The Chicago Bears will be featured in a third straight prime-time game as they return home to Chicago to welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Soldier Field on Sunday Night Football.
Fresh off back-to-back wins over the AFC and NFC champions from last year, respectively, Chicago has a chance to close out the first half of their season with another victory before their Week 10 bye week, and have an opportunity to make a statement against a struggling Buccaneers team. Having lost quarterback Baker Mayfield for multiple games earlier this season, Tampa Bay is 3-5 on the season, but in the NFC South, they're still in contention given the horrid state of the division.
Given their offensive struggle, Tampa's still got a notable defense with a few standout
players including defensive tackle, Vita Vea who would’ve been a fantastic addition to Chicago’s defense had he been available prior to signing a one- year extension extension with the team. The good news for Chicago is they landed a superstar in Jeffrey Simmons, who made his impact felt very quickly in his team debut during the win over the Seahawks last Monday night, but their secondary still needs help.
Each week here at Bears Wire, we’re looking at one player to steal from the opposing team and put on the Bears to help improve their roster. This week we’re looking at Tampa Bay’s defense, and focusing in on safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who would be a big help at this stage of the season.
In the years in which Winfield has played 16 games or more in a season, he has had at least 90 tackles in those seasons. His best year came in 2023, when he had 122 tackles, six sacks, six forced fumbles, and three interceptions. Those traits of a ball-hocking safety who can make plays in many different ways would be an excellent addition to this current Bears defense.
While there is more of a concern for Chicago’s defense at the quarterback position, getting Winfield next to rookie Dillon Thieneman would help shore up the back end of the secondary as the Bears new look front seven. can make life easier for the secondary behind them. Winfield’s ability to make plays on the ball would fit in perfectly with Dennis Allen’s defensive scheme, and he would certainly find ways to get the veteran safety after the quarterback, similar to how he deploys Kyler Gordon.
There are not many areas in which Chicago could use a significant upgrade, but the rich would get richer with the addition of Winfield and patching up a few of their source spots would take this defense to the next level.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Gimme him: One player the Bears would steal from the Buccaneers
