2025 Chicago Bears Season Preview: Offense

Round 2! Fight! [Photo: Adrian Krause, AP]

Quarterback 

They are:

#18 Caleb Williams, Rookie, USC
#17 Tyson Bagent, 2nd year, Shepherd
#11 Case Keenum, 13th year, Houston

If you look at Caleb Williams’ numbers from last year, they look pretty good. Well, most of them, anyway. 62.5 comp%, 3541 yards, 20 TD, 6 INT. Pretty good. 68 sacks. Ungood. The tape was kind of a mixed bag. There was some indecisiveness, some rookie decision making, some missed throws, particularly deep. The deep shots need to be fixed, and that’s on Caleb, but the other stuff did have some mitigating factors, in particular: the offensive line sucks and the offensive coordinator is an idiot. 

We learned over the offseason that Shane Waldron would effectively go AWOL last year and knowing that, what we saw on the field makes a lot more sense. Route concepts were a mess; nothing played off of anything else, everything took too long to develop, especially given that the line wasn’t any good. Many times, Caleb didn’t make a decision because there wasn’t one to be made. So, Caleb would do what he did at USC when things around him were a mess: play hero ball. And sometimes it would work and we’d go “Wow!” But while Tiger Woods could hit incredible shots from tough lies, it was always easier to just put it in the fairway. Now, Caleb’s got a coach who can give him some fairways to hit. This space predicts major development from Caleb now that he no longer has to try to build the whole offense out of hero ball. 

The talent is certainly there. That was clear back at Oklahoma, where he threw for 1900 yards with 21 TDs and 4 INTs as a true freshman. After that, he followed Lincoln Riley to USC and turned in a Heisman campaign, throwing for 4500 yards, 42 TDs, and only 5 INTs, while completing two-thirds of his passes. The Trojans would beat everyone but Utah that season. The following year, his completion percentage saw a slight uptick, but he threw for 12 fewer TDs and 900 fewer yards as the Trojans took a step back. While he didn’t surpass Joe Burrow as your author’s all-time top draft prospect, he did finish a very solid #2. 

Tyson Bagent wasn’t drafted at all, but his play since signing on as a UDFA made him the first Bears QB since Jay Cutler to earn a second contract from the team. Congrats to Tyson and kudos to the scouting department. After signing in 2023, Bagent saw action in 5 games that season, starting 4 of them with Justin Fields injured. Bagent would throw for 859 yards with 3 TDs and 6 INTs. While not great numbers, he showed he can hang. He’s been showing he can hang ever since. After turning in quality preseasons in 2024 and then again this year, Bagent got a 2-year, $10 million contract extension from the team. Bagent was clearly emotional:

Tyson Bagent fought back the tears explaining what his extension with the #Bears means to him and his family

“My dad is my right hand man and he didn’t have any running water until he was in high school”

READ MORE: https://t.co/fZnuwuzky1 pic.twitter.com/Y60aLXzcWf

— GNSportsTV (@GNSportsTV) August 20, 2025

Adam Jahns said that one reason for extending Bagent was that the Bears could look to him if Caleb struggles. Is that a thing that could happen? Theoretically, yes. Could it happen anytime soon? No. For one, Ben Johnson could’ve had any job he wanted. He took the Bears job because he wanted to work with Caleb Williams. He is not going to just say “ah, screw it, let’s see if Bagent can be Crossfit Goff” if Williams takes time to develop. Moreover, if Caleb’s not the guy, Poles is getting fired. You do not get to whiff on a coach hire, then whiff on a #1 overall QB pick and keep your job in the NFL. They extended Bagent because he’s a quality backup. That’s it. Manute Bol couldn’t reach as far as Jahns is here. (R.I.P. Manute.)

Case Keenum joins the team as a veteran presence in the locker room to aid in Caleb’s development. That role was pretty clearly established when Bagent was named the backup when camp started and set in stone when Bagent signed the extension. However, should the worst happen and we end up needing a third QB like in 2022, we have a capable one. No more Nathan Petermans! (Petermen?) Now having played for a quarter of the league, Keenum’s legacy will always be his 2017 season in Minnesota, where he led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game, throwing for 3500 yards, 22 TDs, with just 7 INTs. Keenum would head to Denver the following year and turn in an average season, after which he was traded to Washington. Keenum would start the first 8 games of the 2019 season in DC, playing decent football without much to show for it in the win column. Then a concussion would take him out of action, with Dwayne Haskins taking over until late in the year. Keenum was never a full-time starter again after that. Hopefully, he won’t be needed to do anything but mentor Caleb, but it is nice to have 3 capable QBs on the roster, since we’ve seen many years where the team had zero.

