Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune thought the Bears did the right things in the 2026 NFL Draft:
There’s no telling how members of this year’s draft class, which was completed Saturday with three selections — Texas cornerback Malik Muhammad, **Arizona State linebacker **Keyshaun Elliott and Georgia Tech defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg — will fare in their first seasons. None of the draft picks will pitch in much with the pass rush but the Bears — based on their actions — are telling you they believe they got better players than available prospects at spots at which clear needs still exist.
For an edge rusher to come in Round 2 when the Bears chose Iowa center Logan Jones, they would have had to have gone horizontally — meaning to a cluster of lower-graded players. They went with the higher-graded player at a position that is of high value to them. In Round 3, the edge rushers people felt could step in and make an impact were long gone. Johnson perked up when asked about [Sam] Roush and his blocking ability. As Colston Loveland developed last season and quarterback Caleb Williams got more comfortable in the scheme, the Bears leaned hard into personnel with two and three tight ends. It’s really one of the unique things about Johnson’s offense.
None of this de-emphasizes the significance of the pass rush or glosses over inefficiencies in getting after the quarterback last season when they ranked 21st in sacks per pass attempt. Maybe there’s a move to make down the road.
One option would have been to trade up to the top of Round 2. That would have come close to costing the Bears both of their second-round picks (Nos. 57 and 60), and they would have been getting a player they viewed as a project. That’s what it was like at No. 25, too, when they chose Thieneman, if you take a close look at it. Get the second safety on the board or roll the dice on an edge rusher who is still available because of question marks.
The article also came through the what was for me, the money quote:
“We’re certainly going to coach better than we did a year ago,” [head coach Ben] Johnson said. “It starts there. We’ve made a concerted effort in how we’re going to get that done.”
It doesn’t actually start there. It starts with evaluating and acquiring the talent to work with. But Johnson certainly has the right idea.
It always amuses me when draft experts grade drafts in the NFL. It’s almost always as much about “filling needs” as it is about talent. Sometimes it’s even more about that, presumably because it’s much easier to see and evaluate needs than it is for the average sports commentator to evaluate talent. Anyone can look at an NFL roster and see holes. But evaluating talent requires hours of work watching video, something that, despite what they say, the average talking head isn’t doing. Not like the scouts and GMs. And even if they are, they aren’t looking at it through the lens of the scouts and front office people of one particular team who can focus on fits for their particular scheme and philosophy.
It’s true that the Bears didn’t fill needs along the line of scrimmage with this draft. But, honestly, that’s not what the draft should be about. What NFL teams need to acquire in the draft are impact players, not at a particular position, but at any position on the field.
The key to success for any NFL franchise over the long term is to draft and develop. They’ve done the drafting part and I have no doubt that the Bears acquired some good, talented players this year, guys with a high ceiling. Now their job is to coach these players up to get the most out of them. They appear to have done that last year. If they do it again, this draft will be a good one.