The Bears have their bye week in Week 5, giving them the time to rest and recover before going into the rest of their season. It also gives their front office a chance to prepare their strategy for the remainder
of the year.
With a few weeks left until the trade deadline, the Bears have an opportunity to address any potential needs they have, should they choose to take on a buying mentality. They aren’t a finished product at 2-2, but they project to be competitive enough that they could look to bring in a veteran through a last-minute trade.
To look at Chicago’s roster coming out of the bye week, the Windy City Gridiron staff got together and answered the question: what would you consider the Bears’ biggest need to be? This is how our team responded.
Jacob Infante: Edge rusher stands out as the Bears’ biggest need, in my eyes. As of this writing, they have only five sacks in four games. Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo, who are receiving a combined average of $40.5 million on their two deals, have one sack each. Per PFF, they don’t have any players in the top 45 in the NFL in pressures through four games. There’s a chance Austin Booker helps boost the pass rush upon his return from injury, but that’s asking a lot out of an unproven backup at this point.
Jack R. Salo: Complementary running back, probably a power back. The Bears rank near the bottom of the league in nearly every rushing stat, including total rushing yards (24th), average yards-per-carry (T-25th), and yards-per-game (24th). They’re handing it to D’Andre Swift often and Kyle Monangai sparingly, with Caleb Williams occasionally getting involved in option runs. The offensive line is banged up, sure, but they really need another solid contributor to carry the rock. If Roschon Johnson is just a special teamer now, then they need somebody to run between the tackles and fall forward.
Josh Sunderbruch: My flip answer is a new GM, because all of the other needs stem from there. However, the truth is that it’s the same need that they had heading into the 2025 Draft. They need an impactful edge defender. A disruptive presence. They are bottom five in sacks and they don’t have a meaningful contributor in sacks or TFLs.
Donald Gooch: Pass rush. Pass rush. Pass rush. Did I mention pass rush?
Sam Householder: It’s hard to look at the results of the first four games and say anything other than edge or running back. The issues at offensive tackle still exist but I feel better about those working out over the course of the rest of the year. But the Bears’ glaring lack of pass rusher is getting them beat consistently.
Erik Duerrwaechter: For me, it’s a tie between bolstering the pass rush, and finding a back who can consistently churn tough yardage north-to-south on the field. The Bears’ run defense is putrid too; however, the best way to mediate that is by having an offense kill the clock with long sustained drives on the ground, and then force your opponent to throw the ball in short time. That being said…you’ve also got to take advantage of the situation and put pressure on the QB consistently. Finding a difference maker up front on defense along with a stable force at RB are both important for the long haul.
Bryan Orenchuk: We have a few glaring needs as we struggle to run the ball, stop the run and get after the QB. In fact, we have the 9th worst rushing offense per game, are tied for 4th fewest sacks on defense and are dead last in both rush yards per game and total rush yards and bottom 10 in all advanced metrics when it comes to our run D. That tells me we need more from our DL, particularly up the middle stopping the run. Grady Jarrett needs to get healthy over the BYE and live up to his billing. Speaking of Billing, he needs to be more consistent and Shemar Turner needs to continue to progress, ideally solidify a heavy rotation at DT. If we can get that, we should enhance both pass and run D. I have faith in the coaches to iron out the OL and adjust the scheme/playcalling to maximize our talent at RB, but the DL is most concerning for me.
