The Bears are 4-9 going into their game at the Vikings on Monday, which is a brutal reality after their 4-2 start. But the upside to their spiral is it has them in position for a valuable draft pick.
They hold the No. 9 pick heading into Week 15 and have the NFL’s hardest remaining schedule, starting with the Vikings (11-2), followed by home games against the Lions (12-1) and Seahawks (8-5) and the finale at the Packers (9-4).
ESPN Analytics’ latest calculation projects them to pick 10th and gives them less than a 1% chance of landing the No. 1 pick and a 6.1% chance of picking in the top five. The Bears are sitting behind two 2-11 teams and six 3-10 teams. Only one of the teams ahead of them in draft order, the Patriots, beat them this season.
It’ll be a high pick either way, and the Bears have major needs to address with a premium resource like that. They could land a starting pass rusher, offensive tackle or defensive tackle and still have two picks in the second round that currently are slotted at Nos. 36 and 41.