Windy City Gridiron
A problem foreign to Bears fans emerged in the aftermath of the 2025 Draft - do the Bears have too much offensive talent?
At roughly 6:38 pm on April 25th, Chicago Bears fans were confronted with an unfamiliar question.
Do we have too much offensive talent?
Entering the 2025 NFL draft, you’d be hard pressed to find any analyst who was giving the Bears another WR in one of the first three rounds. After the Bears selected Colston Loveland at pick 10, this idea seemed even more far-fetched.
And then Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson went nuclear.
In attempts to rationalize the situation, Bears fans started concocting scenarios where one or more offensive talents had to be traded. Surely teams aren’t allowed to have more than two, maybe three offensive weapons at a time, right? RIGHT?!
Recall the Bears' best offense of the last 25 years. In 2013, Marc Trestman, Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffrey, Martellus Bennett, and Matt Forte made for a formidable group that was 2nd in the league in points. It feels like a high water mark - an offense difficult for Bears fans to imagine surpassing.
Still, that 2013 squad was fairly conventionally built. Two good WRs, one good TE, and one good RB. However, if they wanted to run 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, and 3 WRs) your next man up was Earl Bennett. Now, no slight to Earl Bennett, but he had a modest 243 yards receiving in 2013. A good, not great addition.
In 21 personnel (2 RBs, 1 TE, and 2 WRs) they could add Michael Bush. A solid, if unspectacular backup RB.
In 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TE, and 2 WRs)? Dante Rosario was your backup TE. He had 1 catch for 4 yards in 2013.
Fast forward to 2025, and it’s an embarrassment of riches on offense. The depth chart is insane.
WR: DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Olamide Zacchaeus, Devin Duvernay, Tyler Scott, Miles Boykin, Samori Toure
TE: Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Durham Smythe, Stephen Carlson
RB: D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Kyle Monangai, Travis Homer, Ian Wheeler
Just look at it.
Soak it in.
Not only does every position group have at least one impact player, each group has remarkable depth as well.
The Bears can conceivably run any offensive package and not have a serious weak link. Even the strangest packages present interesting possibilities:
00 Personnel: DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Olamide Zacchaeus, Devin Duvernay
13 Personnel: D’Andre Swift, Cole Kmet, Colston Loveland, Durham Smythe, DJ Moore
21 Personnel: D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Colston Loveland, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden
23 Personnel: D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Durham Smythe (maybe this one is a little far-fetched)
No matter how you dice it - this offense can accommodate any grouping that Ben Johnson dreams up. For a coach with seemingly infinite creativity, this should be exciting for Bears fans. And with a quarterback in Caleb Williams, behind a significantly improved OL, the...
