With a quarter of the 21st century of Bears football behind us, we look at the best players to suit up for them on offense.
The 2025-26 NFL season marks the 25th season of the 21st century, and it also means we’ve sat through a quarter century of Chicago Bears football since the turn of the millennium.
It’s been an up-and-down quarter century, for the Bears, ranging from the highs of their NFC championship in 2006 to the lows under the likes of Marc Trestman and Matt Eberflus. The hope is the next 25 years will be more steadily strong, but there have been plenty of fantastic players to suit up for the Bears over the years.
To look back on the best Bears players of the 21st century, I put together a full team of the best players at each position to suit up for the organization since 2001. Today, we’ll start with the offense.
QB: Jay Cutler (2009-16)
This is probably the easiest choice of all the positions for this Bears all-quarter century team. As of this writing, Jay Cutler is the only quarterback with more than four seasons as the team’s starter.
It’s not a high bar to reach, but Cutler was still a solid starter during his time with the Bears. Though interceptions held him back from ever being in conversation as the league’s elite, he holds the team’s all-time records in passing yards, passing touchdowns and quarterback wins.
RB: Matt Forte (2008-15)
If Cutler wasn’t the easiest choice, Matt Forte as the team’s running back sure is. He has far and away the most rushing yards for a Bears player in the 21st century so far, he leads in receptions, and he’s second in receiving yards.
Forte surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark in five of his eight seasons with the Bears, and he didn’t have fewer than 890 rushing yards in a single season. He held the record for receptions by a running back in a season for nearly a decade, and he was a two-time Pro Bowler. In a franchise deep with legendary running backs, Forte belongs near the top.
WR: Brandon Marshall (2012-14), Alshon Jeffery (2012-16), Allen Robinson (2018-21)
Despite playing for the Bears for just three seasons, a strong argument could be made that Brandon Marshall is the best wide receiver in team history. He was a Pro Bowler in two of those seasons and a first-team All-Pro in one. His 2012 campaign saw him break franchise records with 118 catches and 1,508 yards.
In five seasons with the Bears, Alshon Jeffery had 304 catches for 4,549 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns. He was a Pro Bowler in 2013 after tallying 1,421 receiving yards in just his second year in the league. He had two 1,000-yard seasons, but he was well on pace to also reach that mark in his injury-shortened 2015 and 2016 years.
I considered Marty Booker in the third spot, as he also had two 1,000-yard receiving seasons with the Bears. He also had a Pro Bowl appearance, which Allen Robinson did not. However, Robinson has the edge in both receptions and receiving yards. He finished top ten in the NFL in receptions in both 2019 and 2020 and was a star receiver at his peak.
TE: Cole Kmet (2020-present)
Greg Olsen showed tremendous flashes before the Bears traded him away. Martellus Bennett made it to a Pro Bowl. Desmond Clark had the longevity. In the end, though, I believe Cole Kmet is the closest thing to bringing the best of both worlds.
Through his first five seasons with the Bears, Kmet has 258 receptions for 2,592 yards and 19 touchdowns. He isn’t a superstar, but he’s leaned on the above-average end of starting tight ends around the league. He finished 12th in receiving for tight ends in 2021, 13th in 2022, and ninth in 2023.
OT: Charles Leno Jr. (2014-2020), John Tait (2004-08)
James “Big Cat” Williams and Fred Miller are honorable mentions, with the former making it as a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro in 2001. However, since the 21st century started in 2001, he only has two seasons of play for the Bears eligible for this list. He narrowly misses the cut.
Charles Leno Jr. remains a divisive topic of conversation among Bears fans, just as Braxton Jones is now. It’s something about decent left tackles that lead people to extreme takes in either direction, I suppose! Even if he wasn’t a star, he was a solid starter in six of the seven seasons he played in Chicago, making the Pro Bowl in 2018.
John Tait was an unsung hero for the Bears during the mid-2000s, serving as the blindside anchor for some offensive lines that paved the way for Thomas Jones to put up strong numbers. He started in 73 games for Chicago, and he was a reliable piece of the offense throughout that tenure.
OG: Kyle Long (2013-19), Roberto Garza (2005-14)
Ruben Brown and Cody Whitehair deserve shoutouts for these positions. Brown had a higher peak than Roberto Garza, as he was a Pro Bowler in 2006. Whitehair fell off near the end of his stint in Chicago, but at his peak, he was also a Pro Bowler and a good starting guard in the league.
In the end, Garza takes the other guard spot alongside Kyle Long. Garza started in 145 games and played in 154, taking on roles as a starting center and both guard spots. He was an average to above-average starter throughout his time with the Bears, speaking to just how valuable he was to the organization.
Long is an easy selection for this quarter-century team, especially for the start of his career. He was a Pro Bowler in each of his first three seasons with the Bears, earning second-team All-Pro recognition in 2014. Injuries derailed his career from there. But with 76 career starts and a high peak, he deserve credit as one of the team’s best modern offensive linemen.
C: Olin Kreutz (1998-2010)
The first three seasons of Olin Kreutz’s career don’t count for the sake of this list, but that’s not going to stop him from being the easy selection here.
From 2001 to 2006, Kreutz made the Pro Bowl in all six seasons. He was a two-time All-Pro in that span, and in total, he started 159 games for the Bears in the 21st century. He’s one of the top centers in league history not yet in the Hall of Fame. That sets a very high bar for anybody else to reach.
All-Purpose: Thomas Jones (2004-06)
Honorable mentions for this role belong to many players. Here’s a full list of everyone I considered here, for various reasons:
- Anthony Thomas
- Jordan Howard
- David Montgomery
- Tarik Cohen
- Jason McKie
- Marty Booker
- DJ Moore
- Darnell Mooney
- Greg Olsen
- Martellus Bennett
- Desmond Clark
In the end, I went with Thomas Jones, who excelled as the lead back for Chicago’s offense from 2004 to 2006. In his three seasons with the team, he ran for 3,493 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. He placed ninth and 11th in the NFL in rushing yards in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
During an era where the Bears’ passing attack was wildly inconsistent, Jones provided stability and helped carry the load for their offense. If it weren’t for him, they might not have had enough offensive firepower to make it to Super Bowl XLI.