Windy City Gridiron
Heading into the 2026 season, expectations are high for the Bears’ offense. The early returns under Ben Johnson were very encouraging, as he finished with the No. 9 offense in the NFL by Pro Football Network’s Offense Impact Scoring metric. They also finished with the sixth-most amount of yardage gained, marking a massive turnaround from years past.
Coming off of a strong offensive performance as a unit, there is naturally plenty of interest in the Bears’ top offensive players as options from a fantasy football perspective. As a result, the top websites through which to play fantasy football have set up some intriguing stat projections for them going into 2026.
I wanted to share these stat projections not just from a fantasy perspective, but for fans wondering how notable Bears players are expected to perform by the national pundits. I’ll be using three fantasy outlets: ESPN, Sleeper, and CBS Sports. Two other notable fantasy football league platforms, Yahoo! Sports and NFL, have yet to release statistical projections.
Bears fans might be disappointed to see Caleb Williams falling short of the 4,000-yard passing mark in all three projections. However, two leagues anticipate his completion percentage improves in 2026, and two leagues expect his passing touchdown totals to improve.
From a fantasy perspective, Williams has QB1 upside with a strong offensive line, a talented young offensive core, and an intelligent offensive play caller in Johnson. The completion percentage will be key for him to maximize his passing attempts, and while the Bears preferred to stretch the ball vertically more than most NFL teams, his rate still needs to be better than the 58.1% rate he had in 2025. I wouldn’t be opposed to a lower passing yard total if it means Chicago’s offense is more efficient in the second half, thus getting out to earlier leads and milking the clock with the ground game more.
Though Kyle Monangai is slated to have a big role in the Bears’ ground game — more on that shortly — D’Andre Swift is projected to be the 1A to Monangai’s 1B once again in 2026. Swift is coming off of a career-high 1,087 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns last season, missing just one game in a bounce-back campaign. He’s more proven as a receiving back than Monangai at this stage, giving him more value in PPR fantasy leagues.
Swift was incredibly efficient running the ball last year; his 15.4 rushing EPA was the third-best in the NFL. His athleticism gives him big-play ability and the skills to evade would-be tacklers. He might surrender some touches in short-yardage situations, but if he can stay healthy, he should remain productive in 2026.
From a fantasy football perspective, Monangai is not just an extremely valuable handcuff running back; he’s also a strong contributor with FLEX potential. He had six games with more than 10.0 fantasy points as a rookie in 2025, and Swift was active for all but one...
