5️⃣8️⃣ Days Until the Season Opener
Good morning, Bears fans!
Anyone else getting through all this smoke and crummy weather with positive manifestations of a crisp and sunny Sunday afternoon on the lakefront this fall? Highly recommended for a brief escape from this current hellscape.
I’m going to buckle down this weekend and get through some more player previews for the 2026 Chicago Bears Season Preview. Consider it my own personal Odyssey.
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Theoretical Trade Values
As we’ve already established in this humdrum month, there isn’t much actual news going on but plenty of NFL content creators who must find ways to fill the space. For most, that comes down to taking part in List Month™ and pleasing us when Bears subjects rank high (like Colin Cowherd ranking Caleb the third best quarterback) and angering us when they don’t (Bleacher Report leaving Caleb off a list of franchise cornerstones, pure rage bait if I’ve ever seen it.
But then there’s ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, who takes the time to go through the entire NFL to pick out 155 players who would garner at least one first-round pick if they were to be traded. While I appreciate the effort (and immediately clicked to see what was listed for the Bears), it’s hard to imagine a world where the Bears trade Caleb Williams for four first-round picks or the Bills trade Josh Allen for seven first-round picks or the Patriots trade Drake Maye for six first-round picks. Barnwell is self-aware enough to admit this in the intro of his column (though not enough to explain why Maye would garner two more first-round picks than Caleb).
We’ve seen in just the past year that teams are willing to trade top-level talent that aren’t franchise quarterbacks, from Micah Parsons to Myles Garrett to Maxx Crosby (later redacted). Barnwell’s article might actually be worth bookmarking for reference not because we expect the Bears to be trading any of their top-line talent, but because Ryan Poles could decide to dip into his draft capital and go shopping at some point in the future.
But if you’re wondering what trade values he assigns the Bears, here you go: Williams (four first rounders), Darnell Wright (1+), Colston Loveland (1), Luther Burden (1), Rome Odunze (1), Dillon Thieneman (1).
Thoughts?
Season Preview: TJ Edwards
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Worth Your Time
The annual Bears fan survey results have been released and, surprise, surprise, the exercise is a bit more optimistic this year. (The Athletic)
What’s the floor and ceiling for the 2026 Bears? (Touchdown Wire)
What does Caleb have to do to be considered elite? (Da Windy City)
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