Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2026 Opponent Preview: Chicago Bears, Week 9

The future looks bright for the defending NFC North champs thanks to the pairing of Head Coach Ben Johnson and QB Caleb Williams, and Bears' defense might be able to keep up last year's incredible turnover production

Jun 19, 2026 at 08:00 AM

Senior Writer/Editor

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have wrapped up their mandatory three-day minicamp, thereby completing their offseason workout program. While the focus in the offseason was on playbook installation and getting all 91 players on the same page so that competition can begin in earnest in training camp, attention soon will turn to the specific challenges the team will face during the 2026 season. As such, with the schedule now laid out, we are taking a closer look at each opponent on the Bucs' schedule, examining what they did last season, which players and coaches have come and gone in the offseason and some as-yet-unanswered questions. Today's focus is on the Chicago Bears, who just won their first NFC North title in seven years and are led by a rising-star quarterback and a highly-regarded offensive mind at head coach.

2025 Results

The Bears proved to be a team on the rise under first-year Head Coach Ben Johnson in 2025, making the playoffs for the first time since 2020 while hitting double-digit wins and winning the NFC North for the first time since 2018. With second-year quarterback Caleb Williams starting to look like a potential star and the defense creating a league-leading 33 takeaways, Chicago finished 11-6 and won a playoff game for the first time in 15 years.

Chicago's regular season began and ended with two-game losing skids but the team also fashioned winning streaks of four and five games, at one point winning nine out of 10. An inauspicious beginning included two losses within the division, including a 52-21 thrashing in Detroit in Week Two. The Bears defense gave up 511 yards in that one and didn't force a turnover for one of just two times in the season, as Jared Goff tossed five touchdown passes.

The very next week, however, the Bears turned things around with a 31-14 win over the high-scoring Cowboys, with Williams throwing for 298 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. There had been 18 games in NFL history prior to 2025 that ended in 25-24 scores, but the Bears managed to win by that line two games in a row, downing the Raiders before their Week Five bye and the Commanders after it. A D'Andre Swift touchdown run in the final two minutes saved the Bears against Las Vegas, and kicker Jake Moody walked off Washington with a 38-yard field goal at the buzzer.

The only blemish during the Bears' 9-1 run was a Week Eight loss at Baltimore, as the Ravens won 30-16 without Lamar Jackson despite Rome Odunze's seven catches for 114 yards. Chicago bounced back with a wild 47-42 win in Cincinnati in which the two teams combined for 1,071 yards of offense, including 576 by Chicago. Williams threw three touchdown passes, including two to emerging rookie tight end Colston Loveland, and he also ran for 53 yards. Subsequent wins over the Giants, Vikings and Steelers were all decided by four points or fewer, but the 24-15 decision in Philadelphia that capped the five-game winning streak was powered by 281 rushing yards, as both Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai topped 125 yards in the annual post-Thanksgiving Black Friday game.

Two of Chicago's next three games were against the Packers, and they resulted in a split. Green Bay won at Lambeau Field in Week 14, 28-21, with a 14-point fourth-quarter comeback. The Bears got revenge at Soldier Field in Week 16, 22-16, as Williams tossed two scoring passes and Green Bay passer Jordan Love was knocked out of the game by a concussion. The Bears were then featured on Sunday Night Football in San Francisco in Week 17 and engaged in an entertaining contest that saw the score tied on five different occasions. Eventually, Brock Purdy threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings with two minutes left in a 42-38 finish. The Bears finished their regular season with a 19-16 loss in Detroit but still won the division despite going 2-4 against its three NFC North opponents.

That record became 3-4 when the Bears and Packers met again at Soldier Field in the first round of the playoffs. Love threw four touchdown passes for the visitors and Williams was picked off twice, but Chicago advanced by scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter of a 31-27 decision. Williams threw two touchdown passes in the last four minutes, including the game-winning 25-yard strike to D.J. Moore with 1:43 left. The Packers used the remaining time to get down to Chicago's 23 but Love's final three passes were incomplete as the clock ran out.

Next into town were the Rams for the Divisional Round. This proved to be another thriller, particularly when on fourth down on fourth-and-four from the Los Angeles 14 with 27 seconds left Williams retreated all the way back to his 40 on a scramble before heaving up a miracle touchdown pass to tight end Cole Kmet in the left corner of the end zone. However, in overtime, Williams' final pass of the season was intercepted when their appeared to be miscommunication on a deep throw to Moore and the Rams won, 20-17 on a 42-yard field goal.

Williams narrowly missed becoming the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears history but did break the team's single-season record with 3,942. He also had a stellar 27-7 touchdown-interception ratio and demonstrated on multiple occasions an ability to create big plays in clutch moments, such as the pass to Kmet. Loveland finished as the team's leading receiver with 713 yards on 58 catches but seven different Bears caught at least 30 passes and Loveland, Moore, Odunze and rookie Luther Burden all produced over 650 receiving yards. Swift paced the team with 1,087 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns but Monangai proved to be a strong complement with 783 rushing yards of his own. The Chicago offense finished sixth in the league in yards and ninth in scoring and were top-five in a number of categories, including rushing yards, yards per carry and interception percentage.

Chicago's defense had the unusual combination of ranking 29th in yards allowed but 10th in points allowed, though the reason was obvious: Turnovers. Chicago paced the league with 23 interceptions and tied for fourth with 10 fumble recoveries. Safety Kevin Byard was named a first-team AP All-Pro after leading the NFL with seven picks, while cornerback Nahshon Wright, who had tallied all of one interception and three games started in his first four seasons, exploded with five picks, 11 passes defensed and one touchdown. Edge rusher Montez Sweat accounted for 10 of the Bears' 35 sacks and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds led the team with 112 tackles plus four interceptions.

2026 Arrivals

The Bears had to make some additions along their offensive line thanks to a pair of unexpected developments. First, then-rookie Ozzy Trapilo, who started the last six games of the regular season at left tackle, suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in the playoff game against Green Bay and is expected to miss much of the 2026 season. Then, in March, 27-year-old center Drew Dalman surprisingly announced his retirement after a strong first season in Chicago. The Bears addressed the second development just a few days later by sending a 2027 fifth-round pick to New England for veteran center Garrett Bradbury. The solution at tackle will probably start with fifth-year player Braxton Jones but the Bears signed former Cleveland first-rounder Jedrick Wills for another potential option. Wills did not play in 2025 while recovering from various knee injuries but has 57 career starts under his belt. Chicago also spent a second-round pick on Iowa center Logan Jones, who could be the long-term solution at the position.

Chicago's other offseason additions on offense mostly amounted to depth moves, with the possible exception of former Lions wideout Kalif Raymond on an affordable one-year deal. Raymond had 24 catches last year in 15 games but could potentially start in the slot. The Bears drafted another candidate for that job in the third round in LSU's Zavion Thomas. Many expected Thomas to be a late-round pick but the Bears may see value in the undersized receiver as a gadget player and their primary return man. The depth additions include third-round tight end Sam Roush, who joins a room that already includes Loveland and Kmet. The Bears also picked up running back Salvon Ahmed, most recently of the Colts, and signed wide receiver Scotty Miller after a tryout in their rookie minicamp.

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TAMPA, FL - June 16, 2026 - Wide Receiver Dean Patterson #8 and Wide Receiver Kadarius Calloway #49 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during 2026 Mini Camp at AdventHealth Training Center. Photo By Tori Richman/Tampa Bay Buccaneers