During yet another headline-filled offseason, the Bears seem positioned to make a leap next season behind a new coaching staff and a strengthened roster. But the journey won’t be without obstacles or detours and will require heightened focus and unity.

The three-day rookie camp this weekend at Halas Hall will be followed by four consecutive weeks of on-field work during organized team activities and minicamp. So where are the Bears headed? How much did they accomplish in this draft? And where must they really dial in before summer vacation to make optimal progress?

Tribune beat writers Dan Wiederer and Sean Hammond weigh in on four pressing topics in true-or-false format.

True or false? Quarterback Caleb Williams has everything he needs to take off in his second season.

Dan Wiederer: True. I’ll point out quickly there is an alternative universe in which the Bears might have left the draft with offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. and running back TreVeyon Henderson as their headliners, fully stocking the offense around Williams and leaving no glaring holes on the depth chart. But both players were snagged one pick ahead of where the Bears selected, and that shifted the focus inside Halas Hall to tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III.

At the moment, that leaves the Bears with significant questions at left tackle and in their backfield. But Williams now has more than he should need for a successful relaunch this fall.

Since last season ended — with a game-winning drive at Lambeau Field — the Bears brought in one of the league’s brightest and most proven play callers in coach Ben Johnson. They fortified the interior of their offensive line with a trio of tough, intelligent, established starters in Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson. And the weaponry around Williams — DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet, D’Andre Swift and now Loveland and Burden — sure looks good enough on paper for the Bears to have a potent offense.

The 2025 season sets up fairly for Williams as a telling test of his trajectory. If he is everything the Bears believed him to be when they drafted him No. 1, they will find themselves in the express lane toward sustained success. And if Williams falters and falls short of realistic expectations? Well, it won’t be because the Bears didn’t put enough quality pieces around him.

For as many legitimate topics as we touch on during a busy offseason like this, the most important conversation still centers around Williams. How good can he be eventually? How good will he be soon? The answers should become more apparent over the next eight months. Especially with so much support.

Sean Hammond: Moore, Odunze and Burden offer a heck of a wide receiver trio considering where the Bears started three years ago, beginning the 2022 season with a top three of Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown and Byron Pringle. Kmet and Loveland make a dynamic tight end duo. Swift is a top pass-catching back. The passing game has weapons all over the place. As far as playmakers go, Williams has all the pieces he needs to elevate the passing attack.

Would the Bears like to have added a sure-fire starting left tackle and/or a stud running back near the top of the draft? Sure. But teams have a finite number of draft picks and can’t address every position every offseason.

Even if tackle Ozzy Trapilo, the second-round pick out of Boston College, doesn’t emerge as a starter as a rookie, the Bears have put themselves in position to make drastic improvements on the offensive line. Braxton Jones has proved to be a capable starter at left tackle when healthy, and now he could be playing with an All-Pro in Thuney next to him at left guard. If the interior is better, it will make the tackles look better too.

The pressure will be on Jones, who is coming off ankle surgery, to perform at a high level with Trapilo entering the fold plus Kiran Amegadjie in the mix. But that could be a good thing for Jones. He’s going to be hungry going into the final year of his contract.

As for running back, the same sentiment applies to Swift: If the interior of the line is better, he will be better. Swift had his most inefficient season as a pro in 2024 in an offense that ranked 25th in rushing. Per NFL Pro, Swift finished second-to-last among ball carriers in rushing expected points added. His minus-49.9 rushing EPA was the worst season of his career by a wide margin. Not surprisingly, the league’s worst runners in that metric tended to be on bad teams with weak offensive lines.

Is Swift Ashton Jeanty or Saquon Barkley? No. But put him behind an improved line and he should be more efficient than last year.

True or false? Colston Loveland’s arrival as a top-10 draft pick could activate a trap door beneath Cole Kmet.

Hammond: False. Kmet isn’t going anywhere. I’ll defer to what senior director of player personnel Jeff King said shortly after the Bears selected Loveland: “Having two guys with size who can separate, who can run with the ball in their hands, I think it creates mismatches. It creates creativity for an offense in Ben’s eyes.”

This is all about building an offense “in Ben’s eyes.” Tight ends are incredibly valuable chess pieces — and Johnson’s Detroit Lions offenses knew how to use them well. Expect to see Kmet and Loveland on the field together quite often in 2025. The Bears haven’t had two tight ends record 15 or more receptions in the same season since Kmet and Jimmy Graham in 2020. Kmet and Loveland appear likely to end that drought.

Kmet has three years remaining on the four-year, $50 million contract extension he signed in 2023. In theory, the Bears could get out of that deal at minimal cost after the 2025 season. But that’s not what they were thinking when they drafted Loveland. This wasn’t about adding an upgrade or a replacement. This was about creating versatility.

Tight end is a notoriously tricky position to step into as a rookie. Loveland comes from a Michigan offense that ran a pro-style rushing attack. He’s better equipped to hit the ground running than the average college tight end, but the Bears will continue to lean heavily on Kmet.

Who did the Chicago Bears select in the 2025 NFL draft? Meet the 8-player class.

Wiederer: I agree. Kmet isn’t suddenly a trade piece for general manager Ryan Poles. He won’t be phased out of the offense. He’ll remain a significant part of it.

It’s up to Johnson, though, to craft a vision that makes sense. Kmet, as you know, is more of a traditional in-line tight end than Loveland, who is lauded most for his route running and ability to separate. So the offensive coaches have to figure out how to creatively design their two-tight-end sets.

And don’t forget one of Johnson’s most repeated mantras — from the book of John Shoop. “Make the same things look different and different things look the same.” These two tight ends will play a big part in that.

I’ll admit it, Sean, that stat about the Bears not having a No. 2 tight end reach 15 catches over the last four seasons made my jaw drop. That slump may be broken by Halloween this year. And the Bears will have to continually work to keep Kmet involved. That’s why the questions for Johnson and Poles about having so many mouths to feed in this offense are so relevant.

True or false? The Bears have no business asking right tackle Darnell Wright to switch sides.

Wiederer: False. In the effort to piece together the best possible line in front of Williams, every combination must be considered. And the best options will be closely evaluated.

Poles acknowledged before the draft that he was open-minded to shifting Wright to left tackle. And he reiterated that when the draft was over.

So now what?

The Bears selected Trapilo out of Boston College in the second round, investing in a three-year starter whom Poles described as tough, strong, intelligent, dependable and disciplined. Trapilo is highly regarded as a sturdy, technically sound player and should receive starting consideration immediately. The question is where.

Trapilo started at left tackle as a sophomore in 2022 but spent the rest of his college career on the right side. Wright, meanwhile, has made 33 NFL starts at right tackle after finishing his career at Tennessee on that side. But he, too, has college experience on the left side.

“That was part of the value in taking Darnell,” Poles said before the draft. “If he had to play left, I think he could play left.”

I also hark back to a 2023 conversation I had with Wright’s offensive line coach at Tennessee, Glen Elarbee, who noted that Wright’s move to right tackle in Knoxville was a team-first decision and not a reflection of his ability on the other side.

“If he had stayed on the left side,” Elarbee said, “he would have been just as good on the left.”

Thus, with Jones missing the offseason program while rehabilitating from a season-ending ankle injury and Amegadjie still an unknown quantity, the Bears owe it to themselves to experiment in the coming weeks and months. Wright certainly will take reps at left tackle. Trapilo will too.

Let the trial and error begin.

Chicago Bears Q&A: Is Nick Chubb or J.K. Dobbins on the radar after the draft? Or a trade for Breece Hall?

Hammond: A new coaching staff means anything is possible. As you suggested, Dan, this is the time of year to tinker. Johnson will throw options at the wall and see what sticks. He said after the draft there is no depth chart right now, and that’s especially true at the tackle spots.

Wright could be perfectly capable of locking down the left tackle job. If Johnson doesn’t want to deal with the uncertainty of Jones’ return from injury or Trapilo as a rookie left tackle, the easy solution is to move Wright. That wouldn’t be a cakewalk for Wright, but all signs point toward him being capable of handling the move. That could solidify the quarterback’s blind side as Johnson looks for an answer at right tackle.

With Jones out until training camp, the Bears might as well try some different combinations in the spring. Trapilo and Amegadjie will get valuable reps during OTAs and minicamp. That’s huge for both young tackles. Amegadjie, remember, missed the entire offseason program and nearly all of training camp last year as a rookie. An fully healthy offseason could work wonders for his game.

The concern, though, becomes when the Bears will stop tinkering and start finding solutions. Jones’ injury could complicate matters if he’s not fully healthy when training camp begins. At the owners meetings in March, Johnson indicated Jones “probably” would be limited at the start of camp. That was a vague answer and doesn’t exactly instill confidence that Jones will be able to pick up right where he left off.

What the Bears don’t want is to reach the preseason finale and not have a clear answer as to who their starting tackles are. If they’re going to move Wright to left tackle, they’re better off doing it sooner rather than later and sticking with it. If Jones isn’t back to his normal self on the field by mid-August, they might have to go with Trapilo or Amegadjie.

