Bears are ‘bullish’ about one rising defender but shouldn’t use that as an excuse to derail the offseason plans for 2026
The Chicago Bears see big things in Austin Booker’s future but still need to add more pieces.
After how things went in Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, the message is clear for what areas the Chicago Bears need to improve this offseason and it’s the same lesson the team should have learned last offseason after the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl.
Defense is still king in the NFL and teams with a dominating stable of pass rushers are the ones that come out on top based on the last two seasons.
The Bears, to their credit, attempted to add more to the defensive line by signing Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo while also drafting Shemar Turner. Unfortunately, injuries to all three of those players killed any chance of Chicago having an improved pass rush. Although, one player did show some promise, but not enough to abandon plans of further upgrading the room.
Bears see something special in Austin Booker but they need to continue adding to the stable
With all of the injuries going on to the defensive line, the Bears pass rush was once again inexcusable outside of Montez Sweat, who ended up putting together a decent season. The player that really caught fire late and surprised a lot of people was Austin Booker, who missed the first seven games due to a preseason knee injury.
Once Booker got on the field and started ramping up, he became a real factor off the edge. In his final six games (including playoffs), Booker totaled 4.5 sacks and eight QB hits. It was a promising showing that gives the team some encouragement going into his third season.
“We saw him being disruptive and if he can get a little bit stronger this offseason, get his body right, and stay healthy, I’m really interested to see where he can go,” Bears insider Brad Biggs said on 104.3 The Score. “Can he become that double-digit sack guy? That kind of diamond in the rough that they were hoping for when the drafted him a couple years ago?
They’re bullish on him… and I’m not saying they’re bullish on him to the point that they don’t need to make moves for that defensive line this offseason. They absolutely have to.”
That last part is the real kicker here. The Bears can’t afford to get too bullish on Booker and bank on the injured players returning and call it good enough. This team still needs to add more pass rushers to the stable this offseason in some shape or form after seeing what the Eagles and Seahawks did.
Does that mean going after a big fish such as Maxx Crosby or Trey Hendrickson? Maybe not, and frankly that’s a path the Bears should avoid going down. But, using multiple Top-100 picks on some rookie defensive linemen is certainly a viable option to round out the room.
Adding those one-two pieces to the room gives defensive coordinator Dennis Allen plenty of bodies to work with in the four-man rotation. And that could be the missing piece to get over the hump.
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