The Chicago Bears just opened the season with the highest-scoring debut in NFL history, a 59-37 demolition of Carolina. Most front offices would spend the week taking a victory lap. Ryan Poles’ staff is already looking two drafts ahead.
That’s because the win came with an asterisk. Chicago’s defense gave up 37 points and too many easy yards to Bryce Young, and it’s not an isolated concern — Adam Schefter flagged the Bears’ defense as a real question mark heading into 2026, and Week 1 did nothing to quiet it. So while Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson’s offense torches scoreboards, Poles’ scouts are already circling the 2027 class for the pieces that can finish games, not just start them.
Bears Scouts Zeroing In on 2027’s Loaded Defensive Class
The pattern isn’t subtle. Chicago Midwest area scout Ryan Weese was spotted at Notre Dame’s 27-10 win over Michigan State this past weekend, watching a game loaded with 2027 defensive talent. Cornerback Leonard Moore is the headliner — a 6-foot-2, sub-4.5 corner coming off a five-interception season — but Weese almost certainly left with notes on edge rusher Boubacar Traore, too. Traore closed the game with a sack, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble, and at 6-foot-5, 253 pounds, he fits the exact mold Chicago has been missing off the edge. The 2027 class is being talked about as one of the deepest defensive groups in years and these two young men have 1st Round potential.
That’s exactly the type of player Chicago’s defense is missing.
Why the Secondary and Pass Rush Can’t Wait Another Year
Week 1 wasn’t a one-game fluke so much as a continuation of last season’s problems. Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson both had rough outings, and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has been publicly blunt about the root cause. He’s said the pass rush needs to “improve in terms of just our guys rushing as one unit,” pointing to timing and fundamentals as much as talent. Chicago hasn’t taken a pure pass rusher in the first round in a decade, and this year’s opener was a reminder of what that gap costs against a real offense.
This isn’t new territory for Allen or Poles. Allen has a track record of pushing for cornerbacks early — he was behind first-round corners D.J. Hayden and Marshon Lattimore at previous stops — and Poles used both of his second-round picks on defensive backs in his very first draft as GM. The 2027 approach looks like more of the same instinct: build the trenches and the secondary with cost-controlled young talent instead of patching holes in free agency every spring.
A Defense Built to Match the Offense, Not Just Survive It
None of this means Chicago’s defense collapses this season — one bad half against Carolina doesn’t rewrite the roster. But it does confirm what a lot of people already suspected: last year’s upgrades weren’t the finish line. Watch two things the rest of the year — how Johnson and Stevenson respond after the Carolina tape, and which college campuses keep drawing Bears scouts. Whichever names keep showing up next to Chicago in mock drafts will tell you exactly where Poles thinks the real work still is.
The 2026 season is one week old. The 2027 draft is already being built.
Bears Already Circling 2027 Draft Targets to Fix a Leaky Defense