This will be my 16th year doing a 10 Most Important Chicago Bears series, and for those wondering, this was the first project I tackled when I started writing here at Windy City Gridiron in an official capacity. You can find more on that in our question of the day from Saturday. Nowadays, it seems every outlet is doing some variation of a most important list, but WCG OGs know where the idea came from.

Before I kick off the new list, I like to look back at the previous year’s ten to see what went right and what went wrong. Considering the Bears only had three winning seasons during my time doing this exercise, most of the Bears I deemed important failed to come through in some way.

When scanning my lists, keep in mind that importance is subjective. Here are the basic criteria I came up with back in 2009 to help guide me through my initial series.

What potential impact they may have, how much the team will look to the individual for guidance or leadership, how badly the team would suffer if they lost the player to injury, and other intangible attributes.

The intangible stuff normally comes down to a gut feeling, and since there’s no right or wrong way to rank “importance,” think of these as thought exercises to get us all discussing what could be for our favorite team.

The only thing I can say with 99% certainty is that if all ten on my list come through with career years, then the Bears will be pushing for a playoff spot.

You can click on the number in front of each name to see the reasoning I had in my articles from last year, and keep in mind this is last season’s list! There are always skimmers who leave comments thinking this is the 2024 list, so don’t be that guy.

10) Eddie Jackson, FS – I hoped that Jackson would thrive his second seaosn in Matt Eberflus’ scheme, but his numbers took a drastic dip. Even if the Bears didn’t get significant cap relief by releasing him, I think they would have moved on.

9) Cody Whitehair, C – Cody had a nice run in Chicago, but his play had been declining, and a midseason benching was a precursor to his release.

8) T.J. Edwards, LB – The “other” 2023 free agent linebacker was flirting with the franchise record for tackles in a season through about half a year.

7) Kyler Gordon, NB – The nickleback is an important position in Eberflus’ defense and Gordon’s skill set has proven to be a good match.

6) The Runningbacks – With David Montgomery off to Detroit, the Bears needed a strong running game to support the offense, but Khalil Herbert battled through an injury, Roschon Johnson didn’t make an impact, and D’Onta Foreman was inactive and inconsistent.

5) Braxton Jones, LT – While Jones did improve from his rookie year, he had to overcome some early season struggles and a neck injury.

4) Luke Getsy, Offensive coordinator – Getsy couldn’t find a happy place where his way meshed with what his quarterback could do, and he was fired after the season.

3) DeMarcus Walker, DL – At the time of writing the 2023 list, Walker was their big free agent splash on the d-line, so providing some pass rush was critical. But they added Yannick Ngakoue and Montez Sweat, which lessened the importance of Walker.

2) DJ Moore, WR – I still find myself occasionally smiling at the thought of the trade compensation the Bears wrangled away from the Panthers. Moore is a damn good football player.

1) Justin Fields, QB – Plenty of blame to go around for the failed Fields era in Chicago and I’ve talked about it enough.