So, yes, trial and error is good in May. Trial and error is not so good in August or early September.

True or false? Ryan Poles’ goal to have the Bears big board speak to them during the draft was a grounded, sensible approach.

Hammond: True. There’s a reason that every year we look up and marvel at how the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles keep drafting good players. It happened again this year with the Ravens picking safety Malaki Starks and the Eagles grabbing linebacker Jihaad Campbell late in the first round. Those teams let the draft board come to them and aren’t afraid to select players at positions other teams might pass on.

That’s what happens when you have GMs like Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore and Howie Roseman in Philadelphia who have been doing this for 15-plus years. A GM can operate that way when he doesn’t have to worry about job security. Multiply that strategy by 10 or 15 draft cycles, and all of a sudden the team finds itself contending for a playoff spot every year.

The last thing you want is your GM to act like he has to save his own skin. In Ryan Pace’s last draft for the Bears in 2021, he traded up in a desperate swing for a quarterback in Round 1 (Justin Fields), then did it again for an offensive tackle in Round 2 (Teven Jenkins). Those moves were applauded at the time, but neither player earned a second contract with the team and Pace lost four draft picks (acquired three and traded away seven), including his 2022 first-round pick that wound up being No. 7.

Teams get into trouble when they go into the draft prioritizing one or two positions above all else. That’s not to say teams like the Ravens and Eagles don’t trade up in the draft (the Ravens traded up for quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2018), but in the long run it’s better to be selective about when to move up.

Could the Bears have moved up for Ashton Jeanty or TreVeyon Henderson? Maybe. Whether you trade up, stay put or trade back, there’s still an element of guesswork when you select a player. If Loveland and Burden wind up being Pro Bowl talents, Bears fans will forget all about which players went ahead of them.

Wiederer: I’m all for practicality. I’m all for draft discipline. And I do think resisting temptation is the safest route to avoid forcing the issue at certain positions.

In this particular draft, the Bears board spoke loudly about the running back position in a way that pushed them in different directions and toward other positions over each of the three days.

But … (and you had to know there was a big “but” coming), it feels obligatory to point out that the pride every front office across the league feels about its draft board is at a minimum a display of overconfidence. It may even register as misguided.

After all, Sean, what can we say definitively above all else about the draft? It’s that the boards, in totality, are always wrong. Always.

Over time, that has been proven again and again and again — whether you’re a basement draft prognosticator or a veteran NFL GM. The prospect rankings are always off. And while we don’t know specifically how or where each board is flawed in the moment, we learn over time as highly drafted prospects underperform and fall out of the league and later-round underdogs become stars.

So why is it then that every NFL GM feels obligated to treat his draft board as an answer key rather than acknowledging it for what it really is — a best guess and rough estimate of how the talent evaluation team sizes up players.

That’s why I don’t pull the confetti poppers when GMs celebrate their marriage to the board. It’s why I’m a little skeptical of Poles’ oft-repeated goal in this draft of letting the board speak to him. As much potential as Burden seems to have, did the Bears really need another wide receiver right now instead of finding, say, a starting left tackle, a dynamic running back, a talented edge rusher or a young safety? On Day 3, did they really need to make a dice roll on speedy linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II rather than address those aforementioned positions?

I’ll close with this. Listening to the draft board often feels prudent and reassuring. But we have proof that the Halas Hall draft board is often a fountain of lies.

In 2022, for example, the board steered Poles toward Velus Jones Jr. over Kerby Joseph, Nakobe Dean and Brian Robinson Jr. The next year it pointed to Zacch Pickens over Tank Dell and De’Von Achane.

In 2019, Riley Ridley was a had-to-have “best player available” when Dre Greenlaw, Andrew Van Ginkel and Charles Omenihu were on the board.

And by now, you certainly know the history of 2017, of Trubisky over Mahomes, of Shaheen over Kittle (and Mixon and Kamara and Kupp and Godwin and Hendrickson). So, yeah.

After a brief opening statement, the first question arrived: “What did you guys learn about each other in your first draft doing this together?”

Poles turned to Johnson, a grin on his face.

“What did we learn?” Poles repeated.

The Chicago Bears general manager shared a brief moment of eye contact and a laugh with his first-year coach. There was probably more behind that laugh than either cared to share publicly. A lot of what happens behind closed doors in an NFL front office never escapes the building.

“He’s been a pleasure to work with,” Poles said. “I’m grateful for that and our relationship as we continue to build that through this journey. Yeah, it’s been smooth. It feels natural.”

The Bears drafted Michigan tight end Colston Loveland with the No. 10 pick, then selected Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III at No. 39 a day later. In all, the Bears added eight players to the roster.

Ever since Johnson and Poles first spent time together over a Zoom interview in January, they have envisioned what this pairing would look like.

One of the first things Johnson said in that interview was this: “I want to be here.”

What followed has been a three-month crash course in getting to know each other. They didn’t need long to determine they were a good fit. Johnson never even interviewed in person before taking the job.

“There was just a vibe to it that was awesome,” Poles said of their initial interview.

When Johnson was thinking about head coaching jobs, he wasn’t looking for full control over player personnel or to bring in a GM who would be seen as his guy.

“I just need somebody that I can trust,” Johnson said.

He believes he found that in Poles.

‘It paints a picture’

NFL teams spend a calendar year preparing for each draft. The Bears have 12 college scouts who crisscross the country during college football season.

Throwing a new coach into the mix in January can cause an abrupt shake-up in the types of players a team looks for. Johnson will have different preferences than predecessor Matt Eberflus. So will his assistant coaches.

“One of the best things we did was, when they first got here, we had (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) and the whole defensive coaching staff come into the draft room and they met with all of our staff and our personnel people and told us what they were looking for at each position,” assistant GM Ian Cunningham said.

They did the same thing with first-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. Johnson spent extensive time with the scouting department. Those sessions were invaluable.

“It paints a picture for us so we can go out and get the perfect player for us,” Cunningham said.

Johnson spent seven years as a Miami Dolphins assistant coach from 2012-18. During that time, the Dolphins made only one playoff appearance. He saw head coaches Joe Philbin and Adam Gase lose their jobs. After moving to Detroit in 2019, he watched the Lions fire coach Matt Patricia during the 2020 season.

“In the past, when I’ve seen it not work, there’s been dysfunction, there’s been an element of disconnect between the GM, the head coach, other executives,” Johnson said on the day he was introduced at Halas Hall.

In choosing the Bears as his preferred landing spot, Johnson was willing to believe he and Poles can see the game through the same lens.

That doesn’t happen overnight.

“It’s spending time and watching tape together to figure out what direction we need to go in,” Poles said. “We’re going to have different opinions, we’re going to see players differently, but it’s coming together, watching tape and figuring out what’s best for the organization.”

The GM has to know what will make life easier for the coach. Poles appreciates how Johnson sees the game.

“How can we put the opposing defense in a bind?” Poles framed it.

Poles felt that bind when his Bears defenses went up against Johnson’s Lions offenses. A good offense can beat a defense in multiple ways. Often that means making the defense pick its poison.

All of those conversations helped inform Poles and his front office. Johnson might be a new voice in the room, but he also entered into what he saw as a well-oiled machine.

“My first exposure in the draft room with his crew was before the combine (in February),” Johnson said. “To see the consistency with which the schedule comes and the structure, everything is working.

“There’s a flow. There’s a rhythm to all the madness behind what we do and how we do it. And Ryan really is all the brains behind that.”

‘A more potent offense’

Two days before the draft, a reporter asked Cunningham specifically about the running back position.

“The value is if he’s a playmaker and a really good player, you take the really good player,” Cunningham said. “That’s the beauty of our process. Our philosophy is best player available. Yeah, we weigh premium position versus nonpremium position, but at the end of the day, it’s a playmaker. If we see him in that role, I think you can go take a playmaker that’s not a premium position.”

Media and fans alike thought running back was an area of need. In the hours before the draft, there were rumblings that the Bears were looking into the possibility of moving up from No. 10. At least one national report suggested they could be targeting Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. Several sportsbooks made the Bears the betting favorite to land him.

But when the draft started, pick after pick went by and the Bears stayed put. The Las Vegas Raiders took Jeanty at No. 6. Additionally, three offensive tackles went in the top nine: LSU’s Will Campbell, Missouri’s Armand Membou and Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr.

Poles later confirmed he made some calls, although he didn’t mention any players by name. Moving up likely would’ve cost the Bears one of their two second-round picks and probably more. The asking price was too costly for Poles’ taste.

After the draft, Poles was happy with how the Bears let their board — and all the predraft work with Johnson — “speak to us.” When they were on the clock at No. 10, the board told them to go with Loveland.

“He stayed as disciplined as I’ve ever seen in terms of staying true to how we set it up,” Johnson said.

