The Chicago Bears started the season near or at the bottom of most preseason power rankings. And while there were some optimistic moments during the season, it’s no surprise they ultimately ended up with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft after a 3-14 campaign. The good news is the NFL is a league of parity, and teams can go from worst to first in an instant. Just look at the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions. They had the Nos. 1 and 2 picks last season, and both made incredible strides this season, making the NFL playoffs and barely missing out, respectively. For Chicago to make a similar leap in 2023, here’s what the Bears’ offseason plans should be in terms of the draft, Bears' free-agent targets, and more.
Trade the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft
The first major fix for the Bears during the 2023 offseason is simple to diagnose yet trickier to fix. The team simply needs more talent.
Having the No. 1 overall pick could be the solution to this problem.
The jury is still out on Justin Fields, but Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Will Levis don’t seem like can’t-miss prospects that would force the Bears to draft a third top-11 QB in six years. That’s why the Bears’ offseason plans should include trading back from the No. 1 pick.
NFL teams are desperate for QBs, so since the Bears have an intriguing one in Fields, they should extract as much as they can from teams who don’t. General manager Ryan Poles may even be able to trade down twice, from No. 1 to No. 2, then again from No. 2 to No. 4, and still get one of the two best non-QBs in the draft.
With that, Poles can acquire additional second- and third-round picks, and get more chances to stock the roster with talent. If the team hits on some picks, the NFL playoffs next season isn’t out of the question.
Get Justin Fields some weapons
The Bears' offseason needs to be a two-pronged approach. The team is set up in the driver’s seat in the draft and is in an equally strong position in free agency. Chicago has the most salary cap space in the NFL right now by a wide margin.
According to Spotrac, the Bears have $98,638,266 in cap space currently. The second-place team is the Atlanta Falcons, with $56,399,608. With that kind of war chest, the Bears' free-agent targets can be whoever the front office wants them to be.
While the team continues to build through the draft, they can also splurge on luxury items. This is especially true at the offensive skill positions.
To develop Justin Fields, the team needs to give him more weapons. There aren’t any high-end WRs on the market this offseason, but if one becomes unhappy (Stefon Diggs? Mike Evans?), the Bears can absolutely afford to trade for them and give them a big extension.
What is available on the Bears' free-agent radar is a superstar running back. David Montgomery is fine, but he’s no Saquon Barkley or Josh Jacobs.
Is it smart to give Saquon Barkley $16 million per year for the next two or three years, making him one of the highest-paid backs in the league? Probably not for most teams. However, if any team can afford to make some (generally) fiscally unsound decisions for the next two years, it’s the Bears.
Going all-in on a potential All-Pro player like Barkley is exactly the type of Bears offseason risk the franchise can afford to take right now while their cap figure is so low.
Build the next great Bears defense
OK, enough about the quarterback and the offense. This is the Chicago Bears we’re talking about. The Monsters of the Midway weren’t Jim McMahon and Walter Payton. They were Mike Singletary, Richard Dent, and Dan Hampton.
The Bears were dead last in scoring defense in 2022, which is embarrassing on so many levels. With Roquan Smith’s exit, the D is now stripped down to the studs, which means there’s nowhere to go but up
There are some building blocks on that side of the ball. Rookies Jaquan Brisker, Jack Sandborn, and Kyler Gordon all look like starters, and veteran Eddie Jackson is a good player.
Bears free-agent targets should also include the defensive side of the ball. The cornerback market is relatively deep, and there are some intriguing defensive linemen available as well.
What the team really needs to do, though, is draft Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter at the top of the draft. Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr. plays the sexier edge-rusher position, but Carter is the closest thing to Aaron Donald since the Pitt DT came out in 2014. Carter is the perfect “Monster” to rebuild a defense on the Midway that can get back to the NFL playoffs.
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