Fresh off their first NFC North title in seven seasons, the Chicago Bears are entering training camp with a sense of continuity. Head coach Ben Johnson enters his second year as the head man, and aside from a few minor shuffles, his coaching staff remains largely intact. Coupled with a roster that should be close to 70% of last season’s starters, this offseason has felt much calmer than in past seasons.
Despite a high level of continuity and the optimism coming off their first postseason victory in 15
seasons, there are still plenty of unanswered questions heading into the regular season. While it’s fair to say the Bears arrived a year early last year, the hunter has now become the hunted, and the league will be on notice. We’ve seen iterations of this team making the playoffs before, but it’s been two decades since they’ve had back-to-back seasons with playoff appearances.
With more pressure and higher expectations, we’ll dive into five pressing questions surrounding the Bears as they head into training camp ahead of the 2026 regular season.
1. Will quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense finally hit the ground running?
If we’re talking about the start of training camp, this is likely to be the topic on everyone’s mind. For too long, fans have been subjected to a struggling offense early in camp that will show flashes of “good days” but ultimately never catch up to the defense. Then the regular season rolls around, and it’s as bad as most feared.
Last year’s struggles were a little more understandable. Still, although they finished as a Top 10 offense by season’s end, they opened the regular season looking disjointed, minor the Week 3 explosion against the Cowboys. While it’s probably unfair to expect the offense to dominate the defense in every practice completely, a more even affair, without constant penalties and with the ball hitting the ground, is what most fans will be looking for.
On paper, the offense is returning all but three starters from last season. We’ll get to some of those battles later on, but in terms of continuity, this has been the most stability the offense has seen in quite some time. Early struggles may occur, but ultimately, this offense needs to hit the ground running without the same avoidable mistakes we heard about last August. Here’s to hoping the nonchalant pre-season preparation will remain just that.
2. Sorting out the offensive line: Who wins out at left tackle and center?
There won’t be many open competitions for starting jobs once camp opens. Still, thanks to a playoff injury to Ozzy Trapilo and a surprise retirement from Drew Dalman, two openings on the starting offensive line will be up for grabs. In an ideal world, both competitions will be wrapped up quickly, and the team will have plenty of time to get their starting five together. As we learned with last year’s left tackle competition, that perfect world rarely exists in football.
We’ll first start at center, where it’s a two-player race to see who gets the Week 1 nod. By all accounts, veteran Garrett Bradbury, for whom the Bears traded a 2027 fifth-round selection, holds the edge. Johnson has never hidden that he values a veteran presence at the position, which is why they splurged on Dalman during last year’s free-agent period. Although Bradbury is far from the overall player that Dalman was, he provides a level of stability that would be hard for any rookie to match. That said, Jones is an experienced player on the older side compared to most early-round draft prospects. He started 38 games over the last three seasons and comes from a school that is known for churning out NFL-ready offensive linemen. There’s no doubt that Jones will be viewed as the long-term replacement for Dalman, but with questions still lingering at left tackle, don’t be surprised to see the coaching staff default to the veteran early in the season. Even if that happens, last year was a prime example of how this staff is not afraid to shake things up as the season goes along.
At left tackle, three of the four names are extremely familiar. That said, this feels like a two-man competition, headlined by fifth-year veteran Braxton Jones and recently signed Jedrick Wills. While it’s possible that Theo Benedet or Kiran Amegadjie could end up in the mix, a healthy Jones comfortably wins this competition. To take it a step further, I’d say it’s more likely that Amegadjie isn’t on the 53-man roster than that he outright wins the starting job. The biggest unknown in this group is Wills, and not due to ability. Health will be a sizable factor for him heading into camp. When healthy, his ceiling is the highest on the roster. The issue is that he has not been healthy in a few years. With Trapilo not expected to play this season, getting average-quality left tackle play would be a big win for this entire unit.
Outside of the two starting spots, how the depth shakes out will be interesting to watch. For the first time in a while, the Bears have more depth than roster spots along the offensive line. Call it the Ben Johnson effect, but it’s a great “problem” to have. One would believe that the “loser” of the left tackle competition will earn a spot, as well as whoever loses out at center. Add in Luke Newman, and you’re already at eight. Benedet seems like a lock too, which makes nine, barring a trade of Bradbury if Jones wins the job. The biggest question in this particular situation is how many bodies they’ll keep. Teams typically keep between eight and 10, and it wouldn’t be a shock if Chicago kept 10. Assuming that 10 is the final number, that leaves one spot for Jordan McFadden, Amegadjie, or any of the undrafted free agents they signed in May. Suffice it to say, there will be a few rosterable players who won’t be on the Bears’ final 53-man roster.
3. How quickly does an extension for right tackle Darnell Wright come together?
I’ve written about this a few times, and frankly, until it happens, the storyline won’t go away. That’s not to say this is something to be concerned about by any means, but rather that it will happen sooner rather than later. Last month, in my 10 Bears takes, I covered the different paths his market might take. While some will point to Lane Johnson’s one-year $25 million extension as a baseline, I don’t believe that will be the case. More realistically, the deals that both Tristan Wirfs and Penei Sewell signed (while playing right tackle) are more in line with what fans should expect: anywhere from four to five years and an average value of right around $28 million per season.
