With no major offseason additions to the pass rush, this Bears edge rusher must help anchor the defense alongside Montez Sweat.
The Chicago Bears made it to the Divisional Round of the playoffs in Ben Johnson's first season as the team's coach.
Although the Bears fell short of their ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl, the team won the NFC North and a playoff game, accomplishments that take an entire roster, coaching staff, medical team, and everyone involved in a football organization to make happen.
For the Bears to take that next step under Johnson in 2026, multiple players and coaches will have to elevate their individual performances from a season ago. The Bears will also need an "X-factor" to step up.
Fox Sports' NFL reporter Ben Arthur shared his biggest X-factors for every team in the NFC. He chose defensive end Austin Booker.
"The Bears didn’t address their pass rush in a meaningful way in free agency or the draft. That means Booker, a fifth-round pick in 2024 who had a career-high 4.5 sacks last season, will need to take another step forward at edge rusher opposite Montez Sweat."
It's hard to argue against Booker as being the team's biggest X-factor, considering the Bears didn't add any new defensive ends. The Bears are placing a lot of faith in the current group of defensive linemen to get the pass rush corrected for the 2026 season.
Two of those players, Dayo Odeyingbo and Shemar Turner, are coming off season-ending injuries. Even if they are both 100% healthy going into this upcoming season, they still have to perform, and despite a small sample size in 2025, the initial results weren't great.
The Bears will need Booker to step up in his third NFL season.
According to Pro Football Focus, the 6-foot-6, 245-pound defensive end ended with 35 total quarterback pressures in 12 games played, including the playoffs. One of his best performances of the season came in the playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers.
In that game, Booker registered five total quarterback pressures and one sack.
The 23-year-old pass rusher has made it a priority to add muscle mass going into this season. Booker joined Cubs Live on the Marquee Sports Network in May and said he added six pounds of muscle.
Johnson has noticed the added muscle in the young pass rusher.
"He's still a young player," Johnson said during Organized Team Activities. "He's still developing. His body's changed since he came in the building a year ago, and even from where we ended the season even until when he came back in for the spring program. He continues to add more mass and become a stronger player. He gets smarter as we go, and I think the coaching is really going to be conducive to his style of play as well. It’s reps, reps, reps with all these players, all these young guys. The more reps they get, the better they're going to get.”
The Bears will need Booker to continue ascending and to become the team's X-factor to help out a pass rush that will have plenty to prove after an inconsistent year last season.
