This offseason, the Chicago Bears had a lot of work to do on their defense, and they went to work on it, but the fan base still felt it wasn't all resolved.
CBS Sports writer Garrett Podell looked at how much money each NFL team spent in the offseason. The Bears spent the 16th most money in the NFL with $120.37 million and signed 17 free agents.
"They entered the offseason well aware changes needed to be made to their defense that thrived on an NFL-most 33 takeaways but ranked 23rd in scoring defense (24.4 points per game allowed) and 29th in total defense (361.8 total yards per game allowed).
That's why Chicago shelled out for Seahawks Super Bowl champion safety Coby Bryant. He began his career as a slot corner, but Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald shifted him to safety, and he's flourished. Bryant is one of eight safeties with seven or more interceptions (7) and 10 or more passes defended (13) in the last two seasons along with Kerby Joseph, Xavier McKinney, Calen Bullock, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Kevin Byard, Camryn Bynum and Jessie Bates III. He'll look to help lead a Bears secondary alongside first-round pick safety Dillon Thieneman that will look to mirror the improvement Chicago's youthful offense put on display in 2025."
Bears feel like they wasted the offseason and the money they spent
Signing guys like Bryant and linebacker Devin Bush, and drafting Thieneman were big for the defense. Bush is younger and more talented than Tremaine Edmunds, making him a good replacement. Bryant and Thieneman also bring some youth to the safety position and more stability in the future.
There were a couple of concerns with the offseason, though the first problem was the secondary and how many guys they lost. The unit lost four starters from last season's team, and while they did replace the safeties, the cornerbacks weren't really addressed aside from adding Cam Lewis and drafting fourth-round pick Malik Muhammad.
One other main issue is that Bears general manager Ryan Poles did absolutely nothing at edge rusher. After the defense got just 33 sacks in 17 regular season games, Poles is still sticking with Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, and Austin Booker off the edge. Not a single edge rusher was signed or drafted from outside the organization, with the team only re-signing Daniel Hardy in free agency.
Read more: Legendary Bears defender paid a high compliment to Caleb Williams
Sure, the Bears spent a lot of money on free agents and put together a decent group, but Bears fans are still left unsatisfied with what the team did as the team pushes for a Super Bowl run. There is still time for Poles to act, but he must hurry before the season begins.
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