The Bears finished 2025 with the seventh-fewest sacks in the league. Star pass rusher Montez Sweat led the team with 10.0 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, and 18 quarterback hits, but no other defensive end on the team reached even half his sack total. Chicago will be looking for someone to step up in 2026, and according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN, a three-man competition will play out over training camp to determine who will start across from Sweat.
Last year, the Bears employed free agent addition Dayo Odeyingbo as a starter after signing him to a three-year, $48MM contract. The team was counting on Odeyingbo to take a step forward after only amassing 16.5 sacks in four years with the Colts.
To be fair, Odeyingbo didn’t start until his final year in Indianapolis. He showed strong progress leading up to that, improving from 0.5 sacks as a rookie to five in Year 2 then tallying eight in 2023. Starting 14 games in a contract year, Odeyingbo only totaled three sacks, though he created a decent amount of pressure, as evidenced by 17 quarterback hits.
In his first year in Chicago, Odeyingbo started eight games before suffering a torn Achilles tendon. He notched a sack, a tackle for loss, and two quarterback hits in his first game with the team, but over the next seven weeks, Odeyingbo only made one more tackle for loss and two more quarterback hits. Odeyingbo is expected to return to the field in training camp, but whenever he does, he’ll have to fend off two challengers for his starting position.
Before the 2025 season began, second-year end Austin Booker had been tabbed as a breakout candidate, but a knee injury in the preseason put him on injured reserve for the first eight weeks of the season. Booker’s first game back was the day Odeyingbo got hurt, allowing for a smooth transition for Booker into the starting lineup for the second half of the season. In 10 games, Booker delivered to some degree on the breakout promise, notching 4.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, and 12 quarterback hits.
The third man in this competition is second-year defender Shemar Turner. The Texas A&M-product debuted in the third week of the season as the Bears worked to shift him out from the more traditional interior role he played in College Station to the edge. The rookie second-rounder ended up splitting his time between the two positions in a rotational role off the bench but wasn’t able to produce much before tearing his ACL the week before Odeyingbo’s injury. Upon his return from injury, though, Chicago reportedly intends to continue working him in an edge role.
So, the Bears have two players coming back from serious injuries and Booker, who impressed to some degree in his return from injury last year. The team didn’t make any moves in the draft or free agency to supplement the group, so it seems clear they feel confident moving forward with the group they have. On that note, though, Cronin believes that, if Odeyingbo’s return in camp doesn’t inspire confidence that he’ll be able to effectively contribute this year, Chicago may become a potential destination for one of several veteran free agent pass rushers on the market today.
does it matter who is the “stater” in an assortment of pass rushers? the point is that they need diversified skillsets.
Money has to be an issue, but could they try to see if Reddick has anything left?
One of the main things the Bears should have fixed via the Draft, Edge rusher, was not done. While people can argue the Bears were not in a position to draft a guy like that, they reached on other players, so one has to wonder if they will regret not taking a pass rusher in one of the 1st to 4th rounds of the draft.
Won’t regret Johnson throwing out 3 TE sets, all of whom can catch the ball.
Name me a team that lost their top 2 CB’s, 2 Edge rushers, A FA defensive tackle and #2 draft pick tackle and their best LB to injuries and still won 11 games? I’ll wait. I’ll give you a hint, There’s only one.
Obeyingbo, Booker & Turner using a time tested method for determining superiority…link to youtube.com
Everybody is pretty good at determining what will happen 1 week before training camp even starts. I suggest everybody stop talking and watch what happens first. Allen took a defense decimated by injuries and still kept the Bears in games with very few assets he picked. You might want to roll that around in your heads for awhile. The Bears seem determined to draft offense and sign FA’s for defense. Not sure I agree with that philosophy but Allen has a lot more players who play his style now than last year. I’m more than willing to watch what happens. That’s the Johnson influence, Take the good with the bad.
Their lack of depth at DE is concerning. I like Sweat and Booker, but I’ll believe in Dayo and Turner when I actually see something from them. My bigger concern is their lack of any kind of difference maker at DT. They’re a little deeper, but thinking that Dexter and Jarret are suddenly going to be run stoppers when they couldn’t stop their grandmothers last season just ain’t a serious plan. Maybe more speed in the secondary will help, but unless they do way better than that 27th ranked run defense from last year, I don’t see how that pass rush significantly improves.
It’s always convenient to use injuries as an excuse but if your defense ranked 29th with the benefit of a +22 turnover ratio, what is going to happen when that turnover ratio takes a dive?
What excuse? They still won 11 games and a Playoff game and almost won the 2nd. Who needs an excuse? Plus who says the TO’s will go down? The secondary and LB’s are much faster so how do you assume that before they even show up?
They won a LOT of last minute, last quarter games, and it is highly unlikely to continue
Especially if the D does not improve, it allowed too many yards, was fortunate to get so many TOs, sure some is skill but some is luck
I think 9 wins will be it
Yeah well that’s why they play the games. Saying that before they even start training camp is like blowing sand out of your….Nose.
As always there will be some veteran training camps cuts from other teams that are in rebuild mode.