That adherence to the board led to “some really cool situations,” Poles said, such as landing Burden, who had been seen as a potential first-round pick. The Bears took Burden after two running backs went off the board ahead of them in the second round: Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins at No. 36 and Buckeyes teammate TreVeyon Henderson at No. 38.

Poles called Burden the “clear” best player remaining on their board.

“Sometimes you want to pick for need, but we didn’t necessarily do that,” Johnson said. “I feel really good about the direction we went and every decision we made along the way.”

The three-month crash course led them to Loveland and Burden — an athletic pass-catching tight end and arguably the draft’s best yards-after-catch receiver.

“Ben and I spent a lot of time watching these players,” Poles said of Loveland and Burden. “Our scouts did a great job identifying them, and then we talked about how they fit and what we’re trying to do if the opportunity popped up to select them.

“And when you talk about run after the catch, when you talk about separation, when you talk about creating explosives, all of those things are really positive for us to be a more potent offense.”

It’s easy to envision them in a Johnson offense. Now all he has to do is make it work.

He’d built “at least a dozen” places here over the past 35 years.

Banks. Restaurants.

“And that one,” he said pointing across the street to the old general store that he’d helped turn into a popular tavern and grill. If there’d been a constant amid all the growth in one of Chicago’s largest suburbs it was probably the horse racing track a little ways northwest of downtown, the one now locked away and waiting for new life. For decades, Arlington Park had been a deeply-ingrained part of the culture here, and a source of pride.

“Our identity,” Tinaglia said of the track. “For 100 years.”

Now it will be his mission, when he’s sworn in as mayor Monday, to lead Arlington Park’s rebirth — to complete the long, winding journey of bringing the Chicago Bears to Arlington Heights. It’s a large part of why he ran for mayor, and also why he believes he was elected: to finish a deal that has proven elusive since a rush of early momentum, and to help convince Bears leadership, once and for all, that they should move from Chicago to the northwest suburbs.

At times, such a decision has appeared imminent. More often, it feels far off. In 2023, two years after Arlington Park hosted its final horse race, the Bears bought the 326-acre property and demolished the iconic grandstand along with several other buildings. Since then, what was once known as Arlington International Racecourse has sat mostly undisturbed, fading history behind rusting locked gates. Desolation and an unending quiet has replaced the old roars of the track.

It had life, for a long time. Both Citation and Secretariat triumphed at Arlington Park after winning the Triple Crown. In 1996, 34,000 gathered to watch Cigar win his 16th consecutive race, tying a record Citation set in 1950. When the track closed it created an immeasurable void, though visions of a revival came soon enough when talks with the Bears grew more serious.

The franchise’s purchase of the property became official months after the Bears released a “preliminary master plan vision” of what a move to Arlington Park might look like. It included a domed stadium surrounded by a hall of fame, a store and a tailgating green, with an expansive entertainment district nearby. The kind of place to host Super Bowls, Final Fours, big college football games, concerts. The kind of place that would be a year-round destination.

That’s what Tinaglia wants, and envisions. For years, the possibilities at Arlington Park have enthralled him and other local leaders. But amid a property tax dispute and a prolonged period of due diligence, by the Bears and the village, little has happened.

When the Arlington Heights Village Board gathered for its most recent meeting on April 21, trustees bid farewell to outgoing Mayor Thomas Hayes, who had spent parts of every day, for almost four years, working on bringing the Bears to the village. Hayes in his farewell remarks expressed confidence that it would happen but lamented the ever-expanding timeline.

“I was hoping that we’d have a shovel in the ground by the time I left office,” he said, “but I feel very, very confident that this new board is going to continue working very hard, as this board and our staff has done, to make that dream of a certain NFL team having their stadium here in our village for the next 50 years, a reality.”

Tinaglia, a village trustee since 2013, sat behind Hayes and listened. As an architect, he’d developed a trained eye. He shared the vision the Bears produced in their early renderings, and saw even more than that. He saw the restaurants and hotels and shops, the domed multipurpose football stadium anchoring it all, but also … a baseball stadium too? A new home for the White Sox?

He floated the possibility recently, in jest. But there was some truth there too.

“I’d really love to see it happen,” he said.

And now here comes his chance to lead the transformation.

A survivor becomes mayor

How long might that transformation take?

“The real answer is it’s not my timeline,” Tinaglia said.

In the most optimistic scenario for a Bears stadium in Arlington Heights, there could be a groundbreaking in 2026. Maybe, if things go quickly, the Bears could be playing in Arlington Park by the end of the decade.

“It’ll take a year to get through all of the approval processes,” he said.

Tinaglia — the “g” in his last name is silent — knows about such things. He has spent the entirety of his adult life as a designer and builder, working in a profession that he described as a combination of art and science. Now 63 with short silver hair and focused, serious blue eyes, Tinaglia moved with his family from Berwyn to Arlington Heights in 1971 when he was in fourth grade.

After a high school teacher inspired an interest in drawing and creating, Tinaglia paid his way through school at Iowa State, tending bar and working as a grocery store clerk. He returned to Arlington Heights in 1985, as he’d planned, and was tending bar at the Snuggery in Mount Prospect on the Sunday the Bears won the Super Bowl.

“It was wild,” Tinaglia said, and a good day to be a bartender in greater Chicagoland.

Finalizing the deal with the Bears in the coming months, or years, presents a challenge he believes he’s built to handle. He has run his Arlington Heights architecture firm for 34 years, steering it through the late-2000s financial crisis that decimated his staff and shut down several projects. Then came a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2016 and the quick removal of the tumor.

“It just knocks you to your knees when you hear those words,” he said.

He’s a survivor. These days, business is good and Tinaglia sometimes lets loose in his band Exit 147, named in honor of the family’s cottage in Wisconsin. He plays the guitar, with one of his sons on the drums and another as the vocalist. They play a lot of ’80s and ’90s hits.

“We do Bon Jovi, we do Metallica, we do Poison,” Tinaglia said. “We do Three Doors Down. Everything.”

He has his band and his business, his wife of 37 years, four children and four grandchildren. He didn’t need to be mayor but said he felt strongly about serving. And particularly about having a leading say in Arlington Park.

Tinaglia fits the archetype of small-town mayor — the kind who knows everybody — but Arlington Heights is hardly that small of a town anymore. What happens with the Bears, or what doesn’t happen, will shape the village for decades to come.

Perhaps it takes an Arlington Heights lifer to understand. Tinaglia is. So was Hayes, the outgoing mayor. They know well what it’s been like since the racetrack closed. Both men often wear small circular pins with the village logo: the head of a racehorse rising out of the letter A.

“We were very proud of the racetrack,” Hayes said, adding that “if I had my druthers” it never would’ve shut down.

In Arlington Heights, the pursuit of the Bears is as much about filling that void as it is about anything else. There’s nearly 330 acres of possibility.

“My expectation,” Tinaglia said, “is that the next 100 years are equal to the last 100 years, or better.”

The only catch: It’s not necessarily his deal to close.

‘The Arlington Heights Bears’

Tinaglia has made his living on turning renderings into reality and not long ago he conducted a crude experiment on Google Earth. He zoomed into Kansas City, where the Royals and Chiefs play in stadiums separated by a small parking lot.

“Pick those up,” he said, and “carry them over here to Arlington Heights. Those two stadiums fit inside the racetrack. Now, the racetrack over there is just a tiny little piece of 326 acres.”

He does not envision another version of a downtown in Arlington Park. No condos or homes. The idea is to create “a place for people to visit, enjoy, experience, spend money and then leave. And then the next people would come, enjoy, spend money and then leave.”

And that’s why, Tinaglia said, “I said what I said about the White Sox” — because what better way to keep people coming back than to be a year-round destination: Bears, White Sox, a full calendar of big events.

Whether any of it comes close to fruition is up to the Bears, whose leadership is also considering remaining downtown. The lakefront site south of Soldier Field — a state-of-the-art domed stadium that Bears President Kevin Warren and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson hyped at a splashy news conference last spring — remains in the realm. The former Michael Reese Hospital property in Bronzeville is a potential, but unlikely, option too.

And then there’s Arlington Park, which has been on the franchise’s radar for more than 50 years.

In early April, Warren met with reporters during the NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, and spoke highly of the team’s options. He gushed about the possibilities at the park, and what he described as a “beautiful piece of land that has the great topography” with Salt Creek dividing the property.

“You can actually see downtown from there,” he said.

Warren is among a triumvirate of Bears leadership that forged relationships with Hayes, who began the first of his three mayoral terms in 2013. Karen Murphy, the Bears’ executive vice president of stadium development & chief operating officer — Hayes referred to her as the “stadium guru” — is another, along with George McCaskey, the chairman and controlling owner.

It was McCaskey’s father, Ed, who began the Bears’ longtime flirtation with Arlington Heights in 1970. By 1975, when discussions were serious, the elder McCaskey said, “We’re very bullish on moving to Arlington Heights.”

Richard J. Daley, then the Chicago mayor, famously pushed back hard against the move.

“Like hell they will,” he said. “They can use the name Arlington Heights Bears, but they’ll never use the name of Chicago, if I’m the mayor.”