Feel good about: Tyson Bagent has looked good this preseason. While he’s playing against 2’s, he’s playing with 2’s, too. Should Caleb have to miss any time, they can win with Bagent. This is not the case for every team in the league – the game against the Bills showed that. If Josh Allen goes down (a legit concern, given his propensity for playing football like it’s a demolition derby), they’re ultra screwed. 

Worry about: It’s year one for Caleb in a new offense. Growing pains are likely. 

Confidence level: 8

Running back 

They are:

#4 D’Andre Swift, 6th year, Georgia
#23 Roschon Johnson, 3rd year, Texas
#25 Kyle Monangai, Rookie, Rutgers

D’Andre Swift ran for 959 yards a season ago, but it didn’t feel like it. It doesn’t make sense, really, because, if anything, it should feel like he ran for more yards, given how often the Bears found themselves playing from behind and thus, having to put the run game in the back seat. Maybe it was the fact that those 959 yards came at just 3.8 yards per carry. Whatever it was, a large chunk of the fanbase was hoping that Ashton Jeanty would be available when the Bears picked in the draft. Some even wanted to trade up for him. That was silly. It didn’t happen and so Swift remains the lead dog. Your author’s hope is that new running backs coach Eric Bieniemy can fix the vision and patience issues we saw from Swift a year ago. An improved offensive line should also help. If those issues get rectified, Swift could be in for a huge season, especially considering that Swift is already familiar with Ben Johnson’s offense, having played in it in Detroit. If the vision and patience issues remain, expect another solid, but not great, season, akin to last year’s, for Swift. 

Roschon Johnson figures to be the thunder to Swift’s lightning. After a rookie year in 2023 that gave hope that Johnson could be a quality back, he took a major step back last year. Johnson ran for just 150 yards on 55 carries – 3.9 YPC. Some of that is due to his role as the short yardage guy. Some of it is due to last year’s line being roughly as efficient as the Maginot one. Some of it is due to regression on Johnson’s part. Johnson does not figure to ever be a top back himself, but he’s got the skill set to be an effective spell for a guy like Swift. A much more physical runner than Swift, Johnson can hold his own in pass protection and while not a great receiving threat, is a capable one, meaning he can be on the field in any situation.

Kyle Monangai was drafted in the 7th round out of Rutgers in the 2025 draft and in the preseason, looked like he belongs. A hard runner with good vision, Monangai should be able to earn some snaps this fall. His last two years in college, as the lead back for the Scarlet Knights, Monangai put up great numbers, leading the Big Ten in rushing yards in 2023 and in carries in 2024. Both years, he went for 5+ YPC. One thing he wasn’t, though, was a receiver. Monangai had just 38 receptions during his time in Piscataway, his career high being 14 last year. Monangai got the roster spot over Travis Homer, who played special teams, as well as both Ian Wheeler and Britton Brooks, who also got good work in the preseason. Thus, this space asserts that Monangai will be a legitimate part of the rotation.

Feel good about: Kyle Monangai looks like he could be Jordan Howard 2.0.

Worry about: Neither returning RB averaged 4 YPC last year. 

Confidence level: 6

Wide receiver and tight end

They are:

WR #2 DJ Moore, 8th year, Maryland
WR #15 Rome Odunze, 2nd year, Washington
WR #14 Olamide Zaccheaus, 8th year, Virginia
WR #10 Luther Burden III, Rookie, Missouri
WR #20 Jahdae Walker, Rookie, Texas A&M
WR #12 Devin Duvernay, 6th year, Texas
TE #84 Colston Loveland, Rookie, Michigan
TE #85 Cole Kmet, 6th year, Notre Dame
TE #81 Durham Smythe, 8th year, Notre Dame 

