Few expected the 2025 Chicago Bears to make the playoffs, let alone win the NFC North outright.
Suffice it to say, it took some exceptional performances throughout this unforgettable season that propelled these Bears to an 11-6 record. With the recent addition of CB Nahshon Wright, four Bears players made the Pro Bowl with OG Joe Thuney, C Drew Dalman and S Kevin Byard III already headed to Orlando this weekend for the Pro Bowl Games.
It wasn’t just the players who excelled this season, either. New
Head Coach Ben Johnson is a finalist for Coach of the Year. Two assistant coaches have interviewed with multiple teams for a promotion (DB coach Al Harris and OC Declan Doyle) while RB coach Eric Bieniemy was quickly pried away from Chicago to become the Offensive Coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs.
To say this season was a massive success would be an understatement.
But which players’ performance was the most surprising?
Sure, we got a lot out of our rookie class, but for the most part, those guys were high picks for a reason and did what they were expected to do.
When it comes to which players most exceeded expectations, I personally feel these three guys were the most pleasant of surprises.
RB Kyle Monangai
The final selection for the Bears 2025 draft class, Monangai was the 22nd RB selected with only 3 RB drafted after him. However, the rookie out of Rutgers’ 783 rushing yards were the 5th most of all rookies despite sharing the backfield with veteran D’Andre Swift. Monangai’s decisive and punishing style quickly endeared himself to Bears fans and was pivotal in establishing the run game in Ben Johnson’s new offense.
CB Nahshon Wright
With a loaded CB room that featured Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, Terrell Smith and rookie Zah Frazier, not only did I know very little of Nahshon Wright, but had even lower expectations of him. Heck, I didn’t even expect to see him on the opening day roster. But when Frazier was placed on IR, Jaylon and Kyler were not quite ready to start the season and Terrell Smith tore his patellar tendon in pre-season, CB quickly became a major concern heading into week 1. And then, in prime-time, Wright recorded a pick-six against his former team and got everyone’s attention. Turns out, it wasn’t a fluke either. Wright went on to record 5 INT, 11 pass deflections, 2 FF, and 3 FR. Not bad for a player on a 1 year backup contract.
LB D’Marco Jackson
Another unknown reserve forced into action, the former Appalachian State Mountaineer took over the starting LB role in week 12 due to injuries to both starters, Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards, and amassed 15 tackles (1 TFL), in a key victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jackson started the next two games and helped lead the Bears to a huge victory on Black Friday against the Eagles and a nail-biting loss against the Cheese. Jackson never played more than 70% of snaps after week 14, but established himself as a viable starter for this team and made the more expensive veterans in front of him expendable.
This was a tough one for me, but in the end, my vote goes to Nahshon Wright. I was high on Monangai coming from the B1G Ten and knew he would have a chance to carve out a role, especially when Roschon Johnson went down in the pre-season, though I didn’t expect him to have quite the success he did as a rookie. But Wright stepping up and being the playmaker that he was on this defense was completely unexpected. With Smith and Frazier returning to the current CBs, I feel Wright will earn a nice paycheck with another team in 2026, and deservedly so.