Fifty years later, there’s still a simmering tension. Johnson and the city’s leadership will undoubtedly do what they can to keep the Bears in Chicago, though the franchise’s proposed mixed-use site along the lakefront would cost an estimated $4.7 billion — a figure which could go even higher while the long-term cost to taxpayers remains unclear.

In Arlington Heights the Bears have agreed to pay for the construction of the stadium but the village would be responsible for the surrounding infrastructure. Hayes said local leaders are still “not exactly sure how much that will be or, where that income or money would come from.” Village officials are hoping for clarity and help from the state legislature, though the Bears and the new stadium proposal have been met with a wall in Springfield.

Gov. JB Pritzker has been skeptical of taxpayer-supported sporting venues, saying any public dollars must be a net positive for Illinois citizens. There have been discussions about changing the state law to facilitate the Arlington Heights project, including a complex property tax break and a potential ticket tax to win support from Chicago lawmakers who would need a reason to vote for the team’s departure from the city.

Hayes hoped all of this would be settled under his watch. But at 68, with two grandkids, he says he believed it was time. He endorsed Tinaglia as his successor because Tinaglia had become the town’s senior trustee but also because “he knows this community, loves this community,” Hayes said.

After Hayes’ final Village Board meeting, there was a going-away reception. The outgoing mayor was pleased to see someone who’d become a familiar acquaintance in recent years: George McCaskey.

“It’s a reflection of the good relationship that we’ve developed and, I think, their desire to land here,” Hayes said. “It’s not a done deal. But again, I’m very encouraged where we’re at.”

‘Ihat is their baby’

The day after Tinaglia won the mayoral election, Warren and McCaskey met with reporters at the owners meetings. Warren praised Hayes and said he’d already reached out to Tinaglia to congratulate him.

McCaskey, meanwhile, reiterated that despite the delays in Arlington Heights — where the Bears and the village last November reached an agreement on a property tax evaluation that first prompted the franchise to recoil — the old racetrack property remains an attractive site.

Does it remain the leading site?

“George Halas identified it more than 50 years ago as an ideal place for a Bears stadium,” McCaskey said of his grandfather. “I don’t know if anything that’s happened since then changed that evaluation.”

The Bears’ decision will be based on several factors, with finances likely at the forefront, but relationships will be sure to play a role too. In the weeks since the election, Tinaglia has tried to establish his own bonds. He has met with Warren and McCaskey, he said, and “had some really great conversations” with both. He acknowledged that “they’re concerned about taxes.”

“But the good news is, we’ve gotten to hash through that a little bit. And I think that they’re happier with where that landed,” he said.

Still, there is much to be worked out. The architect in Tinaglia, at times, has a hard time containing his enthusiasm for the Bears’ potential arrival, though he made clear that “I don’t want to meddle in the design of their stadium.”

“That is their baby, as it should be,” he said. “I am more interested in how it fits on the site.”

In the weeks leading to his swearing-in, his inbox has been filling up with messages from fellow citizens of Arlington Heights, which has grown from the sleepy village of Tinaglia’s boyhood to a thriving community with a robust core full of restaurants and gathering spaces. It’s a place that has lived up to Hayes’ personal motto: “Quality of life in Arlington Heights is second to none.”

Half of the people he hears from, Tinaglia said, are all-in on the pursuit of the Bears — “to the point where (it’s) ‘Give them whatever they want,’” he said. “And there’s another half of the people that are worried. They’re worried that, what if they come?

“What will happen to their comfort level in our town?”

He has tried to appease those concerns and emphasize the possibilities. Not just Bears home games, but major events. The vision goes beyond a stadium but encapsulates a space, accessible by train and with easy access to highways, that Tinaglia and other local leaders believe would be a boon to Arlington Heights and to the larger metropolitan area for decades to come.

Tinaglia can see it, as he has envisioned many projects throughout his career.

“A world-class destination,” he said.

He begins his term as mayor with the mandate of making it a reality.

Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer contributed. 

Bears great Steve “Mongo” McMichael wasn’t just a teammate during our Super Bowl run. He was a once-in-a-generation personality — fearless, funny and fiercely loyal. Whether it was on the field, in the wrestling ring or in a quiet moment with his family, Mongo brought everything he had to the table.

When he was diagnosed with ALS — one of the cruelest, most unforgiving diseases out there — none of us were surprised to see him fight it with the same intensity he brought to every quarterback he ever chased down. But that didn’t make it any easier to watch.

ALS strips away everything slowly and relentlessly. It started with Steve’s grip, then moved to his ability to eat, speak and eventually breathe on his own. The pain, the discomfort, the exhaustion — it’s something no one should have to endure. And yet, Steve endured it all with grit, grace and heart.

And through it all, he found relief and even some peace. Not from pharmaceuticals, but from something the public still doesn’t fully understand: hemp.

Now, let me be clear — I’m not talking about the cheap stuff you see behind the counter at gas stations. I’m talking about carefully produced, high-quality hemp-derived products. Since Steve’s diagnosis, we began digging into the science and looking for help. Liquid delta-8 products became a game-changer in Steve’s care.

These products eased his pain. They improved his mood. They brought a level of comfort that opioids simply couldn’t — and without the haze, the dependency or the risk. The doctors told us Steve had maybe two to five years. But he kept fighting well beyond that. And I genuinely believe these hemp products played a major role in that extension — not just of time but of dignity.

This wasn’t about getting high. It was about staying human.

When Steve felt better, we all felt better. His family, his nurses, his fans — nobody wants to see a man suffer like that. These products gave him some relief, and they gave us all a little breathing room during the most brutal moments of his journey. What made the actual difference in Steve’s physical and emotional well-being were those hemp products.

And yet, right now, lawmakers across the country are working to ban or severely restrict access to the very products that helped Steve. They’re doing it under the false assumption that these compounds are dangerous or recreational-only. That’s just not true.

This outdated view does real harm. It ignores the science. It erases the stories of families like mine. And worst of all, it removes a vital option for people living through hell, just because the political conversation hasn’t caught up with the reality on the ground.

There’s a way forward. We can have a well-regulated cannabis market and a safe, responsible hemp market. Regulation doesn’t have to mean prohibition. It should mean quality control, proper labeling, transparency — the things any consumer deserves, especially when their health is on the line.

I co-founded Project Champion to advocate for that kind of future. Not just for former athletes like Steve and me, but for veterans, seniors, caregivers, and anyone looking for a natural, nonaddictive way to feel better.

Steve believed in this fight. He supported this mission. And now that he’s gone, I’m going to carry it forward.

Let’s be honest about what’s at stake. This isn’t about culture wars or politics. It’s about compassion, about options and about common sense. It’s about giving people tools that help — especially when everything else has failed.

Mongo never quit. Neither will I. And neither should we.

Rest easy, my brother. Your fight isn’t over. We’ve got it from here.

Jim McMahon, quarterback for the 1985 Super Bowl-winning Bears, played in the NFL for 15 seasons. McMahon considers medical cannabis a “godsend” for the football-related injuries that have plagued him. He is co-founder of advocacy group Project Champion, along with NFL greats Ricky Williams and Kyle Turley, and co-founder of Revenant, a line of cannabis products.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

So where is the Bears roster strongest (and weakest)? And are they done making additions at certain positions. The Tribune’s Brad Biggs sorts it all out in his weekly Bears mailbag.

Are the Bears in on Nick Chubb or J.K. Dobbins? — @chitowndrew23

By an overwhelming majority, the most popular question this week centered on the backfield and the chance the Bears will add Chubb, Dobbins or someone else to the mix. This strikes me as a fluid situation, but it’s probably a little early to dip back into free agency or the discard pile. You have to imagine the coaching staff wants to spend some time working with the running backs on the roster before making any evaluations.

Here’s what the Bears have on the roster: D’Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, seventh-round pick Kyle Monangai, Travis Homer and Ian Wheeler. Even if Wheeler, who suffered a torn ACL in August, is cleared before training camp starts, this looks like a position where another body will be needed for the grind of camp and the preseason. That could range from a known veteran with NFL experience to an undrafted rookie free agent.

Coach Ben Johnson has been very upbeat about working with Swift again after their time together in Detroit, and with an improved offensive line, Swift and the rest of the backs should look better. Johnson never really got a chance last season, and I think the front office still would like to see him get a chance to stick. Homer’s roster spot is relatively secure because of his role on special teams. The Bears obviously want to see what Monangai, a two-time captain and workhorse at Rutgers, can do. So, barring unforeseen injuries, any player the Bears sign likely would have to beat out Johnson or Monangai because they’re unlikely to carry more than four running backs on the 53-man roster.

Monangai isn’t the kind of back who will wow folks in a T-shirt and shorts. He’s a physical runner and he’ll need to be in live action with pads on for his abilities to stand out. Wheeler will be in the mix when he’s cleared, and as you know, the Bears were high on Johnson when they drafted him in the fourth round in 2023.

