Chicago’s young core is drawing real buzz, and for good reason: the Bears are being talked about as a franchise with a long runway, a second-year head coach, and a group of young players that could keep them in the mix for years.
That conversation picked up again after BetMGM posted a question on August 15, 2026, asking which team would end up the most accomplished out of its top-five young cores. In that ranking, the Bears came in second behind the Houston Texans, with the Seattle Seahawks, New England Patriots, and New York Giants rounding out the group.
For Chicago, the appeal starts with the names already in place. Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden, Colston Loveland, and Sam Roush are all still on the rise, and the same can be said for the defense around them. Ben Johnson adds another layer to the discussion, giving the Bears a coaching advantage that only strengthens the case for what this roster could become.
The other teams in the mix have their own arguments, but they come with more obvious questions. Seattle’s core is older.
The Giants haven’t reached the playoffs with their injury-prone group. New England has the benefit of a recent Super Bowl appearance, but the Patriots also had an offseason scandal involving their head coach and saw Drake Maye turn in his worst football in the playoffs when it mattered most.
Houston, meanwhile, is the team most directly in Chicago’s crosshairs at the top of the list. But the Texans’ 2025 season raised red flags, especially on offense, where they struggled to score for much of the year.
That only fueled concerns about regression from C.J. Stroud and left questions about how much patience the franchise would have with him.
Stacked against that field, the Bears’ case gets stronger. Chicago has youth, upside, and a coach who still appears to be scratching the surface. That combination is why some see this group as having the highest ceiling of the bunch, with the potential to finish the next decade as the most accomplished team on the list.
The idea may sound bold, but the logic behind it is pretty simple. If health cooperates, Chicago’s core has the look of a team built for a much longer run than the others in this conversation.
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Ben Johnson Is Zeroing In On Caleb Williams Biggest Limiter
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It is a familiar tradeoff for a young quarterback with big arm talent: play aggressively and keep the offense dangerous, or play safer and leave potential on the field. Johnson has stressed that balance in practice, and for Chicago that focus matters because the Bears are trying to build an attack that can stress defenses without sacrificing the kind of accuracy that makes the whole thing work. [Read more 🡒]