Concerns Emerge About Montez Sweat After Bears’ Final Preseason Game

Montez Sweat is currently the best pass rusher for the Chicago Bears, but his recent performance and production aren’t what you’d expect from a $100 million man.

After arriving in a 2023 trade and before inking a four-year extension worth $98 million (with $72.9 million guaranteed), Sweat became the cornerstone of the D-line.

He has looked good thus far in camp and during practices, but against the Kansas City Chiefs in the team’s final preseason game on August 22, Sweat failed do generate much of a pass rush at all. “Where is the pass rush?” Jacob Infante of Windy City Gridiron wondered after the game.

“When the Bears’ starting defense was out, they had one quarterback hit and no sacks. Upon first review, the expensive edge-rushing duo of Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo struggled to put pressure on Patrick Mahomes. … The three drives that the Chiefs had their starting offense in the game, they scored every single time: two touchdowns and a field goal. Even if there were a couple starters missing, that’s still an unacceptable performance from the starting unit.”

Should We Be Concerned About Bears DE Montez Sweat & His Lack of Pass Rush?

GettyShould there be concern about the performance of Chicago Bears DE Montez Sweat?

The short answer is yes.

After netting a career-high 12.5 sacks and 72 pressures in 2023, he finished with just 5.5 sacks in 16 games last year amid heavy attention and a rotating cast around him. Now, with Dennis Allen leading the defense, the hope is that Sweat will return to top form.

It was only the preseason, but against Kansas City’s first-team offense, the Bears’ starters generated almost no heat. The Chiefs scored on all three opening drives and the Sweat-Odeyingbo duo couldn’t do much worth writing about. Again, preseason caveats apply, but the way Chicago’s D-line looked against the Chiefs underscored how important it is for Sweat to create early havoc — especially if he’s gifted with a one-on-one matchup.

“When he turns that thing on, he is hard in the pass-rush game,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said about Sweat, via Marquee Sports Network. “It’s hard to block him. You have to account for him. You move him around, right side, left side, makes it even more difficult because you’re looking to help your tackles out with some chips and some nudges, and if you don’t know where he’s going to be, then that makes it that much harder.”

Johnson, Allen and company have to hope they see the dominant version of Sweat when Week 1 rolls around.

A Closer Look at the Bears D-Line Depth

In addition to Sweat, the Bears have Odeyingbo, Austin Booker — who is currently nursing an injury — Daniel Hardy, Dominique Robinson and Tanoh Kpassagnon.

The Bears don’t have the luxury of waiting for a committee rush to blossom. With Odeyingbo still figuring things out and Booker the Bears should look better on defense than they did in 2024. If he’s just okay-to-good, Chicago’s defense isn’t going to scary any legit offense in this league.

“The Bears have a huge problem with their pass rush, which was nonexistent against the Chiefs and made life easy on Patrick Mahomes behind a revamped offensive line,” Bears Wire’s Alyssa Barbieri wrote on August 22. “Dennis Allen needs to find a way to get something out of this pass rush.”

That starts with Sweat. we’ll see if he can answer the call.