The Bears picked up edge rusher Montez Sweat in a trade with the Commanders midway through the 2023 season and his arrival coincided with a positive change in fortunes for the team.
After a 2-6 start to the year, the Bears went 5-4 after Sweat joined the team and Sweat picked up six sacks in those games to wind up as the team leader in that metric. Offseason excitement in the Bears has centered on the additions of quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receivers Keenan Allen and Rome Odunze, but the prospect of having Sweat for a full season is also reason to feel like the team has good things coming its way.
Sweat said the feel for him is “completely different” because he has had a full offseason with the team after learning on the fly last year and that the result will be a higher profile than he had in his first nine games with the team.
“Yeah, that’s natural,” Sweat said, via the team’s website. “It comes with the territory. I take it all wholeheartedly. It’s definitely a bigger role.”
The Bears haven’t finished a year with a winning record since 2018, but the changes on both sides of the ball have created optimism that better days are coming soon. If bigger winds up meaning better for Sweat, those good feelings should remain in place for a while.
