After franchise tagging Allen Robinson, the Chicago Bears are $19.7 million over the projected cap space according to Over The Cap. The projected salary cap for 2021 is roughly $188 million on Over The Cap as well.
The Bears already freed up some cap space immediately by releasing nickel cornerback Buster Skrine and starting right tackle Bobby Massie. Both of these releases saved the Bears a bit of money, but not much, and additionally left a hole at a major position (right tackle). Alex Bars may be able to fill that hole, or they can fill it via the 2021 NFL draft as this tackle class is extremely deep.
Nickel cornerback should be fine as Duke Shelley showed promise and they can have Kindle Vildor and Tre Roberson compete with him for the starting job. This is another position they should be fine at but should address in the draft.
But at -$19.7 million over the cap, many think it is impossible for the Bears to make it work. The New Orleans Saints though year after year put themselves into a cap issue and get out of it. They truly are the masters at it as they were around $60 million over the cap this offseason and just franchise tagged Marcus Williams.
How do they do it? Plenty of different ways they do it and the Bears need to incorporate those same ideas this offseason. Pace needs to use his New Orleans connections and do the same thing here.