After shielding Caleb Williams with a revamped offensive line, Ryan Poles shifted his focus to the secondary, loading up on defensive backs to paralyze opposing passing attacks.
If you looked closely at how the Chicago Bears approached last offseason, it became obvious what they were trying to fix.
The Bears had a young quarterback in Caleb Williams, who showed plenty of promise. He threw for 3,541 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions as a rookie. However, he was constantly running for his life.
Williams was the league's most-sacked quarterback in 2024, with the Bears allowing 68 that year.
General Manager Ryan Poles understood that it was a massive problem and addressed it in free agency. He traded for Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, then signed free-agent center Drew Dalman.
As a result, the offense improved with a competent offensive line.
Williams went from being one of the most sacked quarterbacks in the league to one of the fewest in 2025. Chicago allowed 24 sacks, ranking third-fewest in the NFL.
The quarterback threw for 3,942 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in year two.
The first wave of free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft have both come and gone. So, the question remains. What did the Bears focus on this offseason?
ESPN's Courtney Cronin helped figure that out. After the moves the Bears made in free agency and the draft, it was clear that Poles was focused on improving the secondary.
"So, if you look at the theme here, 2025 was about fixing the offensive line," Cronin said. "2026 was about fixing the back seven of this defense. Free agency, they sign Devin Bush, bring speed in at linebacker. They focused a lot on the secondary, which is what they did with Coby Bryant in free agency, and then they paired him with Dillon Thieneman. So, I think what Ryan Poles, General Manager of the Bears, said really foreshadows what the strength of this defense is going to be. That if you have good corners, good safeties, you might have a quarterback holding onto the ball a bit longer as he's trying to diagnose coverages."
The Bears lost some key starters in safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker. They added Coby Bryant from the Seattle Seahawks and then drafted Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman and Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad in the draft.
Thieneman is expected to start alongside Bryant in the backend of the Chicago secondary. So far, the Bears' starting corners are projected to be Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson and Kyler Gordon.
Muhammad has a chance at winning the No. 2 cornerback job. Even if he can't beat out Stevenson, the Bears will have an experienced cornerback who had 29 starts at Texas.
At Cronin said, the main idea is to have solid coverage, which will confuse quarterbacks and force them to hold onto the football for long periods, allowing the Bears' pass rush to get after them.
This could explain why the Bears decided not to draft an edge rusher. It seems Poles is happy with the current group of Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Austin Booker, Shemar Turner, and others.
Poles is putting a lot of faith into the secondary to make things difficult for opposing quarterbacks. This upcoming season will reveal if it was the right move.
After finishing 22nd in the NFL with 35 sacks, a change needed to be made. We'll see if this was the right one to make.