The 2025 Chicago Bears season was one for the ages.
Chicago took a major step in head coach Ben Johnson’s first season. The team elevated itself to one of the best in the NFL after finishing 5-12 the previous year. It resulted in the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2020, first NFC North title since 2018 and first playoff win since the 2010 playoffs.
The Bears did it in dramatic fashion, too. They had seven comeback wins after they trailed with two minutes left in the game, earning themselves the “Cardiac Bears” nickname.
Chicago will now try to build off of a great season. Bears general manager Ryan Poles and Johnson will need to make some tough roster decisions this offseason as the Bears try to take another step closer to being Super Bowl contenders next year.
Over the next few weeks, Shaw Local will evaluate how each position group did over the past season and start looking toward the offseason. Here’s a look at the safety room.
Safeties
Returning player: Gervarrius Owens
Free agents: Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Elijah Hicks, Jonathan Owens
Looking back: Chicago brought back its entire safety group from the previous season and the unit was one of the Bears’ most dependable this year.
That effort was led by Byard, who had a renaissance year at 32. Byard led the NFL with seven interceptions, the second-most of his career, and helped the Bears finish the regular season with the league lead in takeaways (33) and interceptions (23). It led to Byard’s third First-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors, both firsts for him since 2021.
Brisker also proved something this year by staying on the field. After multiple concussions kept him off the field during the first three seasons of his career, including the last 12 in 2024, Brisker played in all of the Bears’ games this season.
He made a big impact at times both in the secondary and as a pass rusher as the Bears couldn’t get much going on the defensive line. But he sometimes got lost in the shuffle at other moments. Brisker finished with one interception and had eight passes defended. He ended the year with his best game of the season against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional round when he had one sack, 14 tackles and two passes defended.
Since Byard and Brisker were both healthy all season, Owens and Hicks mostly made an impact on special teams. They each finished with 19 tackles during the regular season.
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What’s next: After bringing everyone back, Poles will now have to decide how much he wants to reshape the safety room with all four regular contributors being free agents this offseason.
The primary focus for Poles will be what to do with Byard and Brisker. Both players should have a healthy market in free agency. But each could look different.
Byard proved he can still play at a high level and had one of the best seasons of his career. But teams might be hesitant to break the bank for Byard, who will turn 33 in August, despite everything that he did on and off the field for the Bears this year. Both the Bears and Byard seemed open to reuniting at a price that makes sense for both parties.
Brisker’s return might not be as straightforward. The biggest question the Bears and likely other suitors had of Brisker was whether he could stay on the field for a full season. Brisker proved that he could and flashed his potential that made the Bears excited about him when they drafted him in the second round in 2022.
Other teams will likely see that potential too, which could price Brisker out of Poles’ budget.
“We’re going to take a step back and evaluate that and put that puzzle together,” Poles said. “It’s actually four safeties that are not under contract for next year. I have a lot of faith in our process that we’ll do that. Kevin’s a special player. I have no problem saying that’s a player that we would like to have back. But, again, when you add the other safeties into that mix and all the other decisions we have across the roster, with cap restraints and things like that, it’ll be a challenge. But that’s part of what we do.”
Chicago could decide to bring back either or both Jonathan Owens and Hicks to fill the same roles they had this year. Regardless of what the Bears do in the room, Poles will likely use one of his top draft picks this April to draft a safety for the future that will be cost-controlled over the next few years.
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