Chubb could be on a short list of current free agents, but I’d be leery of his physical condition. He suffered a bad knee injury early in the 2023 season and reportedly required two surgeries to repair a torn ACL, MCL, medial capsule and meniscus. Credit to the four-time Pro Bowl selection for returning to the Cleveland Browns midway through the 2024 season and playing in eight games, carrying 102 times for 332 yards (3.3 average) and three touchdowns. He was knocked out of the Week 15 game with a broken foot.

Chubb turns 30 in December and has been a high-volume player with 1,340 NFL carries. His best days are behind him, and because of his age and the severity of the knee injury, I’m not sure he’s the fit the Bears would be seeking if they’re in the market for a back.

Dobbins, who is three years younger than Chubb, would make more sense. He has had health issues, too, with two knee injuries and an Achilles injury limiting him to nine games over three seasons from 2021 to 2023. However, he played in 13 games for the Los Angeles Chargers last season and carried 195 times for 905 yards (4.6 average) with nine touchdowns. He’s also more versatile out of the backfield than Chubb.

Dobbins is probably the best running back on the market after the Chargers effectively replaced him with first-round pick Omarion Hampton. Other available backs include Gus Edwards, Cam Akers, Jamaal Williams, Jeff Wilson and Joshua Kelly.

It’s a buyer’s market and more running backs will come loose between now and roster cuts. There were 25 running backs drafted, and some of those will claim spots that cost other players jobs. While it’s a fluid situation, as I stated, I don’t think there’s a reason to act now knowing more backs will be available.

Is a potential Breece Hall trade in the works? — @tanner23062

I don’t see how moving Hall after the draft makes sense for the New York Jets or makes them better. Had they chosen a running back high in the draft, maybe something could have materialized, but they didn’t. They chose right tackle Armand Membou at No. 7 and are looking to have a sturdy running game featuring Hall and quarterback Justin Fields.

Hall has been good for the Jets but has yet to have a 1,000-yard season in three years. I’m skeptical they would make him available at this point, and with Hall entering the final year of his contract, the Jets would be selling him for pennies on the dollar if they did.

In an edge-heavy draft, do you think the Bears passed on all of them because they’re convinced Austin Booker will grow into a star? — Mike G.

I wouldn’t take that leap, but I would say of the players already on the roster, Booker was one of the real winners at the conclusion of the draft. Does this mean he’s assured anything? Of course not. But there’s a clear path to playing time for the 2024 fifth-round pick if he plays well.

Booker doesn’t turn 23 until December and was viewed as a little raw when the Bears selected him. If he benefits from the 283 snaps he played last season, there’s a chance he can step forward and be more productive. He has proved to be a maximum-effort player, but after a solid preseason, he faded pretty quickly. He struggled to win one-on-one and wasn’t very impactful as a rusher. He’ll need a better rush plan and greater execution in his second season and perhaps he’ll return stronger.

An awful lot of hand-wringing is going on over the depth chart at edge, running back (as detailed above) and safety. It’s April. NFL rosters are always fluid and we’ve already seen a handful of teams release players after the draft. More will become available and I’d bet top dollar the Bears are keeping an eye on the situation while tweaking their short lists at every position. Trust me when I tell you they’re keeping closer tabs on this than you and I are. I’d keep running back, safety and defensive end on the radar as positions where they might consider an addition.

Which positional groups do you feel are the strongest and weakest going into training camp? — @93millmilesaway

The Bears look pretty good at defensive tackle, and that’s a positive after they struggled defending the run last season even before nose tackle Andrew Billings’ season-ending injury. Billings’ return along with Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter, second-round pick Shemar Turner, Chris Williams, Zacch Pickens and Jonathan Ford gives them both depth and talent with a nice blend of veterans and younger players.

They’re also very strong at wide receiver with DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, second-round pick Luther Burden III and a host of other newcomers, including Olamide Zaccheaus, Devin Duvernay and Miles Boykin. The tight end group with Cole Kmet, first-round pick Colston Loveland and Durham Smythe is talented and well-rounded.

You can come up with questions at a number of positions. Who projects to be the strong-side linebacker in the 4-3 base defense? Jack Sanborn, who departed in free agency, played 235 snaps last season (22%), and I’d only be guessing as to who will be the first man up. We’ve been over some of the questions at running back. If Austin Booker isn’t the third defensive end, that’s a real question. While a lot of folks have glossed over Elijah Hicks’ experience as a reserve safety, you can wonder about the depth there. The offensive line has more talent and depth, but we can’t say who the left tackle is.

I guess running back and defensive end — because we don’t know who will be the third player in the rotation — would be the weakest right now. Keep in mind, the depth chart probably will look a little different before training camp opens.

Who is the starting left tackle Week 1? — @brendo120

That’s a real unknown and a question one would imagine the Bears hope to have an answer for before the preseason starts. Braxton Jones’ recovery from ankle surgery clouds the situation. If he’s ready to go at the start of training camp, he’s probably right in the mix.

One question the Bears have to answer — and there are a bunch — is how do they get their best five linemen on the field. If we agree that left guard Joe Thuney, center Drew Dalman, right guard Jonah Jackson and tackle Darnell Wright are four of their best five, it’s a little easier to play the guessing game. In that case, Jones, Kiran Amegadjie and maybe Wright are options at left tackle, with Wright and second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo the choices at right tackle.

Would the Bears be comfortable with Wright on the left side? He played some there at Tennessee but was primarily a right tackle in college, and the Bears drafted him to play on the right side. Is Trapilo potentially significantly better at right tackle than Jones or Amegadjie is at left tackle? In that scenario, perhaps Wright plays left tackle and Trapilo starts at right tackle. I don’t think Wright would be in his best position at left tackle, but maybe he’d take to it naturally.

That’s a long way of saying it’s premature to do anything but guess who will be the left tackle in Week 1.

With Grady Jarrett and Shemar Turner as three techniques, any sense in moving Gervon Dexter to nose behind Andrew Billings? He’s got the size and his lack of get-off arguably won’t be as big of a liability. — Hunter, Northwest Indiana

I think we could see Dexter lining up at both positions on the interior. He has the flexibility to do that and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen likes to get creative, so being able to move Dexter around at different times would be beneficial. The Bears have nice depth at defensive tackle, maybe the best they’ve had at that position in some time.

Do you think the Bears would consider trying LB Ruben Hyppolite at safety? Sort of a reverse Brian Urlacher? Ran 4.39 at his pro day. — Joe F., Traverse City, Mich.

It wouldn’t be a post-draft mailbag without a question about a position change. I think that scenario is unlikely. If Hyppolite clicks — and the fourth-round pick has a lot to prove moving to the NFL — he has the kind of speed to make him a quality weak-side linebacker with excellent range. There are questions about his instinct in coverage, and your typical safety has better change of direction. He profiles as a guy the Bears hope can make an impact right away on special teams.

Why is the new stadium only going to hold 65,000 fans when Chicago is the third-biggest market in the country? The fact that Tennessee will have as big a stadium as Chicago is embarrassing, not to mention that it’s a copy and paste of Las Vegas and Tennessee with some changes. — @angusnegrin

For starters, there haven’t been any final plans for a new stadium the Bears hope to build in Arlington Heights, Chicago or who knows where. But the general number I have heard is somewhere in the mid- to high 60,000s. I’ve tackled this issue previously, but it has been a while. Here’s what Marc Ganis, the president of Sportscorp and an adviser to teams and the NFL on stadiums, told me when I asked him about this topic in 2022.

“I would think high 60s would be the right number,” Ganis said. “There’s an odd cost factor associated with the geometry of the stadium. The most expensive seats to construct are the seats that are furthest away from the field as you expand the building. As you increase the capacity, you have to increase the size of the entire building. So you add five rows at the top of the stadium to add another few thousand seats. Those are the most expensive seats to build while being the seats that generate the lowest revenue.

“Is it 66,000? 69,000? Do they have the ability to have standing room to get it to 72,000? That is the general range.”

The pick was submitted shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, a Round 7 dice roll on Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai. Less than two hours later, during a recap of all the Bears’ draft activity at Halas Hall, general manager Ryan Poles offered this 43-word scouting thumbnail on the last member of his 2025 draft class.

“Physical, tough runner,” Poles said of Monangai. “High, high, high football and personal character. We believe he can come in and compete. We like his contact balance and, again, just the physical nature of how he plays football. And his pass protection is really good as well.”

That was the celebration. That was the haul. Not quite the exhilaration and grand fulfillment the Bears — and many of their fans — had envisioned when draft week began.

With all due respect to Monangai, who by all accounts is a tough player and a good dude who will bust his tail to squeeze every drop of potential from his NFL journey, this year’s running back class was advertised as one of the deepest and most talented in recent memory. It featured an electric headliner in Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, plus plenty of proven playmakers to last well into Day 3.

When the draft began Thursday, the running back aisle was fully stocked.

Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson, anyone? Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson? Central Florida’s RJ Harvey or Oregon’s Jordan James?

