The Chicago Bears managed to make a splash for the third consecutive offseason, and this time around, they didn't even need to wait until the NFL Draft to do so. In hiring former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, the Bears have secured one of the top play-callers in the NFL and arguably the hottest name on the coaching carousel, but this is just the first step in what will ideally be the transformative offseason that many Bears fans — myself included — believed last year was going to be.
But hiring the right head coach is just step number one for the Bears this offseason. As has been the case each of the last two years, Chicago has had plenty of money to spend in free agency — the 4th-most in the league, according to Spotrac — and still plenty of needs to fill. But no area of the Bears roster needs more work than along the offensive line. And that's exactly why the Bears have to find a way to sign Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith this Spring, even if it means overpaying for him.
Now while I'd much prefer Chicago to be able to get Trey Smith at a reasonable price, to sign the 12th-highest rated guard in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus, is a proposition that the Bears just can't afford to miss out on. And mind you, it's not as if this is a 32 year old who has already gotten his big contract and his best years may be behind him.
Smith is still only 25 years old, despite having played in the NFL for four years. He was a college teammate of Bears offensive tackle Darnell Wright, who was selected with a 1st Round pick just two years ago and is one of a handful of potential blue-chippers already on the roster in Chicago. It likely helps matters too that Bears general manager Ryan Poles was Executive Director of Player Personnel in Kansas City when Smith was selected in the 6th Round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
In Detroit, the Lions built one of the best offensive lines in the NFL during Johnson's tenure. There starters (Penei Sewell, Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler) have made an All-Pro team, and the combination of a sharp play-caller, an uber-talented, and a top-tier one-two punch of running backs resulted in the Lions having one of the most potent running games and screen attacks in the NFL. Maybe even most importantly, it meant that quarterback Jared Goff was sacked just 84 times in the last three seasons.
Just how bad was the Bears offensive line in 2024?

(↑ That bad)
In fact, a spot-on assessment of the 2024 Chicago Bears offensive line would be to call it historically bad, which is not ideal when you have both a rookie quarterback and an offensive coordinator who got canned after just nine games. Urban Meyer probably looks at Shane Waldron's tenure as the Bears offensive coordinator and says to himself, “Man, that poor sap got four fewer games than I did in Jacksonville.”
Remember when I mentioned that Jared Goff had been sacked just 84 times in the last three seasons?
Well, Caleb Williams was sacked 68 times in 2024 alone (the 3rd-most in a single season in NFL history) for 466 yards (4th-most in NFL history). He was brought down behind the line of scrimmage on 10.79 percent of his drop backs. And as a Bears fan who watched every snap that Williams took during his rookie year, let me tell you, there were 30 more instances that he should've been sacked, but escaped pressure and managed to throw the ball away or improbably made something positive out of the play.
To make matters worse, the Bears were 27th in yards per rush last season, so it's not as if the running game was doing Williams any favors. And mind you, this came on the heels of making D'Andre Swift one of their top free agency acquisitions. This isn't an indictment of Swift, who performed relatively well given the circumstances. Remember, Swift had been used to running behind two of the best offensive lines in the league in 2022 (Detroit) and 2023 (Philadelphia). This was a drastic step backward.
Bringing in Trey Smith would represent a drastic step forward for the offensive line and the organization as a whole, but there are many more steps forward still to be had. The Bears should address offensive line in the NFL Draft, even if it means passing on offensive line with the 10th overall pick for the right edge rusher, but using one of their two 2nd Round picks to continue to build the group that will protect Caleb Williams for years to come.