Good morning, Bears fans!
Might want to make plans for an early evening espresso today.
If all goes according to script, the 25th pick should swing around for the Bears at approximately 10:15. Not terribly late, of course, but definitely an adjustment after years of having things wrapped up quick.
Let’s hope the Bears are picking close to midnight during next year’s draft.
— Kevin Kaduk
01 Stadium News
‘Megaprojects’ Bill passes Illinois state house
A 78-32 vote sent the 375-page piece of legislation through the house with bipartisan support. Time to celebrate? Not so fast. A Bears statement quickly warned there’s additional Arlington Heights-centric work to be done via amendment and there’s still the matter of passing the Senate before the session adjourns in a few weeks. If we’re going with football analogies, Illinois has possession of the ball, but it can’t afford to get cute.
02 NFL Draft
No. 25 pick awaits with plenty of needs
The team hasn’t picked this late in the first round since selecting Gabe Carimi at No. 29 in 2011. They’ll need to be shrewd no matter which direction they go … only two players since 2015 have made the Pro Bowl after being selected 25th (Brandon Aiyuk, Tyler Lindenbaum).
03 NFL Draft
Bears will honor NFL’s first black QB at draft
Willie Thrower’s family has been invited to sit at the Bears’ draft table on Friday night, Kaitlin Sharkey reports for WGN. Thrower made history as the league’s first black QB after throwing eight passes for the 1953 Bears. Thrower died in 2002 and was a native of Pittsburgh, where the draft is being held.
Nobody's asking why Arnold Schwarzenegger has a newsletter.
They're too busy reading it.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Codie Sanchez. Scott Galloway. Colin & Samir. Shaan Puri. Jay Shetty. They all figured out the same thing: owned audiences compound, rented ones disappear. beehiiv is where they built theirs.
30% off your first 3 months with code PLATFORM30. Start building today.
Be Ready For Anyone (Or Anything)
Chicago Bears/YouTube
Well, the 2026 NFL Draft is finally here.
It sure doesn’t feel there’s the same sense of anticipation as there was the last few years, when it felt like so much was riding with every decision.
Maybe it’s the pick later in the first round or maybe it’s the overall consensus that the 2026 draft class isn’t as promising as the one that will matriculate next spring.
Or maybe it’s because we feel a tad more confident now that Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson have shown they can work together to field a division winner?
I think it’s a mixture of all three.
But just as Johnson has been constantly reminding everyone since the loss to the Rams, no one can afford to get too comfortable. The Bears haven’t won anything yet.
No matter what the draft experts think, Poles and Co. must find difference makers with the four picks they own among the top 89.
A defense that showed major holes last season and experienced big offseason turnover demands that, as do any designs on this team being a lasting contender.
And while last year’s 1-2 punch of Colston Loveland and Luther Burden has rightfully earned a lot of praise, no one should forget Poles’ mid-round shortcomings over his first four drafts.
So what will the Bears end up doing at 25 tonight?
It’s a fool’s errand to try and guess. Not a single soul tracked by NFL Mock Draft Database had Loveland to the Bears last year and that was a guess that had to be made with only nine players disappearing from the board first.
This year’s Bears mock database has tracked 113 mock drafts done in the past week and the most frequent Bears selections break down like this:
Toledo S Emmanuel McNeil-Warren - 24 mentions
Auburn EDGE Keldric Faulk - 14
Missouri EDGE Zion Young - 12
Clemson EDGE TJ Parker -11
Other - 52
The bulk of projections come on the defensive line, which makes sense since it has been a clear concern for multiple years running. If the Bears do go for a safety or another position that isn’t DL, it’ll tell us a lot on how they feel about Austin Booker, this year’s EDGE crop or a combination of the two.
Current Bears Selections - 2026 NFL Draft
Round | Overall Pick |
|---|---|
1 | 25 |
2 | 57 |
2 | 60 (from BUF) |
3 | 89 |
4 | 129 (from LAR) |
7 | 239 (from PHI) |
7 | 241 |
Ketchup out of the bottle = slow
Devin Hester out of the end zone = not slow
Otherwise, this is some A+ marketing, especially with the Bears owning pick 57.
What position should the Bears pick at No. 25?
Fun quiz from Kori Rumore: The Bears have drafted 99 first rounders since 1936 and 12 are in the Hall of Fame. Can you name them? (Chicago Tribune)
Nicholas Moreano’s full 7-round Bears mock (ReKap/YouTube)
A good breakdown of Wednesday’s proceedings in Springfield (Capitol News Illinois)
In case you get a hankering for a homemade Primanti Bros. sandwich while watching the draft in Pittsburgh this weekend. (Brown Eyed Baker)