Meet Ben Johnson’s soon-to-be favorite weapon for screwing with opposing defenses: Colston Loveland. Drafted tenth overall just a couple weeks after he became eligible to drink legally, Loveland grew up participating in rodeos in Idaho. Eventually, his attention shifted to the gridiron, and Loveland found himself a 4-star recruit in high school. Michigan won out for his services and Loveland would see the field immediately. His freshman season would end with Loveland catching 16 passes for 235 yards and a pair of TDs. The following year, Loveland was a huge part of the Wolverines’ National Championship run, racking up 45 catches for 649 yards and 4 TDs. He would lead the team in receiving in the title game. His third and final season in Ann Arbor saw the Wolverines rebuild after losing several key pieces from their championship team to the draft. With the team in serious need of receiving talent, Loveland would take on more of a jumbo WR role. He would play in just 10 games due to injury, but would set career highs in receptions (56) and TDs (5). Loveland’s athleticism and route running ability makes him a serious problem for teams to defend, especially when there’s another quality tight end on the field to have to worry about as well. And therein lies the reason the Bears drafted Loveland: not to replace Cole Kmet (at least not entirely), but to complement him. Loveland is athletic enough to play a receiver role in 11 personnel packages and a strong enough blocker to play in-line in 12. The ability to run both packages of plays with the same group of players on the field is a wonderful thing for a coach to have at his disposal. Max Toscano from Remember the Tight Ends: 

The Lions do a lot out of 11 personnel, with the F role often occupied by a slot-type (St. Brown) and depended on to be that precise, volume-eating presence in the middle of the field. This is going to be Loveland’s big job despite the different position, essentially to give them what they hoped the last regime hoped it could squeeze out of an aging Keenan Allen. On the most surface level, a reliable target in the middle is huge for a developing QB. He will be asked in the slot to work the seams, work nickels on choice routes, beat DBs outside on sails, and settle into underneath zones.
…
Above all else, this primary need is what for them separates him from Warren, a less-precise, more yac-heavy pure playmaker rather than that intermediate manager of space. The question becomes why they wouldn’t target a more 1:1 version of St. Brown, therein lies the evolution. I think the Bears want this player to be able to make them a bit heavier. While St. Brown and London can dig out DBs and even LBs in the box, they doesn’t give you that *true* 7th big body on the LOS. Loveland does. He allows them to stay in their 12 and 11 worlds at the same time, which the Lions had to substitute between. Additionally, Cole Kmet, Loveland’s new partner, is a far better pass-catcher than Brock Wright, LaPorta’s 12 personnel sidekick.
…
Of course, when they do want to get into true 11 personnel, Loveland can slide in-line and do it well. I anticipate that Kmet will be the main guy in these situations, at least on first and second down, for the bulk of Loveland’s rookie year, but he will eventually seize many of these snaps.”

Max, and many others, are a little less bullish on Loveland as a blocker right now than I am. My hunch is that that’s got to do with Loveland taking on more of a receiver role for Michigan in 2024. However, that was out of necessity at wide receiver, not anything Loveland was lacking as a tight end. The dude played tight end for Jim Harbaugh. He can block. No worries there. This space asserts he is seeing more snaps than Kmet by Halloween. 

Cole Kmet looks to bounce back after having his least productive season since his rookie year. Kmet wasn’t really bad, but the game planning certainly was. At times, it was like the staff forgot he existed. He started the season seeing fewer snaps than Gerald Everett and even after the staff realized that was dumb, still wasn’t used to his full potential. A 2020 product from Notre Dame’s good-not-great tight end factory, Kmet has been a steady presence for the Bears since taking over for Jimmy Graham as the full-blown starter in 2021. Loveland’s presence means Kmet will be playing mostly in-line, which is a better fit for him to begin with. While Kmet is no slouch as a receiver, he’s no Travis Kelce or anything. Playing as a true TE-Y means more matchups against linebackers and Kmet should be able to win the lion’s share (or Bear’s share, as it were) of them. 

Durham Smythe sounds like he should be the villain in an ‘80s high school/college movie. He is not, though. Rather, he is an incoming tight end for the Bears, here primarily to block. Smythe spent the first seven years of his career in Miami, where he was coached by Ben Johnson. Like Kmet, he went to Notre Dame. Unlike Kmet, he’s never put up much in the way of receiving numbers, his career high being 366 yards in 2023. His presence indicates to your author that Coach Johnson probably has some 13 personnel stuff planned. If you’ve watched the Chiefs play at all in recent years, you’ve seen 13 where one of the 3 is a major receiving threat. It’s hard to defend.

