Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ acquisition of defensive end Montez Sweat at the trade deadline this season was a necessary move for a GM with a major pass rush issue. But for the price he paid — a second-round draft pick and a four-year, $98 million contract — it came with some risk.
The 26-year-old Sweat was a productive, but hardly dominant pass rusher in five seasons with the Commanders. He had never had a double-digit sack season. And on a defensive line with three Pro Bowl players — end Chase Young and tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen — Sweat arguably was more the beneficiary than the catalyst. Poles’ description of Sweat as a “multiplier” — a player who makes everyone around him better — seemed like more of a wishful projection than a matter of fact.
But seven games into Sweat’s career with the Bears, the trade/signing is clearly in the win column for Poles. It’s a small sample size, and Sweat’s arrival coincided with two key favorable factors — a defense that not only was already improving after a slow start, but finally getting 100% healthy after having injury issues from the second week of training camp. But so far, Sweat has been everything Poles envisioned.
But so far, Sweat has been everything Poles envisioned. He has six sacks, 13 quarterback hits, three pass breakups and a forced fumble. In that seven-game span, the Bears have improved from 28th to 21st in points allowed, from 23rd to 12th in yard allowed and from 22nd to 11th in takeaways.
Things change quickly in the NFL, but with two games to go in Poles’ second season, his significant wins are adding up. To wit:
• Trading the No. 1 overall pick for 2023 and acquiring wide receiver DJ Moore. Not only has Moore been as good as advertised, with 83 receptions for 1,143 yards (13.7 yards per catch) and seven touchdowns, but the Panthers’ 2024 first-round pick, which the Bears got in return, is likely to be No. 1 overall and no worse than No. 4.
• Replacing linebacker Roquan Smith with Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards — and Gervon Dexter. Smith is thriving in the Ravens’ defense, as expected, and is still the best player involved in that trade. But both teams are winning this deal. Edmunds, after a slow start, has five takeaways — as many as he had in five seasons with the Bills. Edwards, who leads the Bears with 143 tackles, has been one of the most cap-efficient players in the NFL. And Dexter is at least making progress, with a quarterback hit in each of his last six games.
• Drafting offensive lineman Darnell Wright over defensive tackle Jalen Carter. While Carter — the favorite for defensive rookie of the year with five sacks and one touchdown for the Eagles — could eventually still make this a bad move, right now it looks like a prudent one. Wright, despite rookie mistakes, already looks like a fixture and fills a bigger hole.
• Signing Andrew Billings. The journeyman defensive tackle has flourished at nose tackle in coach Matt Eberflus’ defense, a big reason why the Bears have improved from 31st to first in rushing defense.
For Poles, it’s just a start, but it’s a good start, especially relative to his immediate predecessors. All he has to do now is get the quarterback right and he’s set.
2. Not surprisingly, it went largely unrecognized and uncelebrated that Eberflus no longer has the worst winning percentage in Bears history after Sunday’s 27-16 win over the Cardinals.
Eberflus (9-23, .281) passed Abe Gibron (11-30-1, .274) to rid himself of that distinction. Next up: John Fox (14-34, .292). Eberflus will move ahead of him with a victory in either of the final two games.
3. Even with the Bears playing better, many fans still see Eberflus as more the problem than the solution. However, he’s very likely sticking around, and although he still has a lot to prove as a head coach, his 9-23 record is objectively misleading. The Bears were doomed to a 3-14 record in the teardown season; they were set up to fail. This season is a better measurement: 6-9 overall, and 6-5 after an 0-4 start.
That’s not great, but it compares favorably to previous Bears coaches who withered after promising starts: Matt Nagy (from 19-10 to 15-21), Marc Trestman (10-9 to 3-10), Dick Jauron (26-24 to 9-21) and Dave Wannstedt (26-23 to 14-33). Eberflus might be no better than any of them, but timing is everything.
4. While quarterback Justin Fields and the offense continue to be hit or miss, the Bears’ improved defense is giving them a better chance to win. With the victory over the Cardinals, the Bears have won four of their last five when scoring 20 or more points. Before that under Eberflus, they’d lost eight of 10 while scoring 20 or more points, including a 38-20 loss to the Packers and a 31-30 loss to the Broncos this season.
5. Cole Kmet’s four catches for 107 yards Sunday (all in the first half) marked just the fifth time in the last 10 seasons that a Bears tight end has had 100 or more receiving yards in a game and the first time since Trey Burton had 126 yards against the Patriots in 2018.
That’s actually pretty good for the Bears. From 1965 to 2013, only two tight ends had 100 or more yards in a game: Emery Moorhead (114) in 1985 and Desmond Clark (125) in 2006, both in Super Bowl seasons.
Kmet has 70 receptions for 678 yards (9.7 average) and six touchdowns this season. His 45.2 yards per game is the most since Zach Miller’s 48.6 in 2016 and a 41.3% increase from Kmet’s 32.0 in 2022.
6. Fields has much more support as the Bears’ franchise quarterback than Mitch Trubisky did at a similar stage of his career in 2020. But did you know they have nearly identical total yardage in games in which they played 89% or more of the snaps?
It’s true. Trubisky averaged 239.2 total yards in 48 games with the Bears. Fields is averaging 238.1 total yards in 34 games. Hmmm . . .
7. Hot Take Department: It’s admirable that Fields only wants to win, regardless of his statistics. But there’s something to be said for the quarterback who not only wants to win but also wants to be the reason you win, the guy who wants to be responsible for winning, the guy who wants the ball in his hands in the fourth quarter when the team is down by six points, the player who makes the difference.
With all due respect to Fields’ humility, there’s a reason why the best quarterbacks are one-eleventh of the offensive personnel on the field but often three-elevenths of the salary cap. In crunch time, it’s their game. There’s room for that mindset as well.
8. With a one-yard touchdown catch against the Cardinals, tight end Marcedes Lewis is the latest player to have scored a touchdown for the Bears and against the Bears. He caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers in the Packers’ 41-25 victory in 2020 at Lambeau Field.
Running back David Montgomery also accomplished that rare feat when he scored on a one-yard run in the Lions’ 31-26 victory over the Bears on Nov. 19 at Ford Field.
9. Ex-Bears Player of the Week: Raiders defensive tackle Bilal Nichols recovered a fumbled wildcat snap by Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco and returned it eight yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 9-7 lead they wouldn’t lose in a 20-14 upset of the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
10. Bear-ometer: 7-10 — vs. Falcons (W); at Packers (L).
