Windy City Gridiron
Who was the Chicago Bears second best player in 2024?
In case you hadn't noticed, the Chicago Bears season has been disappointing. They are 4-12 and have lost ten in a row. When the season has been this poor, individual accolades will be few and far between.
On Thursday, Jaylon Johnson was named to the Pro Bowl roster, and he was the only Bear to be named to the squad, which shouldn’t be surprising, but that got me thinking.
I ask this question because I think it’s a wide-open answer. I think Darnell Wright could be an answer. I think DJ Moore or Keenan Allen could be an answer. I think Caleb Williams could be an answer. I think you could even make a case for Gervon Dexter.
Unfortunately, when you don’t have a few clear-cut top performers on the squad, this is the type of question you can pose to the readers.
My answer: Of all the options I gave above, I’m going to give a different player as an answer. This player didn’t even play half the season, but when he went down with an injury, the Bears' defense went from good to bad overnight.
Despite playing less than eight games, Andrew Billings was the Bears’ second-best player. I think it’s clear after seeing this team perform in the second half of the season that Billings’ impact in 7+ games was bigger than any of the players that played a full season.
You could argue that Billings’ impact is more of an indictment of Ryan Poles’ commitment to the depth of the defensive line this year than it is about his play, which was very good. But if we are being honest, losing a defensive tackle that largely plays 1-Tech shouldn’t destroy an entire defense the way Billings’ loss did.
But looking at the results, to me, Billings is the answer.
What do you say, Bears fans? Was Andrew Billings the team’s second-best player despite playing less than eight games? Sound off in the comments section!
