The arrow seems to be pointing up for the Bears. They’ve got extra draft capital from trading the No. 1 pick last year, they’ve got plenty of cap space, and they started turning things around late last year – especially defensively.
The defense was a disaster the previous year, to the point where it looked like Matt Eberflus probably wouldn’t make it to a third season. In 2022, they allowed 31 rushing touchdowns and finished with only 20 sacks – comically bad.
But they started rounding into form last year, especially after acquiring Montez Sweat (pictured) in a midseason trade. He gave them some much-needed pop up front, with 6 sacks, 4 tackles for loss and 8 other quarterback hits in nine games.
Chicago finished ranked No. 1 against the run, and they really took off on this side of the ball late in the year. The Bears allowed a league-low 17.1 points per game in the second half of the season (in the first nine weeks of the season, only four defenses allowed more points).
With that defense leading the way, the Bears went 5-3 down the stretch, a nice flip-around after starting 2-7.
There are still plenty of decisions to be made. There are free agents to be signed. They’ll likely be picking Caleb Williams No. 1 overall. And they’ll probably be seeing if they can get in return for Justin Fields. But this looks like a team that’s ready to make an upward move.
| POINTS ALLOWED (first v second half) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | 1-9 | 10-18 | Diff |
| Chicago | 26.9 | 17.1 | 9.8 |
| New Orleans | 25.3 | 17.3 | 8.1 |
| Denver | 28.3 | 20.8 | 7.5 |
| Carolina | 28.3 | 21.1 | 7.1 |
| Indianapolis | 26.9 | 21.6 | 5.3 |
| Miami | 25.0 | 20.8 | 4.3 |
| Las Vegas | 21.4 | 17.3 | 4.2 |
| Tampa Bay | 20.9 | 17.6 | 3.3 |
| Pittsburgh | 20.4 | 17.9 | 2.5 |
| LA Rams | 22.7 | 21.6 | 1.0 |
| NY Giants | 24.1 | 23.8 | .4 |
| Dallas | 18.5 | 18.6 | -.1 |
| Seattle | 17.5 | 17.6 | -.1 |
| Arizona | 26.7 | 26.9 | -.2 |
| Houston | 20.6 | 20.9 | -.3 |
| Minnesota | 21.1 | 21.5 | -.4 |
| New England | 19.0 | 19.5 | -.5 |
| Buffalo | 17.8 | 18.9 | -1.1 |
| Atlanta | 21.3 | 22.6 | -1.3 |
| Green Bay | 19.9 | 21.2 | -1.3 |
| NY Jets | 19.5 | 22.1 | -2.6 |
| Kansas City | 15.9 | 18.9 | -3.0 |
| Tennessee | 20.0 | 23.0 | -3.0 |
| LA Chargers | 21.8 | 24.9 | -3.1 |
| San Francisco | 21.9 | 25.2 | -3.3 |
| Jacksonville | 19.5 | 23.9 | -4.4 |
| Cincinnati | 20.3 | 24.7 | -4.4 |
| Detroit | 20.6 | 25.6 | -4.9 |
| Baltimore | 13.8 | 19.5 | -5.7 |
| Washington | 27.2 | 34.1 | -6.9 |
| Cleveland | 17.4 | 24.8 | -7.4 |
| Philadelphia | 21.7 | 29.1 | -7.5 |
—Ian Allan