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The Chicago Bears are going to have a great season if a lot of things on offense go right for them. They have a new quarterback and tons of new weapons for him to utilize.
The excitement is warranted, but they also need their defense to rise to the occasion if they want to compete for the playoffs. It probably needs to be better than above average if they want their season to end in the postseason.
Last season, they struggled during the first half of the 2023 season. Like the entire team, they got better as the year went along. There is one point, however, that you can point to as the turning point of the defense’s late success.
That moment is when they made a trade with the Washington Commanders for defensive end Montez Sweat, who made an immediate impact with Chicago.
The Bears immediately signed him to a mega extension to lock in a cornerstone piece on defense for the future. He had a career year with 12.5 sacks and 63 pressures, earning his first Pro Bowl nod. Sweat led both the Bears (6.0) and Commanders (6.5) in sacks.
Nobody is more important to the defense this season than Sweat. If he plays at the top of his game and is healthy, they should be able to be a great unit all around.
General manager Ryan Poles has some good pieces around Sweat but may not be done. They could use another pass rusher, but they are in a good spot for now. If the offense lives up to the hype, and the defense does their job, Chicago has a good football team to watch in the fall.