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Youre right I miscounted. this is year 5 for him.

100%.

Handling bull rushes was a weakness. One that he might be able to improve upon with more strength and technique. His biggest issue was over setting and exposing the QB to immediate inside pressure.

I expect him to be ok. Buyer beware on anyone signing him to any long term deal. I hear he doesn't like to stay in shape...

The subtraction of Tremaine Edmunds and Billings will improve the run D.

Today's question? Will the added speed on the defense put up better results against the run?? I saw a projected top10 rankings of LBers and our 3 starting LBers were all on the list. Health in the DB room, JJ and Gordon have always been good in run supporters. Also we have move speed in the front four.

This year will be the first time in 3 yrs where he is fully healthy going into the season. That plus its a contract year, I see him playing his best ball this year. With the same bodies in the room last year coming off an injury he started the year as the starter. Bad play got him sat but with the OL coach, hard work(reported) , I see him stepping up his game. Where the ceiling lands remains to be seen but as you stated working out with Armstead, it has to have better results. His weakness has not been his movement but strength to handle the bull rush, a full off season of work may be all he needed to change that. Players can get better. Im curious if he plays above average, if the Bear's brass will consider signing him to a contract going forward? I suspect it depends on Ozzy's rehab.

Terron Armstead has been training Braxton and Theo this off-season. He's said a lot of good things about Braxton, who is beginning his fifth year. If healthy, he'll win the job. We can only hope that he's better than the average he's always been. Average isn't terrible. I do like the description of mediocre, because that shows more up and down than average. Braxton's floor and ceiling ceiling are the highest, but his consistency must stay off the floor.

I just want to say that Braxton Jones has NEVER been better than a mediocre LT. Of course i hope he shows up as an entirely new player and plays his ass off, and that goes for every player on the squad. I hope Amagadje is a hall of fame guard. But I havent seen anything in Jones' career to make me think that's about to happen? He's been a Bear for 6 seasons, and started on some pretty awful Bears teams. Doesnt anyone remember Caleb running around under constant pressure? I'm all for optimism, but this seems more like a wish than a plan. I will be extremely happy to be wrong about this if I am, but I just dont see it. For me, Theo Benedet is the floor at LT.

Personally, I believe Braxton will come back strong and have the best year of his career. Dare say a top-tier L.OT. It will put us in a fantastic position when Ozzy returns.

I have lots of questions that I would like your opinion from and will share mine. Today's question: Who will start at LT and how well will he play?

This is why we are going to have a winning record in 2026 season.

I think a lot of fans perspective comes from trusting the bears to get better from year to year. History says that doesnt happen. The core of this team is clearly better and coaching is a huge upgrade. If Caleb takes the next step and I think he will , we are an 11 win team on the floor and a SB trip on the ceiling. My trust is in BJ to maximize the strengths of this team. If we added one upscale DE , the whole fanbase would have much higher expectations but everything else is in place, Another player getting 4 or 5 more sacks isnt going to derail us from our goals. Only major injuries can do that.

1- healthier 2- more speed 3- player upgrade with Bush-Bryant-Theineman-Galimore-Lewis 4- 2nd year of coaches exacting the scheme 5- maturation of Booker-Dexter in last year of contract 6- offense scoring more points and commanding more of the game clock.

2nd year in DA's system, hopefully fewer injuries, a full year of Johnson+Gordon with the additions of Bryant and Thieneman should make the secondary elite. Couple that with Devin Bush at LB and the back 7 is going to be elite. The front 4 just need to be average. The Bears will surely have fewer takeaways, they had 33, the middle of the league had 20. The defense allowed 347 first downs, 330 was the middle of the league. So if they can get to league average on both, forcing 17 more punt/FGs vs 13 takeaways, it is basically a push on those two factors alone. They allowed the 4th most yards, 600 more than the league average, over 35 yards per game. Coupled with the penalty disparity, they were giving up an extra 50 yards per game. If that trends towards the league average, even by half (25 yards), that would be 425 yards on the year an entire game's worth of offense output reduced. That is basically 2-3 pts a game in their favor. So some close losses become wins, and close wins become 6 to 7 pt wins, etc.

