Bears Ranks in Top-15 of the NFL in Playmakers for 2026 Season

Ben Johnson understood what he needed to operate his offense as a first-time head coach for the Chicago Bears last season. 

General manager Ryan Poles revamped the offensive line with three new starters, giving Johnson the players he needed to execute a physical running game mixed with a passing attack led by Caleb Williams that hunts explosive plays.

In the 2025 NFL Draft, the Bears added playmakers on offense with their first two draft picks in tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III. Offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo was also selected in the second round and ended up starting at left tackle during his rookie year. 

The new additions on offense played a major role in Chicago's offense becoming one of the best in the NFL last season. ESPN's Bill Barnell released his annual playmaker group rankings that assessed a team's "best five-man unit" of wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. 

Two ground rules that Barnell emphasized when making these ranking are that injuries count and wide receivers "are weighted more heavily than running backs or tight ends. ... so our rankings prioritize teams with great wide receivers over those who have better options at RB and TE."

Coming in at No. 15 in the league is the Bears. 

The top five playmakers that were factored in for Johnson's unit were receivers Rome Odunze and Burden, Loveland and running backs D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai. 

Loveland was the first playmaker mentioned, and Barnell highlighted that from Nov. 1, "he was second among all tight ends in receiving yards (597) and yards per route run (2.4)."

The former No. 10 overall pick also caught eight passes for 137 receiving yards in the win over the Packers in the wild-card round, and Barnell wrote, "there's a reasonable chance Loveland leads all tight ends in receiving yardage this season."

Burden's play also caught Barnell's eye, especially since he finished fourth among wide receivers with 2.9 yards per route run. Odunze's injury-plagued season is also a likely reason why the Bears aren't higher in these rankings. With more weight going towards receivers, the Bears' duo still has more to prove this season. 

Although the Bears have two quality running backs who compliment each other, Barnell didn't have as much praise for Swift. 

"I lean more toward Johnson and the line driving that success than any sort of massive shift from the veteran RB," Barnell wrote. 

Teams that ranked just ahead of the Bears include Indianapolis Colts (No. 14), New Orleans Saints (No. 13) and New York Jets (No. 12). There can be an argument made that the Bears' group of playmakers should be ahead of those three teams, but if Johnson's group takes that next step as an offense next season, then there's no reason this won't be a top-10 unit heading into 2027.