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 five-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.
In seven games with the Bears, Sweat has six sacks, 13 quarterback hits, three pass break-ups and a forced fumble. In that span, the Bears have improved from 28th to 21st in points allowed, from 23rd to 12th yards and from 22nd to 11th in takeaways.
Things change quickly in the NFL, but with two games to go in Poles’ second season as GM, his significant wins are adding up. To wit:
- Trading the No. 1 overall pick/acquiring DJ Moore. Not only has Moore been as good as advertised with 83 receptions for 1,141 yards (13.7 average) and seven touchdowns, but the Panthers’ first-round pick is likely to be No. 1 overall and no worse than No. 4.
- Replacing Roquan Smith with Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards — and Gervon Dexter. Smith is thriving in the Ravens’ defense as expected — and 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 in tackles (143), has been one of the most cap-efficient players n the NFL. And Dexter is at least making progress — with a quarterback hit in each of his last six games.
- Drafting Darnell Wright over Jalen Carter. While Carter — the favorite for defensive rookie of the year with five sacks and one touchdown — could still eventually 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 Eberflus’ defense — a big reason why the Bears have improved from 31st to first in rushing defense this season.
For Poles, it’s just a start, but a good start — especially relative to his immediate predecessors. All he has to now is get the quarterback right and he’s set.
2. Not surprisingly, it went largely unrecognized and uncelebrated that Bears coach Matt Eberflus no longer has the worst winning percentage in franchise history after the 27-16 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday.
Eberflus (9-23, .281) passed Abe Gibron (11-30-1, .274) to rid himself of that distinction. Next up: John Fox (14-34, .292), with a victory in either of the final two games of the season.
3. Even with the Bears playing better, Eberflus is still seen as more of the problem than the solution to many Bears fans. But he’s very likely sticking around.
And while Eberflus 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, 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 Justin Fields and the offense continue to be hit-and-miss, the Bears’ improved defense is giving them a better chance to win. With the 27-16 victory over the Cardinals, the Bears have won four of their last five games when scoring 20 or more points.
They had lost eight of 10 games while scoring 20 or more points under Eberflus before that, including a 38-20 loss to the Packers and 31-30 loss to the Broncos this season.
5. Cole Kmet’s four catches for 107 yards — all in the first half — marked the fifth time in the last 10 seasons a Bears tight end has had 100 or more receiving yards in a game — the first since Trey Burton in 2018 (126 yards vs. the Patriots).
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 Moorehead (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 (48.6) in 2016 — and 41.3% increase from Kmet’s 32.0 yards per game 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 production in games in which they’ve 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 Dept.: It’s admirable that Fields only wants to win, regardless of his statistics (“If I have 100 passing yards with zero touchdowns and we get the win, I’m cool with that.”). 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 down by six points — and be the player who makes the difference.
With all due respect to Fields’ humility, there’s a reason why the best quarterbacks are 1/11th of the offensive personnel on the field, but often are 3/11ths of the salary cap on the field. 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 score a touchdown for the Bears and against the Bears. Lewis caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers in the Packers’ 41-25 victory over the Bears in 2020 at Lambeau Field.
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.
8a. Trivia Dept.: Alan Page is the only defensive player to score for the Bears and against the Bears. The Hall of Fame defensive tackle scored on a 65-yard fumble return with the Vikings against the Bears in a 24-0 victory on Oct. 11, 1970. Nearly 10 years to the day later, he recovered a fumble in the end zone for the Bears against the Bengals in a 17-14 loss on Oct. 14, 1980.
8b. That’s Not All Dept.: Cordarrelle Patterson is the only player to return a kick for a touchdown for the Bears and against the Bears. Patterson had kickoff-return touchdowns for the Bears in 2019 and 2020. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown against the Bears, with three different teams and nine years apart: the Vikings in 2013, the Patriots in 2018 and with the Falcons last season.
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 would not lose in a 20-14 upset of the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
10. Bear-ometer: 7-10 — vs. Falcons (W); at Packers (L).
