Despite glaring needs at pass rusher and cornerback, rumors link Chicago to a blockbuster Jonathan Taylor trade that ignores the roster's true holes and elite existing ground game.
The Chicago Bears did a lot of things right last season, but are by no means a perfect team.
They still have holes in the roster, even after all the moves the team made through free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft.
For starters, the Bears have done little to improve their pass rush compared to last season. Montez Sweat did most of the heavy lifting with his 10 sacks, but the rest of the team struggled, and Chicago had 35 last season.
They drafted Jordan Van Den Berg out of Georgia Tech, but he is an interior defensive lineman and not an edge rusher. He's also expected to be a rotational player at first anyway.
Chicago is banking on Dayo Odeyingbo living up to his contract, even though he missed half of the season with an Achilles injury last year.
ESPN's Courtney Cronin believes the Bears are relying on their secondary to help the pass rush, forcing opposing quarterbacks to hold onto the ball longer and giving the pass rush more time to get home.
With the secondary, there isn't a lot of quality depth outside of the starters at cornerback. If Jaylon Johnson or Kyler Gordon go down again with injuries, it could be another bad year of pass defense.
With all the holes the Bears have on their roster, one place that doesn't need reinforcements is the running back room.
However, ESPN's Ben Solak disagrees.
In his latest article, he made bold predictions for the 2026 season. He had the Bears trading for Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor.
For one, this move doesn't make sense for the Bears.
Solak believed that the Colts would be more likely to trade him since Taylor is in the last year of his contract, given the state of the running back market as of late.
However, the Bears don't need another running back. They already have a solid one-two punch of D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai. The Bears literally had the third-best rushing attack in the NFL last season, averaging 144.5 rushing yards per game.
Solak then went on to mention Swift's injury history and called him unreliable, neither of which has been the case with the Bears. With the Detroit Lions, Swift never played a full season.
However, he's only missed one game since joining the Bears in 2024. Also, Swift just had a 1,000-yard season in 2025, and nearly did the same in 2024.
While we're on the subject of injury history, Taylor has had issues with that as well. There was a stretch from 2022-2024 where he missed 16 games due to injury. Even if the Bears do get Taylor, there are injury risks with him, too.
Swift isn't the same player he was at the Lions. The Bears also have Kyle Monangai, who just had a very solid rookie season, and don't need a player like Taylor in the mix.
Plus, there's the contract that the Bears would have to give Taylor. As it stands, Taylor is on a three-year contract worth $42 million. His predicted market value is $15.6 million per year by the time his contract runs out in 2027, per Spotrac.
Although he may demand more than that if he can't reach another extension with the Colts.
Then there's the question of how much the Colts would want for Taylor in a trade. Would they want a first- or second-round pick? They may even want a player thrown into the mix in a trade, which I don't think the Bears want to give up.
The defense was one of the most inconsistent groups in the NFL last season. However, running back was one that you could rely on week in and week out.
There are plenty of other positions that the Bears could upgrade, but running back isn't one of them. If I'm Chicago, I'm saying no to a trade for Taylor.
