The Chicago Bears must see even more from this second-year player in 2024

Most Chicago Bears fans are expecting Darnell Wright to take a step forward in 2024. That is a simple expectation for any former top-ten pick entering his second season, but for Wright, there is more tied to those expectations. 

Wright was thrown into the fire and played 99.5% of the team's snaps as a rookie. He led the Bears in offensive snaps played by 104. That is a heavy workload right out of the gate, and right out of the gate, he was taking on some of the top pass rushers in the NFL. 

In week one,, he saw Rashan Gary, and although he was coming off an injury, he did record a sack. It was a welcome to the NFL moment for Wright. From there, Wright faced names such as Shaq Barrett, Chris Jones, Montez Sweat, Danielle Hunter, and Maxx Crosby. Wright fought hard against Crosby but did give up a sack, and after that game, he started to show up on the injury report. 

Darnell Wright could solidify himself as a top offensive tackle in 2024.

After that, he immediately saw Joey Bosa and Cam Jordan as well. The pass rush gauntlet slowed down at times during the back half, but he saw a large list of the best pass rushers early on and played through injuries down the stretch. Even then, he had to deal with Aidan Hutchinson and Danielle Hunter. 

There is always going to be a challenge in the NFL, but the schedule looks much softer this year. Wright facing that tough stretch should only make him stronger, and if he does get a bit less of a gauntlet stretch of pass rushers there could be more dominant games in between to improve momentum. 

Bears fans have to have extremely high expectations for Darnell Wright in his second NFL, and there are a few reasons to think that he cannot meet them right now.