SerpApi.Org
ESPN’s Adam Schefter isn’t sold on the Chicago Bears repeating the level of success the team had last season in 2026 and the reason why is incredibly short-sighted and misses one important detail.
A lot of the national media is doubting the Chicago Bears going into the 2026 season, believing the team is due for regression in the second year under head coach Ben Johnson.
There are a couple factors behind that such as the team’s strength of schedule, the amount of fluky last minute wins, and the overall unsustainable nature in which the Bears were finding its success. ESPN’s Adam Schefter became the latest national media personality to doubt the Bears but his reasoning misses one important detail.
“They did it largely because they forced a league-high 33 turnovers,” Schefter explained on his podcast. “As good as they were, it’s difficult to think that’s going to happen again… They gave up 24.4 points per game last year, but got all of the turnovers. This year, I’ll bet you the turnovers drop and the points per game is also going to have to drop to keep up with what they did last year.”
Chicago Bears’ takeaway success in 2025 wasn’t luck, and shouldn’t change despite the roster turnover
I’ll admit, things do look concerning on the Bears’ chances of registering a league-high takeaway total after the team let 22 of those takeaways walk out of the door with the players the Bears lost in free agency, including Kevin Byard III who led the NFL in interceptions and Nahshon Wright who led the NFL in total takeaways.
Getting that kind of success again after so much roster turnover is asking a lot out of the new players stepping into those starting roles. However, Schefter’s point misses one key detail that shows how the takeaway success could still be just as prevalent in 2026.
The Bears retaining defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator Al Harris was perhaps the most underrated and overlooked move any team made this offseason. Harris received multiple looks at defensive coordinator positions but ultimately stayed on Ben Johnson’s staff for the 2026 season, and his track record speaks for itself when it comes to his players creating takeaways.
The national media is severely overlooking Al Harris’ impact in Chicago
Going back to his days in Dallas coaching the secondary for the Cowboys, Harris’ unit has been a turnover machine. Dallas led the NFL in takeaways in 2021 and 2022 and then that same level of success followed him to Chicago last season. You could say it’s on the players to make the plays, but it’s also on the coaches putting their players in the best position to succeed.
“He’s a phenomenal football coach, obviously, but he’s just got a way of teaching these guys to be in a good spot and take the ball away,” Johnson said of Harris. “That’s been his ‘MO’ since he was coaching DBs in Dallas and that carried on over here. That’s why I do have confidence, is that he’s still with us…
“Those guys as an entire unit-I’m talking about Richard Smith at linebackers as well-they’re very ball conscious, looking to punch that ball out any opportunity that they get. And we’re going to continue to make that a focal point for us because, truth be told, that was a big reason for our success last year was our ability to take the ball away.”
As for the replacements, the Bears brought in Coby Bryant, Dillon Thieneman, Devin Bush, and Malik Muhammad while relying on the return of Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon along with a bounce-back year from Tyrique Stevenson.
"Yeah, I think for all of our defensive backs, it's one of the better situations that you could ask for,” Johnson added. “With Al, we were very fortunate to get him back and he’s a great teacher. I think he’s very systematic about the process with which we want to go about our business.
“And so because of that, I think he’s got some really good building blocks for young players if they trust him and they buy into his way of coaching, that they're going to have success. His track record says that.”
This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: Adam Schefter's short-sighted concern for the Bears underestimates one of the Chicago's most underrated offseason moves
© 2026 A to Z Sports.
