The Bears made meaningful improvements in free agency, but Ryan Poles’ track record of drafting impact defenders raises real questions about Chicago’s pass rush moving forward.
The Chicago Bears did a lot of good this week, addressing some of the team's biggest needs during NFL free agency.
The Bears didn't take a big swing for a star edge rusher like Maxx Crosby or Trey Hendrickson, as many fans hoped, but that doesn't mean Chicago didn't do a good job of becoming a more well-rounded team.
Now, of course, with some salary cap restraints, the Bears had to make some concessions. Seeing a player like Kevin Byard walk out the door and go to New England was tough, but the Bears are prioritizing getting younger, more versatile, and more athletic on defense. Coby Bryant is a perfect fit for Dennis Allen's scheme, and after landing him on a three-year, $40 million contract, Byard's exit felt inevitable.
For many of the same reasons, I'm complimentary of the Devin Bush signing as well. Bush has sideline-to-sideline speed and is coming off the best season of his NFL career. These moves, along with whatever is coming in the 2026 NFL Draft, make me more optimistic about the Bears' defense next season. Chicago may not be better at every position, but they might be better at the positions that matter.
The only real question remaining is edge rusher.
We know the Bears liked what they got from Montez Sweat, particularly toward the end of the 2025 season. And Austin Booker, totaling 4.5 sacks in 10 games, showed real progress in his development as a former fifth-round pick who was incredibly raw when he was drafted out of Kansas.
Chicago also has Dayo Odeyingbo returning from injury after receiving a three-year, $48 million contract last offseason. But Odeyingbo played in eight games for the Bears in 2025 and recorded just one sack. He was essentially a non-factor when it came to the pass rush and leaves Bears fans with very little reason to believe things will be different in 2026.
So all in all, Chicago's defensive line still might not be good enough. They still may not have a strong enough pass rush to truly ascend into Super Bowl contention.
And while free agency did set up Chicago to fully address this issue in the upcoming draft, the stats surrounding general manager Ryan Poles make me wary about the future of the Bears' defense.
In the four years since Poles took over as Bears GM, Chicago has recorded 125 sacks as a team. That's 31st in the NFL and only one sack ahead of the Carolina Panthers (124), who have been the league's worst team at getting after the quarterback from 2022-2025.
Ryan Poles has yet to draft a defensive player who has made a Pro Bowl, and that includes a 2023 draft class in which seven of the Bears' 10 selections came on the defensive side of the ball.
If you combine the career stats of every player Ryan Poles has drafted, they have just 34 total sacks between the 14 of them—and 9.5 of those sacks have come from defensive backs. The most sacks in a single season by a Ryan Poles draft pick is 6.0, recorded by Gervon Dexter in 2025.
There's no doubt that Poles has done a great job assembling one of the NFL's most prolific offenses, and he deserves all the credit in the world for that. But between draft picks such as Zacch Pickens, Tyrique Stevenson, Ruben Hyppolite, and Shemar Turner, the Bears have really struggled to add impact defenders through the NFL Draft. Even Gervon Dexter hasn't quite lived up to expectations.
Add in free agent contracts to players like the aforementioned Dayo Odeyingbo, a $98 million extension for Montez Sweat, and a $72 million deal for Tremaine Edmunds—with none of those players consistently playing up to their price tags—and you have to wonder if this Bears general manager is up for the task of rebuilding this defense.
He hasn't drafted particularly well on the defensive side of the ball, especially when it comes to pass rushers. And the Bears have whiffed on some of the few free agent signings they've made to address the issue.
I don't say this because I think Ryan Poles is a bad GM or because I think the Bears are in a bad spot heading into 2026. As I mentioned before, I like what they've done this offseason and think they're positioned well to fill out the rest of their needs in the draft.
But until we see it—until Ryan Poles proves he can hit on premium defensive players either in the draft or free agency—I have to remain slightly skeptical.
It's a big draft coming up and an important rest of the offseason. What happens over the next few months will determine whether the Bears ascend into one of the NFL's regular contenders with sustained success, or if they regress, like so much of the sports world expects them to.