No wonder the eyes of so many talent evaluators and decision makers across the league were wide with anticipation.

Yet the Bears didn’t grab from the running back shelf until Round 7, in the final 50 minutes of a 257-pick draft and after 21 other running backs had been taken.

The Bears were the 21st team to address the position in the draft. (The Cleveland Browns grabbed two: Quinshon Judkins in the second round and Dylan Sampson in the fourth.) And of the 10 teams that didn’t draft a running back, six had either a Pro Bowl performer or a 1,300-yard rusher last season.

But when it came to upgrading their backfield, the Bears didn’t make much of a splash and instead went in the direction their predraft grades told them to.

“Going into the draft, our goal was to really lean on the board,” Poles said Saturday. “We put a lot of time into it. We wanted it to really speak to us. I talked about that over the last two days, not forcing anything for need but really just taking the best guys.”

Change of direction

Instead of a running back in Round 2, the Bears wound up first with a wide receiver and then an offensive tackle and a defensive lineman.

The Day 3 positions addressed were linebacker, cornerback and guard. And then, finally, a running back.

Human nature had to trigger some frustration inside the draft room as the running back portion of the draft board seemed to consistently dance away from the Bears like … well, an elusive running back. All weekend long.

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Inevitably, feelings of deflation and missed opportunity often interrupt the overall excitement of draft weekend.

“Yeah, I’ve always felt that,” Poles acknowledged. “Every draft has pockets that you just don’t fall into. Again, if you’re going to be disciplined, you’re going to let the board dictate how you do things and it just happens that way.”

In this particular draft, the Bears not only asked their board to speak to them, they turned up the volume.

“To Ryan’s credit, he stayed as disciplined as I’ve ever seen in terms of staying true to how we set (the board) up,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said. “Sometimes that gets hard. Sometimes you want to pick for need. But we didn’t necessarily do that.

“I feel really good about the direction we went and every decision we made along the way.”

Left out

The praise for Monangai in Lake Forest, however, was muted compared with some of the jubilation experienced elsewhere around the league.

In Las Vegas, for example, Jeanty’s arrival had 73-year-old Raiders coach Pete Carroll juiced up and preparing to utilize a playmaker he labeled as “a marvelous talent,” noting Jeanty’s proven “ability to make plays when it doesn’t look like there’s anything there.”

“On any play he can score,” Carroll said. “That’s just such an exciting aspect to add to our football team. We feel very fortunate.”

In New England, where the Patriots drafted Henderson one pick ahead of the Bears in the second round, GM Eliot Wolf shared his excitement about the weapon he snagged.

“His ability to be a threat and make huge plays was something that stood out versus the rest of the class,” Wolf said.

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Even the New York Giants were doing some fist-pumping and hugging after selecting Arizona State battering ram Cam Skattebo at the start of Round 4.

Giants coach Brian Daboll couldn’t stop listing the traits he fell in love with. Great contact balance. Impressive feet. Tough as nails. Versatile. Good vision. Runs with power.

“One of our favorite players in the draft,” Giants GM Joe Schoen said. “Just the way he plays, the mentality he plays with, the toughness, the competitiveness, the grit. … Just a darn good football player. We were excited to get him.”

The Bears, it should be noted, had interest in all three of those backs, each taken in different pockets across the three days of the draft.

‘It just didn’t make sense’

Jeanty was widely considered one of the truly elite prospects of the draft class, regardless of position. And while the Bears made exploratory but purposeful calls to gauge trade-up possibilities, Poles couldn’t justify the price tag for jumping ahead of the Raiders at No. 6, even with the Browns open for business on trades at No. 5.

In all likelihood, the Bears would have had to send the No. 10 pick plus at least one of their original second-round picks to make such a move.

“It just didn’t make sense,” Poles said.

On Friday evening, fingers in the Halas Hall draft room remained crossed that a swing at landing a playmaking running back would connect. Poles pressed the gas and made aggressive attempts to trade up. Henderson’s blend of speed and vision, plus his tenacity in pass protection and skill as a pass catcher, were alluring. The Bears had significant interest.

A deal with the Tennessee Titans at No. 35 felt possible. Until it wasn’t. The Titans found a better offer from the Seattle Seahawks.

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The Bears’ push to cut one spot in line in front of the Patriots in Round 2 also had momentum. Until it didn’t. At the last minute, New England made its decision at No. 38. Henderson was announced as the newest member of Mike Vrabel’s offense at 6:33 p.m.

“Ultimately we didn’t feel the value that was being offered to us was worth possibly losing out on TreVeyon,” Wolf said. “So we ended up sending the pick in.”

When Saturday began, 14 of the consensus top 20 running back prospects remained available. The belief was the Bears, picking seventh in Round 4, were eyeing a solid opportunity to add a talented back.

Then the Jacksonville Jaguars selected Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten at No. 104.

Skattebo went to the Giants with the next selection.

You could almost feel a hiss of air deflating out of Halas Hall.

The next steps

Not long after, the Bears retreated from pick No. 109, trading down 23 spots and again changing their draft wallet, almost certainly because their Saturday morning best-case scenario for the backfield had disintegrated.

Naturally, during that subsequent 23-selection window, a run on running backs occurred: Georgia’s Trevor Etienne to the Carolina Panthers, USC’s Woody Marks to the Houston Texans, Auburn’s Jarquez Hunter to the Los Angeles Rams and Tennessee’s Sampson to the Browns, who already had dipped into the running back pool a day earlier for Ohio State’s Judkins.

As luck would have it, with pick No. 105, the Giants seriously debated internally whether to take Skattebo or Purdue offensive tackle Marcus Mbow. They took the running back — and still snagged Mbow 49 picks later.

What if that debate had been settled differently? How many draft simulations did the Bears perform in which they obtained a more acclaimed back than Monangai?

But as every draft proves, stuff happens. And adjusting is the name of the game.

“You wind up in some really cool situations in acquiring talented players who might come from a different position than you maybe would have liked them to,” Poles said. “But at the end of the day, you’re increasing the talent on your football team. And I do think you can get into a lot of trouble when you start trying to manipulate things to get into certain pockets and it ends up hurting your team long term.”

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So now what? How will the Bears fortify their backfield from here with D’Andre Swift as the starter and Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer, Ian Wheeler and Monangai as the current depth behind him?

Could Poles and Johnson venture back to the free-agency flea market to check in on veteran options such as Nick Chubb, Jamaal Williams, Gus Edwards or Cam Akers?

Or might the Bears choose to push their running back shopping further down the road, trusting Johnson’s offensive vision and creativity to make the best of what’s around?

When the team’s offseason program began earlier this month, there was internal confidence that Swift could be in line for a significant production jump after averaging a career-worst 3.8 yards per carry during his first season with the Bears. The push already has begun for the 26-year-old to become more disciplined with his running style, staying married to the play design and locked into his tracks longer.

The Bears have optimism that Swift’s union with new running backs coach Eric Bieniemy will help him excel in 2025.

Still, the organization’s plans for using the draft to enhance and enliven its backfield were tackled for a loss. That sting should not be understated.

Now comes the task of adjusting, of sounding through possible moves over the coming days and weeks to fashion a response.

Shoring up the offensive line in the NFL draft was a theme throughout the NFC North as all four teams addressed protecting the quarterback and opening running lanes.

Trapilo played mostly right tackle at Boston College, and that’s probably where the Bears will look at him first. A spot could become available if Darnell Wright, drafted in the first round in 2023, gets a look on the left side.

Wright also played mostly on the right side in college. He made 42 starts for Tennessee with 27 at right tackle, 13 at left tackle and two at guard.

There’s a lot of time for the Bears to sort through their options while waiting for incumbent left tackle Braxton Jones to return from ankle surgery. Here’s what stood out during the draft for their competition in the division.

Detroit Lions

Total picks: 7

First round: Ohio State DT Tyleik Williams, No. 28

Notable: Four of the Lions’ first five selections were on the line of scrimmage. Williams is a space eater at 6-foot-3, 334 pounds, and will pair well next to the more disruptive Alim McNeil. The Lions were ravaged by injuries on the defensive line late last season, so adding youth with upside made sense.

Edge rusher was viewed as a need area with more production needed opposite Aidan Hutchinson. Help didn’t arrive until the sixth round, when the Lions selected Boise State’s Ahmed Hassanein. He was super productive for the Broncos with 22 sacks and 32 tackles for a loss over the last two seasons, earning All-Mountain West honors both years.

The Lions also added a projected starter on the offensive line, grabbing Tate Ratledge out of Georgia in the second round. He’s a glass eater and figures to get the first chance to replace Kevin Zeitler at right guard. Miles Frazier, a fifth-round pick from LSU, also could figure in the mix.

Spotlight player: Arkansas WR Isaac TeSlaa, third round, No. 70

TeSlaa went higher than some projected after testing extremely well at the scouting combine. The 6-4, 214-pounder ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds (with a 1.51 10-yard split) to go with a 39½-inch vertical jump and a 4.05-second 20-yard shuttle.

