Sitting at 1-4, there is plenty that the Chicago Bears can look back on and realize that they needed to improve this season. So, what have been some of the biggest disappointments
5. Can any other wide receiver step up for the Chicago Bears?
When we listed out our biggest pleasant surprises, two names that stood out were D.J. Moore and Cole Kmet. Moore is the entire passing offense, and he has kept the team in every game. Kmet has become the second receiver on the team, which has led to him being one of the top pass-catching tight ends this year.
This is great, but sometimes the Bears are too reliant on these two because the rest of their pass catchers provide nothing. Literally, the Bears had three players with receiving yards against the Commanders: Moore, Kmet, and backup tight end Robert Tonyan. They need more.
Chase Claypool is gone. Darnell Mooney is coming along slowly after a serious injury last season. He is working his way back to full health and has looked better in recent weeks, but he has given them little to nothing so far.
Equainimeous St. Brown was activated recently and is already banged up. Velus Jones is hardly a wide receiver, and rookie Tyler Scott has struggled to get onto the football field. When you add it all up, there is not much to get excited about.
Every player listed has been disappointed compared to expectations, and expectations were low for some of these players. The Bears need one of these players to step up, or their issues will remain.
4. The Chicago Bears are not getting their moneys worth on Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards
One of the biggest moves the Chicago Bears made this offseason was boosting up their linebacker corps. Despite seeing a good season from Jack Sanborn, and despite Matt Eberflus having an ability to get the most out of linebackers in the past, the team decided to spend big at the position.
They added T.J. Edwards, who was not a bad deal, but Tremaine Edmunds came in over the top to make this a highly-paid room. Both have failed to deliver. Edwards was great in coverage last year, now he is leading the Bears in yards allowed.
It is a bit different playing linebacker clean behind the Eagles defensive line compared to this defensive front, and Edwards is feeling it. The Chicago Bears could have considered that.
Tremaine Edmunds has been worse. It is partly because of his salary, but he has provided little positive, and there are plenty of negatives to point to in his game. He looks slow to diagnose and has too many missed tackles. He also is not making an impact in coverage. The Commanders game saw a lot of players get back on track, but Edmunds continued to struggle. Is this the way things will remain for the Chicago Bears?
3. The Chicago Bears pass rush remains underwhelming
It made Chicago Bears fans nervous when the team elected to spend on linebacker, and then draft away from the defensive line. There was not much commitment to this unit, and the unit was poor last year. They are not quite as bad, mostly aided by the last game against Sam Howell. Still, this group is disappointing.
Yannick Ngakoue has been what many fans warned Bears fans about. He can win here and there and make the stats look good, but down-in and down-out, he does not consistently impact games. DeMarcus Walker is being asked to do way too much, which is an indictment of how little the team invested here.
Gervon Dexter has been a surprise, but he has been limited. He rotates with Andrew Billings, who is good against the run but not the pass. He also is playing behind Justin Jones, who has made little impact this season.
The Bears rank 28th in pressure rate and 30th in sacks. This is exactly what fans were worried about before the season.
2. The Chicago Bears secondary cannot stay healthy
The strength of the Chicago Bears roster was supposed to be their secondary. When you think about it, Eddie Jackson and Jaylon Johnson were two hits from Ryan Pace. Meanwhile, Ryan Poles committed big draft equity here.
Poles drafted Kyler Gordon, Jaqaun Brisker, and Tyrique Stevenson in round two to complete the secondary. It has not come together yet.
Johnson and Jackson have been injured, as has Kyler Gordon. In the limited time these three have played they have not been issues, but they have not played enough. It has led to a lot of Terell Smith, Greg Stroman, and Elijah Hicks.
Brisker has not been completely healthy, although he has not missed time. Still, you can see it is impacting his play, as are all of the rotating pieces around him.
Stevenson has had moments but also was welcomed to the NFL by Mike Evans in a big way. Overall, if the big names can get healthy the unit still has life. We are not there yet, and this unit has not lived up to expectations.
1. We knew Cody Whitehair would struggle for the Chicago Bears
This one is hardly surprising, but it is still disappointing. You can easily throw in Lucas Patrick as well. What is so disappointing is that anyone who watched the Bears last year knew you should not trust these two. Still, Ryan Poles did.
Patrick was signed as a backup from the Packers and should not have been viewed as a starter. He was hurt through his entire first year, and in the rare parts of games he played, he was a letdown.
So, the team brought him back and made him their top depth option at all interior line slots.
Cody Whitehair has a similar story. He was struggling through the 2022 season, and after all of the injuries he played through in his career, it made sense that he was on his last legs. His salary made it clear for the team to cut him. They kept him. Whitehair has been awful. To be fair, they asked him to move to center all summer and then, at the last minute, asked him to move back to guard. Now, he is back at center. This is a lot on him, and it is more on the team for putting him here than it is his fault. Still, this situation has been disappointing for sure.