3 Chicago Bears players who improved their chances of starting in 2023

2. The Chicago Bears edge rusher rotation was more defined

A couple of weeks ago, we had no clue who was going to start at edge rusher for the Chicago Bears defense. Now, you can pretty much name the starting four linemen from side-to-side.

It will be Yannick Ngakoue, Andrew Billings, Justin Jones, and DeMarcus Walker. The rookie interior lineman did not do enough to push the veterans, and the Chicago Bears made their stance clear on the edge this weekend.

Ngakoue and Walker did not play, while every other edge rusher did. That is because they are the two locks to start. Dominique Robinson and Rasheem Green were the starters, and they played sparingly. They are closer to the roster, while Terrell Lewis and Trevis Gipson had heavy workloads. That is because they are both playing for their roster lives.

So, even though Gipson performed well, you have to remember that the real winner is Walker because he did not have to play at all. His job is that secured. Nothing that any of the four rushers we noted did this weekend did anything to push Walker.

There may be movement and shaking up the depth chart with the bottom four, but Walker is going to start week one unless something crazy happens.