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Bears head coach Ben Johnson.
Injury beat up the Chicago Bears defensive line last season, after which opposing offenses took turns doing the same to the much-maligned unit.
And while the Bears have done little to improve a group that was among the worst in the NFL in terms of stopping the run (4.9 yards per carry allowed) and creating a pass rush (31st in pass-rush win rate), the team did run into some considerable luck late in the draft.
That is according to Jacob Infante of Windy City Gridiron, who wrote that the league’s decision not to invite standout defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg, formerly of Georgia Tech, to the Combine in February benefitted the Bears in a big way.
Still shocked Jordan van den Berg never got invited to the NFL Combine.
You have a two-time All-ACC who made The Athletic’s Freaks List multiple times. People knew how athletic he was, and yet, no invite.
But it all worked out. The rest of the league’s loss is the #Bears’ gain.
“Still shocked Jordan van den Berg never got invited to the NFL Combine,” Infante posted to X Tuesday, May 12. “You have a two-time All-ACC who made The Athletic’s Freaks List multiple times. People knew how athletic he was, and yet, no invite. But it all worked out. The rest of the league’s loss is the #Bears’ gain.”
GettyChicago Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen (left), general manager Ryan Poles (center) and head coach Ben Johnson (right).
Chicago traded pick Nos. 239 and 241 in Round 7 to move up to No. 213 overall in Round 6 and select van den Berg.
ESPN’s Courtney Cronin explained why following the draft.
“Van den Berg was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2025 after recording 10 tackles for loss,” she wrote. “The Bears weren’t enamored with this year’s crop of defensive linemen and chose to prioritize other positions instead of adding impact players to their pass rush. Van den Berg will have an opportunity to crack the rotation at DT in training camp and be a depth piece or practice squad member in 2026.”
The Bears probably shouldn’t be finished adding to the defensive line, though it is possible that they may be.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen recently responded to a question about the pursuit of pass-rusher Cameron Jordan, whom Allen coached across 10 seasons with the New Orleans Saints.
“Cam is going to be a Hall of Fame player,” Allen said on May 9. “I don’t know that there’s been a ton of discussion about that. I think we feel pretty good about where we’re at and what we have.”
However, Allen left open the possibility that the team might make an acquisition at some point.
“You never know what opportunities might present themselves down the road,” he continued.
Van den Berg is a defensive tackle, where the Bears are perhaps more set than off the edge. Dayo Odeyingbo got paid last offseason to play opposite Montez Sweat but was underwhelming before an Achilles tear sidelined him halfway through the year.
Shemar Turner, a second-round pick last season, played sparingly before an ACL ended his rookie campaign. Both Odeyingbo and Turner will be back healthy at some point in 2026.
Austin Booker was also solid down the stretch in 2025 and heads into his third season this fall. Chicago may wait for the year to begin and then decide if more help off the edge is needed, at which point the team could access any remaining free agents or look to make a trade ahead of the midseason deadline.
The risk with that approach, however, is that players of Jordan’s caliber will likely be gone and the talent pool from with the Bears can draw will have grown even shallower.
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group's family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible
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