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The Chicago Bears<\/a> boasted a top 10 offense in both scoring and yardage en route to their first postseason berth in five years, but in order to take the next step in Year 2 of the Ben Johnson<\/a> era, they need to bolster a defense that ranked in the bottom four in yards allowed per game.<\/p>\n Adding instant-impact talent to the edge rushing unit is a high priority at the 2026 NFL Draft, and the Bears also figure to seek premier help at the safety position. Both of those areas need attention after free agency left a couple of holes in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n An extra second-round pick positions the Bears well to select ready-made NFL<\/a> talent. They will, however, be quieter in the later rounds after trading their fifth- and six-round picks in the Joe Tryon-Shoyinka<\/a> and DJ Moore<\/a> deals.<\/p>\n The defensive needs are clear, but that might not stop general manager Ryan Poles from making a splash or two on the other side of the ball. Chicago’s offense is young and exciting, and adding players on Caleb Williams<\/a>‘ timeline would allow them to continue to build for long-term success. The Bears could still use a permanent solution and center, and there are targets to be had in the wide receiver group after Moore’s exit.<\/p>\n Using the Pro Football Focus draft simulator, we projected how the Bears will use their seven picks, most of which come on Days 1 and 2.<\/p>\n Bears’ 2026\u00a0NFL Draft<\/a> picks<\/p>\n Round 1: Pick 25Round 2: Pick 57Round 2: Pick 60 (from Bills<\/a>)Round 3: Pick 89Round 4: Pick 129 (from Rams<\/a>)Round 7: Pick 239 (from Eagles<\/a> via Browns<\/a>)Round 7: Pick 241Bears seven-round mock draft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The Chicago Bears boasted a top 10 offense in both scoring and yardage en route to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,117239,117240,117241,116539,100610,692,391,2493,7,6,15,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-860994","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-bears-draft","10":"tag-bears-draft-picks","11":"tag-bears-first-round-pick","12":"tag-bears-mock-draft","13":"tag-bears-offseason","14":"tag-chicago","15":"tag-chicago-bears","16":"tag-chicagobears","17":"tag-football","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-nfl-draft","20":"tag-nfl-mock-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116369402803739063","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}