The Bears had a reasonable case for moving on from Gervon Dexter Sr. when they sent him to the Atlanta Falcons. Chicago wasn’t planning to pay him next offseason, and after three pro seasons he had settled into the “good, not great” lane. In return, general manager Ryan Poles landed Clark Phillips and a pick, a deal that made sense on paper at the time.
Two games into this season, though, the optics look a lot different.
Chicago’s defensive line is still full of question marks, and Dexter is thriving in Atlanta in a way the Bears could use right now. He’s not just playing well - he’s outpacing the entire Bears interior defensive tackle group on his own.
Through two games, Dexter ranks second in the NFL among interior defensive linemen with eight quarterback pressures. That’s more than Jalen Carter, Daron Payne, Alim McNeil, Sheldon Rankins, Christian Barmore, Moro Ojomo, John Franklin-Myers, Quinnen Williams and Leonard Williams, to name a few. And yes, the point is clear: he’s been producing at a level that stands out.
Even more damning for Chicago, those eight pressures are more than every Bears interior defensive lineman combined. The Bears’ interior group has seven total pressures.
Dexter has also added a sack and six hurries, giving him a fast start that has Atlanta getting real value out of him. If you want to lean on PFF numbers, he’s also sitting second among all qualified players at his position in pass rush win percentage at 23.9 percent. The closest Bears defensive tackle on that list is Grady Jarrett, who checks in at 17th.
That’s where the conversation gets uncomfortable for Chicago. It naturally leads back to the decision to give Jarrett the money Poles committed over three years instead of keeping Dexter, a move plenty of Bears fans questioned the moment it was announced. Jarrett is past his prime and, as the source material puts it, probably shouldn’t have gotten that contract - but he did.
And now the Bears are living with the consequences of another shaky Poles decision. The defense needs help, the trade return hasn’t shown much yet, and Phillips hasn’t even played. Whether he ever does remains to be seen, barring an injury.
For now, Dexter is the one making noise, and he’s doing it in Atlanta while Chicago keeps searching for answers up front.
In Other News...
Antonio Brown Crossed A Line With Caleb Williams And Fans Pounced
Caleb Williams hamstring injury already gave the Bears enough to manage, and then Antonio Brown turned the conversation in a far uglier direction. Brown posted a homophobic slur aimed at Williams on social media, pulling an injury update into the kind of online mess that tends to follow him and little else.
The reaction was swift, and Bears fans wasted no time pointing to Browns long history of provocative behavior and repeated run-ins with controversy. It was another reminder that, even from afar, Brown can still hijack an NFL discussion with something offensive, and in this case he managed to pile onto a young quarterback while Chicago was simply trying to get its footing. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Fans Got Caught In Foxs Most Infuriating Broadcast Mess
FOX Sports had a rough afternoon in Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season, with an audio glitch that left viewers hearing the wrong commentary over multiple games. For fans trying to keep up with the action, the mix-up made an already busy Sunday feel even messier, and the problems only added to the sense that the broadcast never quite found its footing.
The network also briefly lost its scorebug during overtime of the Packers-Jets game, a particularly annoying touch for anyone following that finish closely. FOX did manage to clean up the audio issues before the primetime Cowboys-Commanders broadcast, where Tom Brady later delivered an unfiltered on-air comment, but by then the damage from the earlier mess had already been done. [Read more 🡒]
Antonio Brown Just Made Caleb Williams' Injury Even More Infuriating
Caleb Williams hamstring injury already left the Bears sorting through the practical fallout of losing their quarterback in the middle of a game, and the situation only grew uglier once Antonio Brown weighed in on social media. Brown posted a homophobic slur aimed at Williams after the injury, drawing immediate criticism from fans and adding an off-field distraction to a painful moment for Chicago.
For Bears supporters, the post landed with extra edge because Browns name has long been attached to controversy, not restraint. He has a history of inflammatory messages directed at NFL players, including earlier posts about Mack Hollins and Josh Allen, and this latest one again shifted attention away from Williams health and onto Browns recurring pattern of antagonism. [Read more 🡒]