5 Chicago Bears who won't be back for 2024 campaign
By Josh Wilson
The Chicago Bears season will end on a much higher note than the one it began on. After dropping its first four games of the year, the Bears made a great trade deadline add in Montez Sweat, also extending his contract to give the defense something to hang its hat on for likely many more years to come.
Chicago would string together a chunk of good games and even look like a possible last-minute playoff team at times. While that won't ultimately come to fruition, they will still have the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft via the Panthers as well as their own pick, likely to be inside the top 10. The present may be lukewarm at best, but the future could be bright.
Even with key draft capital at its disposal, it's hard for Bears faithful to buy all the way in. Ryan Poles has not made enough pay-dirt moves to inspire confidence, despite a stockpile of picks. There's also discordance among the franchise regarding whether or not Justin Fields is the right quarterback of the future, and whether or not Matt Eberflus can lead the team forward.
With that, I'll spoil just a bit of what's ahead: Eberflus is not on this list here (if you'd like another list that fits your preferred narrative, this one may help).
It's ultimately rare to see a head coach out after just one season at the helm, and I believe Eberflus has done enough to earn himself at least a bit more plank to walk on before being forced into the sea. Going into its Week 18 game, the Bears have gone 5-2 in its last seven games. A coach's job is to win. Eberflus, as of late, has done that. He may not be long for Chicago, but he'll last until the start of the 2024 season at least.
With that, here are five Bears who actually won't be back.
Yannick Ngakoue
Yannick Ngakoue has become a journeyman on the tail end of his NFL career. That pattern appears likely to continue, should Ngakoue decide to come back for another NFL year in 2024. Ngakoue has lost a step in his game the last few years with 2023 being his worst year in terms of sacks, solo tackles, and quarterback hits.
He's one of the highest-paid players to come off the books for Chicago in 2024, and if he does come back, it would have to be on a massive discount. Ngakoue is, simply, far and away removed from the Pro Bowl year he put together in 2017. He graded fifth out of six exterior defenders per Pro Football Focus.
It would do the Bears well to find someone who can complement Sweat on the other end of the line in the draft or free agency to replace Ngakoue.