Simply put, it won’t be cheap, but it has been well earned, and Wright is still a rising talent with an All-Pro level ceiling. Given how quickly the cap continues to rise, establishing a “new” market at right tackle makes sense. It’s also worth mentioning that, because he has this year and next year’s fifth-year option in terms of control, the Bears can spread some of his new money over these two cheaper years to ultimately lower the cap hit once the extension kicks in.
Now, getting to a timeline for when a deal could be struck. Former general manager Ryan Pace tended to get deals done before training camp, but current general manager Ryan Poles has been a little less predictable. While a deal could be struck before the end of July, don’t be surprised to see things drag out until August or early September. Part of that could simply be cap manipulation to see if they can swing a deal for someone (more on that in a few), and some of it could be to see if any other extensions come through that change the dynamic of their negotiations. One way or another, Wright is under contract for at least two seasons, and it’s clear that, of all their starting offensive linemen, he’s the future of this group.
I fully expect a deal to get done, and when it does, fans can expect it to eat anywhere from $2-3.5 million from this year’s cap space. With that in mind, Poles has been extremely conservative with his restructures, so clearing some additional space without dipping too much into the future reserves.
4. Does the team have enough on the defensive line, or will we see another veteran addition before Week 1?
It seems like every year, we’re having the same conversation along the defensive line. Do the Bears have enough to get it done? This year, the concern is not only whether they have “enough” but also whether they have a Super Bowl-caliber defensive line. The easy answer, at least on paper, seems to be a clear no. Looking at recent Super Bowl winners, it’s not just about top-end talent. It’s about the depth in which these teams have been able to send waves of pass rushers after elite quarterbacks and fluster them in ways we don’t see in the regular season. Not only do the Bears lack elite talent, but they also aren’t close to matching the depth of the last two Super Bowl winners.
That said, the hope in Chicago is that growth will come from within. Following a bounce-back season, it’s safe to classify Montez Sweat as a plus-starter. The primary concern (aside from depth) is who will deliver quality production on the other side of the line. Austin Booker appears to be the first man up, and maybe Year 3 is the breakout season fans have been longing for. Dayo Odeyingbo, even before his season-ending Achilles injury, was highly disappointing. The same could be said for former second-round pick Shemar Turner, who started at tackle and was slid out to end after the first month of the regular season.
The floor of this group isn’t overly reassuring, but Booker and Turner will define the ceiling. Anything the team gets from Odeyingbo is a plus at this point, but it should not be expected. With that in mind, does it make sense to add another viable veteran option? The easy answer is yes. The bigger issue, at least in the free-agent market, is a lack of high-impact names. Jadeveon Clowney stands as the best name available, while others like Joey Bosa, Von Miller, Kyle Van Noy, and Derek Barnett are mostly on the wrong side of 30 and on the downslopes of their careers. Unless there’s a surprise move, their best option will be the trade market. That said, cap space and giving up draft capital will be issues in a trade scenario.
The most likely scenario is that the Bears stand pat and roll into the regular season with what they have. Obviously, an injury could change this stance, but for now, overpaying for an aging veteran or a mid-level trade target might not make as much sense as allowing their current configuration to play out and see where they are closer to the trade deadline.
5. How will the cornerback room shake out with health and competition both being factors?
On paper, it’s easier to see a scenario where the Bears get back to having one of the better cornerback groups in the league. After all, they aren’t very far removed from making Jaylon Johnson one of the highest-paid corners (at the time), and are just one year removed from extending Kyler Gordon on a healthy extension. Even with Tyrique Stevenson’s future being in question, there’s enough depth and upside in this group to be a Top 10 unit. That said, health remains the biggest concern.
Johnson finally had a full offseason to “get right” after in-season core muscle surgery. Simply put, he did not look like himself last season (once he returned), but the early reports from the offseason program were positive. With Gordon, the lingering soft-tissue injuries remain an issue. After being placed on Injured Reserve twice last season and missing most of the regular season, Gordon has yet to participate in practices. Maybe he comes into camp completely healthy, but considering his recent history, there’s little reason to be optimistic that’s the case. On the plus side, recently signed free agent Cam Lewis has enough versatility to provide both safety depth and spend time in the nickel. The biggest concern is that Gordon’s skill set allows defensive coordinator Dennis Allen to stay creative and less predictable—his absence from the starting 11 severely limited what the defense could do last season.
Aside from the health concerns, watching camps battle for the remaining depth spots will be worth monitoring. The first of those questions will be whether the team keeps five or six corners. With Lewis’ versatility, they could choose to keep five, knowing that he can play in the nickel. With fourth-round pick Malik Muhammad expected to push Stevenson for playing time, the final spot (or two) will come down between Josh Blackwell, Terell Smith, Jaylon Jones, and maybe a surprise name like Dallis Flowers or an undrafted free agent. The good news is that their depth appears to be in good shape, even after losing Nahshon Wright in free agency. With better health, this group should be a strength, but there will be plenty to learn throughout camp and the preseason.
