Every transaction in sports has a ripple effect. When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday morning, I initially touched on the two most obvious teams in questions before diving into those who missed out on getting him, and others who may not trade their mercurial star receiver this offseason. Now I want to touch on another unintended loser in all of this.
That would be the Chicago Bears. Although Chicago was not really in the market to deal for Pickens, he does go to a team that had been somewhat beatable on their schedule. What you all have to remember is all three of the Bears' division rivals made the playoffs a year ago. I expect one of the three of the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings to pull back, but not all.
Chicago and Dallas both picked inside the top 12 in the 2025 NFL Draft, meaning their levels of mediocrity were quite comparable. While I do subscribe to the notion that Chicago may improve in year one of the Ben Johnson era and year two of Caleb Williams, Dallas gets a plug-and-play No. 2 wide receiver in Pickens to play alongside CeeDee Lamb in an improved offense.
Chicago could still be better than Dallas, but the arrival of Pickens makes that a far less likely outcome now.
Chicago Bears are an unintended loser of the George Pickens trade
Admittedly, one of the things that I like when it comes to Chicago's chances of potentially turning it around next fall is that the Bears play a fourth-place schedule. Dallas was always going to be on their schedule anyway, given that the NFC North matches up with the NFC East in the three-year intra-conference rotation.
Although there are plenty of reasons why I will always be skeptical of the Bears — whether that be ownership, Ryan Poles, Caleb Williams or, honestly, Ben Johnson — like Shania Twain, they can really only go up from here. Having a different coaching staff, and hopefully a greater crashing sense of urgency, would do wonders for this team. Of course, they need to keep pace by beating Dallas.
At this time, I do not have either NFC team in the playoff mix. I do not know where I have them in the NFC hierarchy right this instant, but they both feel very bottom-half. Could either of them make the playoffs? Maybe, but I am not counting on it. What I am counting on is the Bears to show some level of improvement under a new coach and for Pickens to help Dallas get the most out of Dak Prescott, too.
Nothing was ever going to be easy for the Bears, but Dallas landing Pickens makes it even harder.