The Chicago Bears‘ success in 2025 will likely hinge on closing the gap on the likes of the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North.
Whether new head coach Ben Johnson can jumpstart quarterback Caleb Williams’ development in his second season, and spark an offensive renaissance similar to what he ushered into Detroit as the Lions’ former offensive coordinator at the helm of an offense that powered a run to the NFC Championship Game will likely determine the Bears’ trajectory this season.
Chicago, though, has plenty of reason to be optimistic after the offseason that general manager Ryan Poles has already pulled off, a month before the Bears even go on the clock with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Chicago Bears viewed as one of free agency’s biggest winners
Pro Football Focus’ Thomas Valentine put together a breakdown of each team’s offseason haul, so far, while offering a determination of whether each team got better or worse, including his suggestion that the Bears are “undeniably better” today than when the offseason began.
“The Bears undeniably got better in free agency,” Valentine writes for PFF. “Revamping an offensive line that caused issues all of last season by trading for Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson while signing Drew Dalman to a three-year deal. Thuney is one of the best guards in the NFL and earned an 80.0 grade in 2024, the seventh-highest among guards. The interior of the offensive line now looks like a real strength and more in line with Ben Johnson’s likely vision for the offense.
“The Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo additions improve the defensive line, even if the money can be squinted at first and second glance. The Bears were one of the worst teams in the NFL in 2024, but they’ve noticeably improved in free agency. Lesser tiered additions like Devin Duvernay and Durham Smythe improve the overall depth of the roster too, and now the Bears head into the draft in a much better state than where they stood just two months ago.”
Poles managed through free agency to significantly bolster the veteran leadership, quality of depth at key positions across the roster, and improve the talent-level, overall, around what the Bears hope is an ascending young quarterback with yet to be untapped potential.
Beyond improving at key positions of need, the Bears are no longer forced into targeting an offensive lineman or a pass rusher or a defensive lineman to solve a problem during the draft but can focus on selecting either the best player available on the board or explosive playmakers to make Williams’ life easier and the offense potential more prolific.
It’s easy to crown a team like the Bears the champions of the offseason, but the caliber of additions Chicago has made so far, gives this team the chance to quickly turn a corner towards competing in 2025.
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