The Chicago Bears have one of the best linebacker groups in the NFL

When we last visited the Pro Football Focus top 32 individual linebacker rankings ahead of the 2024 seaosn, they had two Chicago Bears listed in their top half of the league, and we posed the question: Do the Chicago Bears have a top-10 linebacking unit?

The Bears were just one of eleven teams to feature two players on their list, so the odds were good that the eleventh-ranked Tremaine Edmunds and the ninth-ranked T.J. Edwards brought enough to the table that Chicago’s linebacking corps was top ten.

PFF’s latest ranking series is by position group, and they not only have the Bears linebackers in the top ten, but they have them all the way up at number three.

3. CHICAGO BEARS

T.J. Edwards‘ first season in Chicago was a success. He earned 75.0-plus PFF run-defense and coverage grades while contributing 13 quarterback pressures as a blitzer. Tremaine Edmunds had a tougher time, posting just a 56.6 PFF grade, but we’re only a year removed from his fantastic final season in Buffalo in which he earned a 90.0 PFF coverage grade.

Still no mention of strong-side linebacker Jack Sanborn, but PFF graded Sanborn higher than they did Edmunds (67.3 to 56.6) in 2023, which was the fifth-highest defensive grade on the team. He’s an instinctual player who filled in at the Mike last year for the two games Edmunds missed.

Second-year pro Noah Sewell is the next linebacker up if one of the starters goes down, and the Bears signed 25-year-old Amen Ogbongbemiga as a reserve to be a core special teamer.