The Lions run so much play action, TeSlaa can be the vertical clear inside guy, running off defenders for Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams to make plays underneath. He also could develop as a big slot receiver, which is how they used Tim Patrick at times last season.

Green Bay Packers

Total picks: 8

First round: Texas WR Matthew Golden, No. 23

Notable: Golden is the first wide receiver the Packers have drafted in the first round since choosing Florida State’s Javon Walker at No. 20 in 2002. You can get away with that for an extended period when you find players like Davante Adams, Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson in the second round.

Christian Watson suffered a torn ACL last season and has a lengthy injury history, so the Packers needed to prioritize wide receiver and got the third one off the board in Golden before circling back and drafting TCU’s Savion Williams in the third round. Williams is more of a Swiss Army knife who might play a Cordarrelle Patterson-type role and get work out of the backfield as well. He’s very powerful and, while not a great route runner, should provide coach Matt LaFleur with creative opportunities.

Five of general manager Brian Gutekunst’s eight picks were on the line of scrimmage, including North Carolina State offensive tackle Anthony Belton in the second round and Texas edge rusher Barryn Sorrell in the fourth. Sorrell is a little undersized and doesn’t have great length, but he has juice off the ball and a knack for producing second-effort plays. He plays with high energy and could factor into the rotation quickly.

Spotlight player: North Carolina State OT Anthony Belton, second round, No. 54

Belton had a standout week at the Senior Bowl. He’s a massive man at 6-6, 335 with 33 7/8-inch arms. The Packers believe he can play tackle in the NFL, but his first opportunity might come at right guard, where he would have to compete against Sean Rhyan for the starting job.

The Packers have spent the offseason reconfiguring the offensive line after they felt they got pushed around up front by opponents such as the Eagles, Lions, Vikings and even the Bears in the season finale at Lambeau Field when they couldn’t run the ball. They want the offense to run through running back Josh Jacobs and be more physical, so they paid big for left guard Aaron Banks in free agency, moved left guard Elgton Jenkins to center and figure to have a spirited competition at left tackle among last year’s starter Rasheed Walker, 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan and perhaps others.

The hope is Belton makes the Packers more stout and physical up front.

Minnesota Vikings

Total picks: 5

First round: Ohio State G Donovan Jackson, No. 24

Notable: With only five picks and one in the top 100, the Vikings continued an offseason makeover of the interior offensive line by selecting Jackson. They previously shelled out in free agency for right guard Will Fries and center Ryan Kelly.

Safety loomed as a critical need with Harrison Smith entering his 14th season and Josh Metellus projected as the starter alongside him, but GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah kept the focus in the trenches as the Vikings want to do everything possible to support quarterback J.J. McCarthy, their first-round pick a year ago.

Jackson has the flexibility to potentially slide over to left tackle if Christian Darrisaw isn’t back from a knee injury to start the season. Jackson boosted his stock last fall by replacing Josh Simmons at left tackle for the Buckeyes and playing well in big games. But long term, Jackson’s future is probably on the interior.

Defensive tackle Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, a fifth-round pick from Georgia, is really big at 6-5, 276, but has the ability to play end some for creative defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

Spotlight player: Maryland WR Tai Felton, third round, No. 102

Felton is a straight-line speed receiver who can scoot with a 4.37-second 40 time. He’s not very big at 6-1, 183, but could fit nicely with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison as the shot-play guy who can take the top off defenses and clear out windows in the passing game.

Felton was super productive for the Terrapins with 1,124 yards and nine touchdowns last season, and the Vikings noted he was a tough customer for his size with the strength to shake free from defensive backs.

“People are morons,” Stefanski said. “It’s sad.”

Confirmed. Seldom has that been as evident as it was during the weekend’s most talked-about story — Sanders sliding from a possible first-round pick to a fifth-rounder by the Browns at No. 144 overall.

It was the perfect storm of sports, media and politics in the post-truth era, where any and all speculation is welcome on social media and facts are regarded as a minor nuisance.

The Shedeur Sanders saga had everything, starting with the entitled, NIL-era college athlete who refused to put himself through the same NFL-approved evaluation methods as his peers and wound up paying a steep price. His X bio simply says “LEGENDARY,” in all caps, a self-fulfilling prophecy for a young man who took a legendary draft day slide, even as he appeared in Gatorade commercials during the telecast.

The story also featured a polarizing advisor in Papa Deion Sanders, who is referred to mostly by his “Coach Prime” pseudonym, which also serves as his X handle. The former two-sport athlete, who was once scolded at home plate by White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk for not running out a pop-up, gave his son the genes to succeed in sports and the marketing know-how to make “Shedeur” into a household name.

But even Coach Prime couldn’t force NFL GMs to buy into his son’s manufactured hype, sparking anger among the star’s many social media followers and his many media friends at ESPN and other outlets.

Naturally, the long, drawn-out story that began Thursday and bled into Saturday was fueled by Grade-A level outrage from media blowtorches like ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and Mel Kiper Jr., the latter of whom ripped NFL executives as “clueless” for ignoring his clickbait mock draft that had Sanders as the best quarterback available.

Hell hath no fury like a Mel Kiper Jr. scorned.

The story even had political overtones, thanks to a social media post on Sanders’ slide from our stable genius president, who touted Sanders’ “phenomenal genes” and asked: “What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?” On Monday, the presidential propagandist/spokesperson was asked by Fox News whether Donald Trump deserved “credit” for Sanders finally being drafted. “All I will say is the president put out a statement and a few rounds later, he was drafted,” Karoline Leavitt said. “So I think the facts speak for themselves on that one.”

It should be noted that as owner of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals, Trump once signed Browns quarterback Brian Sipe and later gave college quarterback Doug Flutie one of the richest contracts in sports at the time. Those facts also speak for themselves.

My favorite part of the nonstop Sanders coverage came late in the first round when the topic of the QB not being drafted cropped up again.

ESPN analyst Nick Saban criticized the topic, saying there was too much emphasis being placed on Sanders, inadvertently feeding into the narrative his network had helped create. Saban, by the way, co-stars with Coach Prime in those Aflac commercials when he isn’t starring in his own VRBO commercials, so his empathy might have been for an audience of two — Shedeur and Coach Prime.

Another memorable moment occurred when ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky showed a highlight reel of what he called “non-dynamic athleticism” by Sanders in a series of bad sacks. That segment led to someone with 490 followers tweeting the clip and adding that Orlovsky had “turned into a hater.” Coach Prime promptly retweeted that post and added his approval: “Yes he did! Wow.”

Elon Musk’s X platform was a prime-time player in this whole timeline. One February post on Sanders’ X account might have been an unintentional warning sign to NFL teams who were considering drafting him. Sanders re-posted a post showing a list of the all-time career completion percentage leaders in college and added the word “LEGENDARY,” as he often does.

Sanders, of course, was tops on the list with a 71.8% in two seasons at Colorado, followed by Colt Brennan, Colt McCoy and Kellen Moore. Also in the top 10 were Will Rogers (7th) and Case Keenum (9th). At the very worst, Sanders should get one of those commercials where a career backup quarterback is called upon by an exasperated spouse to replace their better half on some ordinary household task.

Sanders now begins his professional career as the proverbial athlete who will “PROVE MY DOUBTERS WRONG.” Being snubbed is a good thing for some, but not so much for others, including former Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, who coincidentally was also Kiper’s top-ranked quarterback in his 2014 mock draft. Manziel dropped to No. 22 in the first round and turned out to be a first-round bust.

Kiper later admitted to SB Nation: “I had no idea what Johnny Manziel would be. He was one of those guys you roll the dice. I had no clue.”

Would that make Kiper clueless?

NFL executives aren’t afforded the luxury of “rolling the dice” on someone they’re not sure can last at quarterback, and every team but Cleveland seemed to agree. If Sanders makes the Browns, he’ll no doubt be the most talked-about backup, perhaps even attaining Aaron Rodgers-like status for media attention.

Every poor throw by the Browns starter will send TV cameras to the sidelines to see if Sanders is stretching and every social media follower will be looking at his dad’s tweets.

How many NFL executives considered Sanders’ availability after the first round and wondered whether picking the famous son of a famously controversial player was worth seeing future critical tweets from Coach Prime? When Coach Prime tweets, it echoes through the sports media world and gets sucked into the hot take-industrial complex. It’s the kind of off-the-field distraction no team wants.

Things got so crazy that Sanders’ draft day plight was even compared to that of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback turned social justice warrior Colin Kaepernick, whose NFL career ended when no team would sign him after his stance on police brutality and racial injustice. The collusion lawsuit against the NFL filed by Kaepernick and Eric Reid was eventually settled out of court.

When Sanders’ draft slide continued, ESPN’s Smith tweeted that someone texted him: “This is a bad look for the NFL. This feels like Kaepernick-level collusion.”

