Bears training camp roster comparison: 2022 vs. 2025

Celebrating the Bears' improved roster from the one that general manager Ryan Poles started with in 2022 is like an Olympic high jumper taking a bow for clearing 6-5. But as the Bears prepare for the banner-raising ceremony for the 2025 offseason championship today at Halas Hall, even a cynic hardened by years of Bears disappointment (one winning season in the last 12 years; no playoff victories in the last 14, etc., etc.) has to acknowledge that the Bears have greater reason for optimism today than in previous seasons with a new head coach — arguably since Mike Ditka was hired in 1982.

The biggest upgrades aren't even on the roster. Head coach Ben Johnson (2025) over Matt Eberflus (2022) and Johnson over offensive coordinator Luke Getsy (2022) are upgrades (on paper, for now) that gives an improved Bears roster a chance to grow exponentially, if offensive players take Amon-Ra St. Brown-like leaps under Johnson and talented/developing defensive players theoretically become more impactful with a chance to play with the wind at their back. It's only a plan at this point, but a little more promising than Matt Nagy making a quarterback out of Mitch Trubisky, or Getsy making a quarterback out of Justin Fields.

The better comparison eventually will be Johnson's 2025 Bears' offense vs. the offense he inherited with the Lions in 2022 when he became their offensive coordinator (Jared Goff, D'Andre Swift, St. Brown, Kalif Raymond, T.J. Hockenson, Penei Sewell, D.J. Chark, Taylor Decker, etc.). That is promising as well. But for now, here is how the Bears' roster with Johnson compares to the 2022 roster in Poles' first season as GM and Eberflus' first season as head coach:

There are eight players remaining from Ryan Poles' first training camp as Bears GM in 2022: Cole Kmet, Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, Braxton Jones, Cairo Santos, Elijah Hicks and Doug Kramer.