DJ Moore came over from Carolina as part of the great fleecing of the Panthers of 2023 and immediately set a new career high in receiving yards. Last year was a step backwards. A year that was tough on everybody appeared especially tough to Moore, who often looked visibly frustrated. On occasion, those frustrations would make their way to the field, where he would display less than ideal effort. The hope is that being part of an offense led by people how know what they’re doing revitalizes Moore. During camp, we saw him taking snaps in the backfield as the offensive brain trust experimented with ways to get the ball in his hands. This space predicts a bounce back year, with Moore again going over the 1000-yard mark receiving.

As long as we’re making predictions here, this space asserts that there will be a second 1000-yard receiver for the Bears this season: Rome Odunze. A second-year man out of Washington, Odunze would’ve been the top receiver in most draft classes. He was there for the Bears with the second of their two first-round picks because his class was one of the most loaded at receiver in quite some time. Odunze turned in a quality rookie campaign, amassing 734 receiving yards and finding the endzone 3 times. Things seemed to click more for Odunze as the season went on and returns from camp suggest that he’s poised to become one of the game’s top wideouts. 

Olamide Zaccheaus appeared to be a depth signing when he was picked up, but turned in a great preseason. His route running was particularly noticeable. Zaccheaus spent the first four years of his career in Atlanta before heading to Philly for a year, and then Washington for the one after that, Zaccheaus has been mostly a depth piece in his career, starting just 30 of the 89 games he’s appeared in. His career-high in receiving came in 2022 in Atlanta, when he totaled 533 yards. He eclipsed the 500-yard mark for the second time in his career last year, when he put up 506 yards for the Commanders. Your author believes that a new career high in receiving is on the table, but stops short of making it an official prediction because of the presence of second-round pick Luther Burden. 

Burden’s availability at 39 overall was a pleasant surprise. The pick added to the excitement of what this offense could look like. Unfortunately, Burden had something of a tumultuous start to camp with multiple mental errors drawing the ire of Ben Johnson. However, the rookie’s play during the preseason was sure to get him back in the coaching staff’s good graces. In addition to showing the receiving skills that led your author to giving him a 1st-round grade and ranking him as the #2 receiver in the draft class behind only Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, he showed some real blocking chops as well. Anyone who watched the Lions play while Ben Johnson was there knows how important it is for receivers to block in that offense. Burden doesn’t seem to have any problems there. This space is not predicting very big numbers for Burden this year, given all the other talent competing for receptions. The upside to that, though, is that the Bears have the luxury of bringing Burden along at a more deliberate pace. 

Rookie Jah’dae Walker earned a spot on the team with a strong preseason. An undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M who wasn’t even invited to the combine, Walker’s numbers as an Aggie were rather modest. In two years after transferring in from Grand Valley State, Walker totaled 935 yards and 4 TDs.

Devin Duvernay rounds out the receiver room, but expect to see him mostly in the return game. Duvernay started his career in Baltimore, where he started 10 games between his first two seasons before starting 13 in 2022 and setting career highs in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. Those numbers, however, were 37, 407, and 3, respectively, and the following year, he became almost exclusively a return man. He would head to Jacksonville in 2024, where he would again be mostly a return man. A 2-time Pro Bowler and 1-time AP First Team All-Pro for his efforts as a kick and punt returner, expect Duvernay to mostly do that here, especially given the depth in front of him. 

Feel good about: Take your pick: Colston Loveland was just outside my top 5 overall draft prospects this year and it looks I may have seriously underrated him. OR Zaccheaus looks like a legitimate threat in his own right and not just the depth piece he appeared to be when the Bears signed him. OR Rome Odunze looks poised to become a top level receiver in the NFL.

Worry about: Cole Kmet is going to be asked to make some tough blocks in the Y role, and he was not making them consistently last year. 

Confidence level: 10

Offensive line

They are:

OT #70 Braxton Jones, 4th year, Southern Utah
OT #58 Darnell Wright, 3rd year, Tennessee
OT #75 Ozzy Trapilo, Rookie, Boston College
OT #79 Theo Benedet, 1st year, British Columbia
OT #72 Kiran Amegadjie, 2nd year, Yale
OG #64 Joe Thuney, 10th year, NC State
OG #73 Jonah Jackson, 6th year, Ohio State
C #52 Drew Dalman, 5th year, Stanford
IOL #71 Ryan Bates, 7th year, Penn State
IOL #65 Luke Newman, Rookie, Michigan State