The situations of Kaepernick and Sanders are as different as night and day. Kaepernick’s stand — kneeling during the national anthem before games — ignited a national debate. Sanders’ stand — allegedly not cooperating with NFL teams’ pre-draft needs — was purely an ego-driven exercise that potentially cost him millions and maybe a roster spot.

Either way, this is a saga that’s only just beginning. Hit or miss, Shedeur Sanders will be trending for quite a while.

A rubbernecking nation can’t turn away.

General manager Ryan Poles and his staff are not finished adding talent. The Bears have a 90-man roster to fill out ahead of training camp in July. As soon as the draft wrapped up Saturday evening, they turned their attention to players who might have been overlooked.

Here are the undrafted rookies the Bears have signed or invited for a tryout, per media and university reports.

Wide receiver

• JP Richardson, TCU
• Jahdae Walker, Texas A&M

Offensive line

• Sebastian Pares, Eastern Illinois (tryout)

Edge

• Xavier Carlton, California
• Cole Nelson, Virginia Tech (tryout)
• Jereme Robinson, Kansas

Defensive tackle

• Gio Paez, LSU (tryout)

Linebacker

• Power Echols, North Carolina

Safety

• Major Burns, LSU
• Tysheem Johnson, Oregon

Kicker

• Jonathan Kim, Michigan State

Long snapper

• Luke Elkin, Iowa

He still had no idea which organization would cast a line his way. Plus, he was feeling plenty of agitation after his dreams of being a first-round pick had been dashed. Thus, Burden headed for the football facilities at the University of Missouri and beelined for the field. He had his girlfriend feed the JUGS machine, caught a bunch of passes and used the after-midnight workout as his destressor.

“Just to clear my head, pretty much,” Burden said. “The field is an escape for me. Always has been. And I needed to hit the field to clear my head.”

The weight of feeling snubbed and underappreciated can grow heavy.

The following night, a little after 6:30 p.m., Burden’s phone rang. The Chicago Bears were reaching out, using a second-round pick to add him to an offense already full of impressive playmakers.

That selection was attention-grabbing across multiple levels. The Bears had already used their top pick — No. 10 in Round 1 — on Michigan tight end Colston Loveland, a dynamic pass catcher who should quickly become a friendly target for quarterback Caleb Williams. Now they were also adding Burden, mixing him into a receivers room that already featured DJ Moore and Rome Odunze.

Was this perhaps a luxury pick for general manager Ryan Poles and new coach Ben Johnson, particularly with more glaring needs on both lines and in parts of their secondary?

“We really did a good job following the board,” Poles said, “kind of letting it talk to us. It was clear (Burden) was the most talented player on the board.”

But might there be such a thing as having too many toys, with the Bears now having to figure out how to feed so many mouths in their offense with only one football?

“That’s something Ben and I have talked about,” Poles acknowledged Friday night. “I know that’s something he can handle. And he’s going to have conversations with the guys about being selfless and doing what’s best for the team.”

The volume of high-profile, high-investment playmakers on the Bears offense is impressive, so much so that ESPN analyst Louis Riddick almost fell out of his chair on the network’s draft broadcast Friday when Burden was selected.

“It’s an embarrassment of riches, quite honestly, on paper for Chicago,” Riddick said.

On that paper?

• Moore, whom the Bears traded for in 2023 and rewarded last summer with a four-year, $110 million extension. (He has 194 catches, 2,330 yards and 14 touchdowns over his first two seasons with the Bears.)
• Odunze, a top-10 pick who is expected to make a huge jump in his second season.
• D’Andre Swift, the tailback who arrived at Halas Hall last offseason on a three-year, $24 million deal.
• Loveland, the ultratalented headliner of this 2025 Bears draft class.
• Fellow tight end Cole Kmet, a sixth-year veteran whose second contract includes $32 million in guaranteed money with a potential total of $50 million over four seasons.

And now there’s Burden, too, an electric playmaker, who can run his routes from the outside, be explosive out of the slot or simply display his dynamic athleticism as a ball carrier or a run-after-catch bottle rocket.

Whoa, right?

Column: In Round 2 bid to raise competition, Chicago Bears surprise WR Luther Burden III — then add two big men

“Chicago is poised to take off,” Riddick said.

Still, there’s an incredible level of faith inside Halas Hall that Johnson will manage all this properly, not only with his skills as an accomplished and creative offensive overseer but also with his leadership.

Getting production from an offense this loaded may be the easy part. Doing so in a manner that keeps each of the individual players involved, locked in and happy may present some challenging moments, requiring the first-time head coach to push the right buttons with his players and show that his emotional intelligence can be a true strength in the Bears’ bid to become a championship contender.

On Saturday night, not long after the NFL draft concluded, Johnson spelled out some of his vision.

“Listen,” he said, “we talked about it the moment the players got back in the building (for the offseason program). This is going to be a competitive environment. There is no depth chart right now. If you want to play, you’ve got to go earn it. If you want a role, you’ve got to go earn it. They know that. So we were very straightforward and honest when they came in the building.

“I think all we did this weekend is we might have just turned up the dial a couple of notches for certain people in the building. That’s a good thing. That’s a healthy thing. That’s where you bring out the best not only in your team but in each individual.”

Who did the Chicago Bears select in the 2025 NFL draft? Meet the 8-player class.

As the offensive visionary and play-caller, Johnson said his eyes will constantly be drifting toward how his skill players operate when the football is not in their hands.

“You’re right. We have a lot of weapons,” Johnson said. “So how are you going to run your route when you might not be No. 1 in the progression? How are you going to block for your teammate when he has the ball? Because when you do those things right, as a coaching staff, we’re going to want to get you the ball a little bit more. It all ties together.”

This should be a fun challenge. And it’s certainly an unfamiliar one at Halas Hall, where in the 21st century the Bears have finished with a top-10 offense just once — in 2013. But it remains a challenge nonetheless. Johnson will have to manage egos and distribute touches and create buy-in from some of his center-stage players to take on different roles.

The offensive position coaches also will have to be assertive daily in reminding players of the teamwide standards and the group’s ultimate goal.

Was there any surprise Saturday that, on the day Burden reported to Halas Hall for the first time, he already was discussing how he would handle a workload that might not put the ball in his hands as often as he’d like, something he experienced last season at Missouri?

“I just learned to take every opportunity you can get,” Burden said. “Try to fulfill it the best you can. My mindset is that every time I get the ball, I’m trying to make the play caller give me the ball some more.”

That was a mature response, no doubt. Yet part of the reason Burden was available to the Bears in the second round was that some league evaluators questioned his dip in production at Missouri from 2023 (86 catches and 1,212 receiving yards) to 2024 (61 receptions and 676 yards).

“I would just say it was the opportunities given,” Burden said. “There were a lot more opportunities the year before.”

Column: Ben Johnson believes the Chicago Bears ‘turned up the notch’ with first draft class since his hiring

Still, there were whispers within league circles that Burden’s frustrations weren’t always channeled in the right direction and that he might require extra oversight in the NFL to dial in the way he’ll need to at football’s highest level. That means accepting intense coaching and understanding the preparation demands in the classroom, the weight room and on the practice field.

The Bears, though, have placed a bet on Burden’s intense competitive spirit and undeniable passion for football, believing he has an edge they will be able to tap into positively.

“Football has opened so many opportunities for me,” Burden said. “I love football to death. It’s my life.”

As for his buy-in to Johnson’s “no block, no rock” edict, Burden seemed willing there, too.

“I feel like that’s fair,” he said. “You want the ball. But if you don’t block for your teammates, there should be a consequence. I love to block. They’ve got no problem with me.”

Poles, though, is wise enough and experienced enough to anticipate some type of tension and frustration creeping into his locker room — at some point from somebody. That’s just life in the NFL, in a cutthroat world in which the pursuit of excellence often grows complicated.

“My biggest fear is winning here,” Poles said. “More than anything else. Because that’s when it gets really hard. And I lived that in Kansas City before I came here. I’ve seen that same conversation. There’s only one ball (to go around).”

Team unity is necessary. Strong leadership will be a must.

“Someone is going to be hot one week. Another person’s going to be hot the next,” Poles said. “And we have to support that person. If that means you’re blocking, you’re blocking. Whatever that means, you have to do your part to the highest level so we can win football games.”

It’s almost as if those last three words have become ingrained in the Bears GM’s subconscious, an almost hourly mantra that he repeats to himself.

Win football games.

Poles understands where expectations for his team are headed.

So, call Burden a luxury pick for the Bears if you desire. But there was a purpose in how Poles approached this draft.

“We’ve got to win football games,” he said. “And I know that the more talent you have on the team, the better your opportunity is to win games. We haven’t won a lot of games here. So, yeah, things might be a little bit different. You may not be the only person (featured). But at the end of the day, the goal is for us to win. And contracts and all of that other stuff takes care of itself when you win.”

These seem to be new times at Halas Hall. With new dynamics and changing demands.

The Bears are confident they can handle it all and feel ready to attack that part of the challenge. But the road ahead won’t be fully paved. And navigating it will require sharp focus.