After becoming the first player in NFL history to lead two teams in sacks in the same season, fueling a Bears surge in the second half and making the Pro Bowl for the first time, defensive end Montez Sweat has pretty simple goals for 2024.
“Just be better than I was last year,” Sweat said.
Coming off a career-high 12 1/2 sacks, he is set up to do that. He led the Bears with six sacks in nine games after being traded from the Commanders at midseason, in 2023 and is already here this year, well-versed in coach Matt Eberflus’ defense and in a comfort zone with all but two starters back. And he already has signed a four-year, $98 million extension that runs through the 2027 season.
He’ll be part of a defense that — with his help — is expecting to take a big step forward after finishing strong last year. The Bears led the NFL in scoring defense (17.1 points per game) in the final eight games of the regular season.
The familiarity makes a big difference.
“Definitely,” said Sweat, who will turn 28 four days before the season opener against the Titans on Sept. 8 at Soldier Field. “We brought basically the same defensive staff back, and we’ve got a lot of guys on defense back, so it’s definitely some familiar faces, familiar calls. Kind of ‘pick up where you left off,’ but we’ll see.”
Whereas last year Sweat was forced to learn the Bears’ defense on the fly — he played his first game with them four days after arriving in Chicago — he’s in a comfort zone this year, coasting through the offseason program.
In fact, he participated in his first on-field practice of the offseason Tuesday at the Bears’ mandatory minicamp at Halas Hall, although he didn’t participate in team drills. He’s expected to do that at Wednesday’s minicamp practice.
In his sixth year in the NFL, he’s in no rush. And he has the blessing of Eberflus, defensive coordinator Eric Washington and defensive line coach Travis Smith to do his own thing.
“It’s just a regimen that I build upon my years being in the league,” Sweat said. “I was in great contact with Coach ’Flus, Coach Washington and Coach Trav — also with the guys in the building, just at staying in tune with the installs and all that type of stuff. It’s almost like I didn’t miss a beat.”
Sweat reaching a new level in his first full season with the Bears will be a huge key for Eberflus, whose defense with the Colts made a big jump in his third season in 2020 — from 18th to 10th in the league in points and from 16th to eighth in yards.
Eberflus’ familiarity with Sweat and how he best fits in the defense is a factor, too.
“I really feel that Montez is in a good spot,” Eberflus said. “Obviously, his talent level is there, and our system and our culture really lets guys play at their highest level. We’re going to make sure guys play at their max effort, max intensity, max preparation, because that’s the way we do it.”
As the most accomplished (and highest-paid) player on the defense, Sweat will be an interesting test of the impact of Eberflus’ coaching philosophy. Allowing him to ease his way through the offseason program is part of the strategy of gaining players’ trust and getting the most out of them in response.
“We don’t walk by mistakes here,” Eberflus said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Montez or DJ [Moore] or Caleb [Williams]. We have a standard of how we operate, and it’s coached by the coaches and enforced by the players. [Sweat] understood that coming in. He was very clear with our message on how we do things, and he bought into it, and he got better every week. We anticipate that this year, too.”
