three years. The 24-year-old is a viable candidate to start from Week 1 for Chicago.

Why this offseason move will work

Poles replaced a first-team All-Pro with a rookie, and a stalwart with a signing. Sounds risky, but the moves are well-positioned to work.

After watching Kevin Byard earn the aforementioned All-Pro accolades with a league-best seven interceptions, the easy move would have been to re-sign him. Byard is a three-time All-Pro who has twice paced the NFL in picks. But Byard will turn 33 years old in August, and Poles was wise to go young with first-round pick Dillon Thieneman. 

Thieneman will make mistakes, but he will also bring athleticism at 201 pounds while running a 4.35 40-yard dash. A second-team All-American, the Purdue and Oregon product started 39 games over the past three years while grabbing eight interceptions, including six in 2023.

Thieneman will be paired with Coby Bryant, who should be a voice of thoughtfulness and experience from the champion Seahawks. Bryant signed a three-year, $40 million contract in March, giving Chicago a free safety who can roam in center field while also playing in the box. Last year, Bryant played 177 snaps in the box with six regular-season games of double-digit snaps there. 

Bryant will be stepping in for Jaquan Brisker, who left after his rookie deal expired. Brisker was an impact player at times but also struggled to stay healthy, missing 16 games. He’s also struggled to make the splash plays, never notching more than one interception in a season with one total forced fumble over the past two years. 

Bears tight end Colston Loveland was magical down the stretch last season in wins against the Bengals and the Packers. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Breakout player candidate: Colston Loveland, TE

We’re in the midst of a sea change at the tight end position, and Loveland is the next in line to assert his dominance. 

Two years ago, Raiders rookie Brock Bowers led all tight ends in receiving yards and was a first-team All-Pro. Last year, Colts rookie Tyler Warren notched 817 yards and four touchdowns on his way to the Pro Bowl, while 26-year-old Trey McBride was the first-team All-Pro with a position-leading 126 catches for 1,239 yards. 

Loveland had six scores while playing 65% of the snaps. There’s little doubt that his playing time should increase along with his targets. Over his regular season’s first nine games, Loveland averaged 3.6 targets and 2.6 catches per game. Across the last seven, Loveland was at 7.0 targets and 4.8 catches per game. 

As Loveland continues to ascend with a full offseason immersed in Johnson’s complex system, and this time not dealing with a shoulder injury throughout the spring, the ceiling will only continue rising.

Missing piece

Poles can’t go into the season with the current depth chart. The Bears have Sweat and almost nothing else of note at defensive end, with other options such as Dayo Odeyingbo, Austin Booker and Daniel Hardy. In 2025, Odeyingbo and Hardy combined for one sack and five quarterback hits, while Booker provided quality play with 4.5 sacks and 12 QB hits, albeit on 80% of the defensive snaps. 

For a championship-caliber team, Booker is a third option and a rotational player getting around half the snaps. To that point, Poles can look to sign a veteran despite being limited with $8.2 million in cap space, fifth-lowest in the league. It’s a problem that must be rectified after tying for 22nd with 35 sacks a year ago.

There are still veteran options on the market, including Cam Jordan and Jadeveon Clowney, with Jordan coming off 10.5 sacks. Both are well into their 30s and will cost only a one-year deal. And, it would stand to reason that each would be enticed by playing for a contender.

The front office needs to find an upgrade to help Sweat. 

Bears head coach Ben Johnson had Chicago within a play or two of the NFC championship game last season. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Realistic outlook

Chicago has a chance to author a memorable season.

The Bears were within a play or two of reaching the NFC championship game last season, and should improve with continued experience for Williams, Loveland, Monangai, Odunze and others. That’s to say nothing of Johnson, who in his second season stands to improve with hindsight now a weapon. 

For this group, the biggest question is whether the defense can hold up. In 2025, it was ranked 29th in yards and 23rd in points allowed under veteran coordinator Dennis Allen. More range and athleticism should help in the secondary, but the personnel up front hasn’t changed enough to warrant optimism for improvement. 

Ultimately, though, these Bears are talented enough to challenge anybody in a league that, beyond the Rams, lacks truly great rosters.