The Chicago Bears have one 2026 season breakout candidate that no one in NFL media is talking about enough
Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai is being slightly overlooked going into his second season compared to the team’s other play-makers from the 2025 NFL Draft.
The NFL offseason is always full of predictions and projections with one of the most popular formats being “predicting/projecting the top breakout players for X team ahead of the upcoming season” and that conversation is getting tiring for the Chicago Bears.
Every single time I come across one of those articles, the name always mentioned for the Bears is second-year wide receiver Luther Burden III, and rightfully so. Burden has a rocket ship on his back going into Year 2 and the offense has a massive void for someone to fill after the trade of DJ Moore. It’s easy to see how Burden is going to explode this upcoming season and be a breakout star in the entire NFL.
Yet, I also believe another second-year weapon in Chicago has a strong chance of having a breakout year in 2026, and no I’m not talking about tight end Colston Loveland, who already broke out and is viewed among the top tight ends in the league. The player I’m referring to is running back Kyle Monangai.
Chicago Bears RB Kyle Monangai is starting to be overlooked in the breakout player conversation
It’s no secret that the Bears have one of the league’s top RB duos between D’Andre Swift and Monangai, but individually, both players are overlooked as top backs in the league. At this point in his career, Swift is what he is and that’s a good enough player who won’t crack into the Top-10 at his position. Monangai, however, still has a lot of potential head coach Ben Johnson can tap into this upcoming season.
Out of the three 2025 offensive rookies, Monangai was the one who earned trust first in the eyes of the coaching staff, but it still took weeks until he was fully integrated into the offense. During the first seven games of the season, Monangai averaged 22 offensive snaps per game with just six attempts per game.
In Week 9, things flipped when Swift was forced to miss a game, allowing Monangai to get the full workload in the backfield and deliver with that opportunity. Over the final 10 games of the regular season, Monangai averaged 32 offensive snaps per game and doubled his attempts per game. He was finally unleashed down the stretch.
Monangai finished his rookie season with 783 yards and five touchdowns on 169 carries (4.6 yards per attempt) which was really strong numbers for a rookie. However, if you take his stats from the final 10 weeks and expand those averages to a 17-game season, Monangai would have had 1,014 yards and 215 attempts.
Kyle Monangai has the traits to be a complete back for the Bears, even if he’s behind D’Andre Swift
Projecting more opportunities for Monangai in 2026 isn’t really taking away anything from Swift. The Bears are still going to use both backs a healthy amount this upcoming season, but I do see the split being more 50/50 this time around saying Monangai is featured for all 17 games the way he was during those final 10.
“There’s no drop-off at all,” Swift said of Monangai. “He’s able to do everything. I’m able to do everything. It’s tough on defenses when I make something happen, his number gets called, he makes something happen, like what are you going to do?”
The projection for Monangai is even more enticing because he can truly be a complete back when he’s on the field. He can pick up tough yards on short runs with his physicality and can be shifty on the outside. He also averaged 9.1 yards per reception during his rookie year. The one area he can really look to improve is his overall pass protection consistency in Year 2.
If Ben Johnson highlights him more in the backfield in 2026, Monangai has all the ability to be a 1,000-yard rusher in this scheme and he’s a player people aren’t talking about enough in the breakout player conversation because the signs are clearly there.