A year ago, the offensive line was a Problem with a capital P, and not in a positive way. A negative one. Negative with a capital N. So that was the primary focus for Ryan Poles this offseason. And he made a few big moves. Drew Dalman was signed as a free agent, coming over from Atlanta after a few nice years there, although he missed half of last year due to injury. Also in “new Bears linemen who missed a large chunk of 2024 due to injury” is new guard Jonah Jackson, who comes over from the Rams in a trade after spending the first four years of his career in Detroit. When he was healthy, he was quite good in Detroit, even making the Pro Bowl in 2021. Also in “new Bears linemen who arrive via trade” is Joe Thuney, who comes over from Kansas City after they needed to free up some money after paying Trey Smith. While a large portion of the Bears fanbase hoped would be available, everyone was thrilled to get Thuney, a 3-time Pro Bowler and 2-time AP All-Pro, who even got some Offensive Player of the Year votes last year. While he turns 33 in November, we haven’t seen any signs of Thuney slowing down and he’s stayed healthy his whole career. Expect at least a couple quality seasons in Chicago. 

The three newcomers cover the interior and Darnell Wright was the lone bright spot on the line a year ago, even though he didn’t make the year 2 leap we had hoped. Those with the ability to do basic math will note that that leaves one spot yet and here’s where the story takes a downward turn. Look, Braxton Jones is not a bad left tackle. But he is not a good one. He is an okay one and that’s it. A year ago, if you had told me that Jones would be the worst starter on the line going into the 2025 season, I would’ve been thrilled. That was until I saw how the competition went in camp. Initially between Jones and 2nd-round draft pick Ozzy Trapilo, Theo Benedet entered the competition during camp and, at that point, it felt less like “let’s challenge Braxton Jones” and more like “we would really like to not have to start Braxton Jones.” This shouldn’t be an indictment of either Trapilo or Benedet. Both looked decent during the preseason and, if pressed into action, should be able to hack it. In the former’s case, he is a rookie who was asked to play a side of the line he hasn’t played since 2022. The latter was an undrafted free agent out of Canada and spent 2024 on the practice squad after getting hurt during camp. 

The aforementioned Trapilo was a three-year starter at Boston College, who displayed real prowess as both a pass blocker and run blocker. He’s got great size and showed himself to be plenty strong against bull rushes. The one real issue with him as a prospect coming out of BC was a tendency to play somewhat stiff. 

In college at a different BC, British Columbia, Theo Benedet was a 2-time winner of the J.P. Metras Trophy, the Canadian equivalent of the Lombardi award. (Fun fact: former Bear Israel Idonije and former preseason Bear Mathieu Betts have also won the award.) Benedet made himself known to American football fans (well, the ones who aren’t also Canadian football fans and/or draft nerds, anyway) when he wore a bald eagle speedo while singing “God Bless the U.S.A.” during the annual rookie talent show, which was captured by HBO for Hard Knocks. After the performance, he was dubbed the Canadian Eagle by the doofus who used to be in charge here. Benedet stayed healthy this preseason and showed some promise. He could likely play inside as well, but with the depth there, he figures to focus on playing tackle. 

Kiran Amegadjie returns because Ryan Poles refuses to admit he made a mistake. A 3rd round pick out of Yale last year, when pressed into action, he was an abject catastrophe. I don’t want to hear anymore about how he was always going to be a project. Benedet has already passed Amegadjie, despite spending last year on the practice squad. Amegadjie got some work at guard during the preseason, but the path to the field doesn’t look any better for him there – Luke Newman already looks better than he does and Ryan Bates was already ahead of him, as long as he can stay healthy. 

Staying healthy isn’t a given for Bates, though, unfortunately. After coming over in a trade from Buffalo, Bates missed most of camp and ended up on IR with a shoulder issue that necessitated a trip to Panama for stem cell treatment. After being activated from IR, Bates played in two games and then got concussed. When he was healthy, he was solid. But, of course, the best ability is availability.

Luke Newman turned in a strong preseason after being drafted in the sixth round of the 2025 draft. A three-year starter at Holy Cross, Newman transferred to Michigan State for his final season of college football. Both he and Bates can play anywhere on the interior. 

Feel good about: Depth, especially on the interior. We’ve seen Bates be solid when healthy. Preseason caveats apply, but Newman and Benedet both looked pretty good there. Any of them should be at least capable if needed. 

Worry about: The left tackle spot. The Packers picked up Micah Parsons and this division already featured Aidan Hutchinson, Rashan Gary, and Jonathan Greenard.

Confidence level: 7.5

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