The Chicago Bears concluded their 2025 season, where they finished with an 11-6 record, an NFC North title and their first playoff win in 15 years under first-year head coach Ben Johnson. And there’s no denying that the future is incredibly bright.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be counting down our 15 Most Impactful Bears from the 2025 season, which features plenty of young talent that made huge contributions in Chicago’s magical season. We’ll recap their 2025 season and look ahead to how they factor into 2026. There were plenty of top talent to highlight this season, which made for difficult decisions when narrowing the field to just 15 players and/or coaches.
Up next at No. 14 is defensive end Montez Sweat, the team’s top pass rusher who bounced back from a poor 2024 campaign with a productive season.
The basics
Position: Defensive end
Age: 29
Experience: 7th season
2025 cap hit: $25 million
2025 stats
2025 recap
All offseason, the word out of Halas Hall was that Montez Sweat was working as hard as anyone in the building to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 season. Though he may not have gotten back to the same Pro Bowl-caliber player the Bears acquired in 2023, he rebounded nicely in 2025. Sweat played in all 17 games and was fairly consistent when it came to locking down one side of the defensive line. Statistically speaking, Sweat had arguably the second-best season of his career, but his impact really shined in the middle of the season. From Weeks 7 through 12, Sweat totaled 6.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, nine QB hits, and two forced fumbles. He also came up big in key moments, like thwarting any sort of momentum from the Packers at the end of regulation in the Week 16 thrilling comeback win, and terrorizing Mason Rudolph and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 12. Sweat may not be the dominant pass rusher the Bears were hoping he would be, but he showed he’s valuable on the defensive line.
2026 outlook
There’s a chance the Bears defense looks drastically different than the one we saw in 2025, but even if that comes to fruition, it’s a good bet Sweat remains as one of the defensive ends. He fits what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen likes to do on the line and is solid both against the run and pass. If the Bears were to land a premier defensive end, however, perhaps that changes Sweat’s future. Chances are the Bears will opt to add more players on the line for Sweat to work with, whether it be free agency, trade, or the draft, instead of moving off of him. But going forward, it seems Sweat maxes out at 10-12 sacks and no more than 15 tackles for loss. Not bad, but underwhelming considering his salary cap hit.
This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Most Impactful Bears of 2025: No. 14 Montez Sweat
Reporting by Brendan Sugrue and Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
