One of the big questions in this upcoming NFL season is how will the Chicago Bears build on their success in 2025? They made some significant changes on defense, and there are reasons for optimism, but just as many causes for concern. Some NFL analysts see the defense taking a step back this year.
Chicago Bears defense does not rank well in latest projectionÂ
Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report went through every team and ranked the best defenses in the NFL. For the Bears, they came in at 24. The main reason for pessimism coming from Davenport is the changes that could lead to regression.Â
"The Chicago Bears were a playoff team last year, but that was more in spite of a defense that allowed the fourth-most yards in the NFL than because of it.Gary Davenport
That defense has issues again in 2026—at every level."
On the defensive line, it is fair to think that there could be issues. They are mostly just hoping that Dayo Odeyingbo can get healthy and that Austin Booker can continue to ascend on the edges. They might not be strong in this area. They added a lot of options to the interior defensive line, but none of them are deemed trustworthy. So, this could end up setting the team back.Â
However, the rest of the unit is more promising than is being displayed. Tremaine Edmunds was often more of an issue than he was a helper on the Bears. He started to make a few big plays under Dennis Allen, but considering Allen moved on from him, Allen saw even more big plays being left on the field, and he saw the track record that Edmunds has, which is high boom and high bust.
Bush has struggled to recover from an ACL and built back his career, but last year he was better than Edmunds.Â
Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker are solid safeties, but the Bears arguably upgraded over both. Brisker signed to be a third safety for a team friendly deal in Pittsburgh which shows what his value is. Byard was replaced by a younger Coby Bryant, and Brisker was replaced by Dillon Thieneman, who is not only younger, he should be an upgrade from day one.Â
Beyond that, while they lost Nahshon Wright, they added Malik Muhammad and should get a lot healthier at cornerback. Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon and even depth option Terell Smith missed significant time last year. With a much healthier room, it is hard to think that they will drop off like that.Â
The defensive line is a good reason to place them around average, but the other changes are being treated with too much pessimism.
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