People seem to memory hole the fact that the Bears had a ton of injuries on defense last year. Gordon and Johnson played in 1 game together, against PHI. Gordon only played in 3 games total. Johnson only played starter level snaps in 2 games. To put this into perspective, Nahshon Wright played 1041 snaps, Johnson and Gordon combined had 400. Nick freaking McCloud had 436. There were at least 2 weeks, where the Bears starting LBs started the season as LB4 and lower. Edmunds and Edwards combined to miss 11 games. Sewell missed 5. Turner (high draft pick) and Odeyingbo (FA $ signing) missed a combined 22 games. Booker missed another 7. Jarrett missed 3 and seemed limited for most of the year. Injuries are part of the game, but the Bears were missing at least 2+ starter/key contributor on defense every week last season. Half the starting defense was missing for 3 weeks 12-14 last year. The patchwork was crazy. Week 1 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, or Booker (4) Week 2 - No Gordon, Booker, only 20 snaps for Johnson (2.5) Week 3 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, or Booker (4) Week 4 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Jarrett, or Booker (5) Week 6 - No Johnson, Jarrett, or Booker (3) Week 7 - No Johnson, Jarrett, or Booker (3) Week 8 - No Johnson, Gordon, Stevenson, or Booker (4) - Literally no CBs Week 9 - No Johnson, Gordon, or Turner (3) Week 10 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Turner, or Odeyingbo (5) Week 11 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Turner, or Odeyingbo (5) Week 12 - No Johnson, Gordon, Edwards, Edmunds, Sewell, Turner, or Odeyingbo (7) Week 13 - No Edwards, Edmunds, Stevenson, Sewell, Turner, or Odeyingbo (6) - Literally no LBs Week 14 - No Edmunds, Gordon, Stevenson, Turner, or Odeyingbo, Sewell 1 snap (6) Week 15 - No Edmunds, Gordon, Turner, or Odeyingbo, Sewell 3 snaps (4.9) Week 16 - No Gordon, Sewell, Turner, or Odeyingbo (4) Week 17 - No Gordon, Turner, or Odeyingbo (3) Week 18 - No Gordon, Turner, or Odeyingbo (3)

I think this is spot on with what we’ll see this season on defense. While I still have concerns at DE the upgrades everywhere else enable so much flexibility we can help them out however we chose each week. Plus there are still several FA options available so they can be patient and monitor the recoveries of Turner and Dayo. Windy City GridironChicago Bears Opinion of the Day: We are looking at this...Mongo Peanut is convinced that we aren’t seeing what Dennis Allen is building.

The way I see it is if they finish with 8 or 9 wins and miss the playoffs, it will be a disappointing season. There is no way around it. I feel like 10-11 is probably the realistic target, and 12+ wins is if everything goes right.

The 2025 Bears vs the 2026 schedule = 8 or 9 win team, but this is not the 2025 Bears. This is the 2nd year in the system. DET jumped 3 games in each the 2nd and 3rd years of Johnson's offense. They went from 9-8, to 12-5, to 15-2.

It is a new year, but there are several ways to look at this. If you are looking at last year as a fluke, then sure, regression will happen just based on the competition level, but that typically is only related to 3 games on the schedule per year that factor in. However, just on paper, only 4 teams had a better record than the Bears last year (that they play). So if you just used that as a measuring stick, the Bears should only lose 4 games, if nothing else is considered. The Bears have the 3rd fewest miles traveled, the most rest differential, and a favorable bye week. None of those may matter, but rarely are the Bears afforded those hidden benefits related to rest and recovery. The Bears season is going to come down to their division record. They lost 2 games outside of the Division last year. So just say they lose 4, 2 of the 3 games against 1st place teams, but go from 2-4 to 4-2 in the division. They would still end up at 11-6. So they really need to sweep MIN, and at least split with GB and DET.

You guys are all way more optimistic than me. We have a lot of consistent 1st place type teams on the schedule. Meanwhile Lions have some real cupcakes on their schedule. I think we are taking a step back before we take our next step forward and think we are going to fall between 7-10 wins and my current guess is in that 8-9 win range. I hope I'm wrong and it is better than that, but I think there are plenty of flaws on this team...now if Caleb takes a huge step forward and his healthy all year and gets that completion percentage up to like 65% (while keeping that sack rate and turnover rate low)...than I see us being more of a 10 - 11 win type of team (held short by the defense).

Watched a lot of prediction podcasts and the worst was 10-7 and the best was 13-4. The year the Ravens had the same rest schedule that Adam showed, they finished 12-5. That is a good place to set my total. With all the suggested strengths and weaknesses, we have the two most important multipliers constant. BJ and Caleb. Of course injuries could derail that record but we have good depth everywhere on the team except DE. We will survive that weakness.

I'm seeing seven national games. Probably more when they do the flex games in the second half of the season. That good for me, since I live out of market.

DET is probably gonna win 12+ games, NO, NYJ, CAR, ARZ, MIA, TB, ATL, TEN, and NYG. They don't play GB or CHI on the road until Weeks 17 and 18. By then they may have already won 12 games. GB and MIN both look like 9 win teams, plus or minus a win. So I think it is going to come down to CHI and DET between 11 and 13 wins, and GB and MIN between 8-10 wins. Just based on the current schedules, DET probably has the edge

Interestingly enough, BUF plays GB on SNF before traveling home to play the Bears the next Saturday. The Bears play MIA at noon, so the Bears actually have a 7 hour edge in rest. Also, leading up to the Bears game, BUF plays in GB, in NE, and at home against KC before playing the Bears. They may be beat up and tired by then. Then for the Christmas game, because the Bears play BUF on Saturday, they have an extra day of rest compared to GB who plays on Sunday, then the Bears on Friday.