Many Chicago Bears fans were wondering when Montez Sweat would be back after having an illness. It turns out he won't be gone for long.
The Bears announced that Sweat has been activated from the Active/Non-Football Illness list. He was added to the list just one day prior and appears to be in line to practice on Thursday.
Sweat was recently named one of the top 100 players in the NFL, voted by the players. He is coming off a season where he led the Bears in sacks with 10.
Montez Sweat is back in line to practice after just one day
This was expected, but it's great news for the Bears to have their top pass rusher back on the field. He is arguably the most important piece of the defense since they don't have much of a pass rush.
During OTAs, Bears head coach Ben Johnson gave Sweat highlypraised for his performance in 2025. Johnson even claimed it was the best season of Sweat's NFL career.
With Sweat coming back, that will take some of the pressure off Austin Booker and Dayo Odeyingbo to do it themselves. They will face different pressure, as the two are currently in a position battle for the starting edge rusher job opposite each other.
Booker has the team's confidence and played well late in the season with 4.5 sacks in 10 games. Odeyingbo was given a three-year, $48 million contract last year, and he followed it up with just one sack in eight games. He suffered a season-ending injury that propelled Booker into the starting lineup.
Read more: Tyrique Stevenson just got direction on what he needs to fix ASAP
Now, if the Bears can just get cornerback Kyler Gordon back in the starting lineup before the 2026 season, Chicago will be in a good position to succeed. Sweat will make sure he does his part.
Add us as a preferred source on Google