5 Chicago Bears who are on pace for career years in 2023

Montez Sweat, DE

It is nice to know that Ryan Poles isn't afraid to learn from his mistakes. Last season, the Chicago Bears made a trade for Chase Claypool before the deadline. The hope was to add another wide receiver to the mix that could help Justin Fields develop. That trade may go down as one of the worst in franchise history, but Poles went back to the well and made another deadline trade for defensive end Montez Sweat. This time, everything looks to be working out in Poles' favor.

Sweat has already eclipsed his career high in sacks, but what's crazy is that he has nearly the same number for both teams this year. Sweat has 6 sacks for the Chicago Bears and 6.5 for the Commanders — a total of 12.5. Prior to this season, Sweat has never reached double digits. As of now, Sweat currently leads both teams in sacks too. Jonathan Allen could tie or eclipse that number for the Commanders as he sits at 5.5 with two games to play. No one is going to catch him in Chicago though. The closest to him is Justin Jones at 4.5 and Yannick Ngakoue (4.0) who is out for the remainder of the season.

For the season, Montez Sweat has a career-high in pressures too (39). He also has a career-high (53) in combined tackles and solo tackles (36). He is one tackle for loss (13) away from tying that career high too. Not to mention, since the trade, the Chicago Bears are 4-3 and now find themselves tied for 11th in takeaways with 23. That total is equal to what they finished with in 2022. Let's see if they can come away with a few more before the season's end.