Windy City Gridiron
The Bears’ 2025-26 season came to an end on Sunday, as their 20-17 overtime loss to the Rams in the Divisional Round eliminated them from the playoffs. It was an entertaining season from start to finish, and though expectations were surpassed in Ben Johnson’s first year as the team’s head coach, it’s still painful to feel the NFC Championship appearance right in your fingertips.
With the loss, the Bears have now solidified their positioning with the No. 25 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Going into offseason mode, they have a lot of questions they need to answer, starting with which of their own veterans with expiring contracts they’d like to retain.
The obvious need for Chicago heading into 2026 is their defensive line. Luckily for them, this year’s class figures to be pretty loaded up front. You can check out my full prospect rankings for the 2026 NFL Draft over on my Patreon — my big board is currently over 370 players deep, though I’m a little salty I fell short of 400 with underclassmen choosing to stay in school.
At the end of their season, here’s where the Bears are currently slated to pick:
There are a lot of great mock draft simulators out there, and as a PFSN staff writer, I’m biased towards the draft simulator they have on their site. That said, I’ve also been using NFL Mock Draft Database as a resource for a long time (especially their consensus boards), so for this mock, I wanted to give them a shoutout and use their draft simulator to make every other team’s picks around me.
Without further ado, here is my first 2026 Bears mock draft of the offseason.
Titans receive: No. 57 overall, WR DJ Moore
Bears receive: DT Jeffery Simmons
Let’s face it: the Bears need to aggressively attack the defensive line this offseason.
Their four-man pass rush was abysmal for much of 2025, often being forced to rely on nickel and safer blitzes to generate any form of pressure. Montez Sweat had a solid season but didn’t live up to his hefty contract from a down-by-down consistency perspective. Austin Booker showed flashes but also lacked reliability. Dayo Odeyingbo was a total non-factor before he went down for the season.
Then, there’s the interior. Gervon Dexter was the only interior defender who performed at a solid level rushing the passer. Grady Jarrett, like his fellow pricy free agent signing Odeyingbo, was a non-factor. Andrew Billings has never been known as a pass-rushing defensive tackle, and Shemar Turner got hurt early in the season.
I could see the Bears making a trade for a big-name veteran defensive lineman. I’ve seen Maxx Crosby floated around as a potential target, and...
