With the Super Bowl in the rearview mirror, the Chicago Bears are ready to hatch their offseason plan. A successful season where Chicago won its first NFC North division championship since 2018 and earned its first playoff win since 2010 gave Bears fans plenty of reason to celebrate, but it’s now time to figure out how the team can take another step forward in 2026.
One way the Bears can improve is by bolstering their running game. While Chicago ranked third in the NFL with 144.5 rushing yards per game last season, head coach Ben Johnson admitted the ground game fell flat as Chicago went deep into the playoffs.
According to former Bears receiver Allen Robinson, that could be enough for Chicago to pursue Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker in free agency.
“Ben Johnson loves the run game and being able to have a two-headed monster in the backfield,” Robinson said via the Bet MGM Tonight Podcast. “Not to mention being able to lure one of the better players in the NFC from the Super Bowl champion to your team. The expertise, what he can do on the field. I think it goes deeper than just acquiring Kenneth Walker.”
While Robinson laid out the vision, it feels like more of a dream and is likely over after his Super Bowl MVP performance on Sunday night.
Kenneth Walker Likely Won't Become a Bear This Offseason
Walker will be the belle of the running back ball after leading the Seahawks to the Lombardi Trophy. While he didn’t get in the end zone, he took home Super Bowl MVP honors with 27 carries for 135 yards in the 29-13 win over the New England Patriots. Before that, Walker went nuts, running for a total of 313 yards and four touchdowns while adding nine catches for 104 yards over three playoff games.
These numbers would look great to the Bears, who used D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai to perfection during Johnson’s first season in Chicago. But everybody saw Walker run wild during the postseason, creating a bidding war that could help him land a contract in excess of the $9 million annual projection by Spotrac.
Although the Bears have been linked to other free agents, including Breece Hall, Chicago may be best served using the money elsewhere. Swift was the leader in the Bears’ backfield last season, running for a career-high 1,087 yards and nine touchdowns, and comes into next season with an $8.8 million cap hit in the final year of his contract.
Monangai also had a strong year, running for 783 yards and five touchdowns. Although he tailed off with 4.0 yards per carry over his final five regular-season games and 3.0 yards per carry over two playoff games, he still provided solid value as he entered 2026 with a cap hit of $1.03 million.
It would be nice to add Walker into this mix, but it would come at the expense of cutting Swift or eliminating Monangai from the offense. Furthermore, the Bears have plenty of other needs going into the offseason, including shoring up the pass rush, re-signing Kevin Byard, and adding more depth at wide receiver – especially if they find a trade for DJ Moore.
That to-do list and the overall success of the Bears’ running game could push their pursuit of another running back to April’s draft or the spring of 2027. But it also means that any chance of bringing Walker to Chicago is nothing more than a pipe dream.