2026 Chicago Bears

[Snow Plow]

The Chicago Bears are usually a team to avoid, but things are continuing to improve under 2nd year coach Ben Johnson.

Colston Loveland enters his second season after grabbing 58 catches for 713 yards with 6 touchdowns. He is already considered one of the top 3 tight ends in the league by many with Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.

Joe Thuney enters his 11th season coming off of his 3rd straight first-team All-Pro selection. He was also named the inaugural Protector of the Year in 2025.

Rookie Dillon Thieneman was a rare first round defensive back after earning first-team All-American and first-team All Big Ten honors in 2025. He recorded 96 tackles, 1 sack, 2 INTs, and 5 pass deflections in his final season at Oregon after transferring from Purdue.

Rookie Jordan van den Berg has been a pleasant surprise for the Bears after being drafted in the 6th round out of Georgia Tech. He recorded a perfect 10.0 RAS score during the combine.

QB: Tyson Bagent, Case Keenum
LT: Ozzy Trapilo
LG: Joe Thuney
C: Garrett Bradbury, Logan Jones
RG: Luke Newman
RT: Theo Benedet
TE: Colston Loveland, Cole Kmet, Sam Roush (r)

LDT: James Lynch
RDT: Jordan van den Berg (r)
MLB: Jack Sanborn
SS: Dillon Thieneman (r)


P: Tory Taylor
PK: Cairo Santos
LS: Beau Gardner

Practice Squad: WR Kaden Davis, WR Scotty Miller OG Caden Barnett, C Kyle Hergel, TE Stephen Carlson

Injured Reserve: TE Hayden Large, TE Nikola Kalinic,

Number of White Starters: 4
Number of Whites on the 53: 18

 

[Bucky]

Not going to lie. Ben Johnson seems legitimate. Had a good debut head coaching season and I liked his draft. Also nice they brought back Sanborn. If VanDenBerg and Sanborn can get in the rotation..

 

[Freethinker]

Ben Johnson should be given big credit. Black GM Ryan Poles was presiding over this team with they had 10 Whites with 2 starter in 2024 and many previous seasons of blackity blackness. We also documented how the entire rest of the front office is diversity hires (female and/or black). The only change was Johnson so I would assume to 2 year improvement to 18 Whites with 4 starters is his doing.

I'm excited to see Loveland, Thieneman and van den Berg do their thing. Kaden Davis was also excellent in preseason and was a snub (no surprise). I hope that wrong is righted at some point.