CHICAGO — This new addition for the Monsters of the Midway certainly lives up to the nickname.
The Chicago Bears acquired All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons in a blockbuster trade with the Tennessee Titans on Thursday.
The Bears sent their first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, along with a fourth-rounder in next year's draft, to the Titans for Simmons and a fifth-round selection in 2028.
Led by Caleb Williams, Chicago has won two in a row to improve to 5-2 going into Monday night's game at Seattle. It is chasing the undefeated Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North, and the addition of Simmons bolsters what had been a questionable defensive line.
The 29-year-old Simmons has four sacks in seven games this season. He leads all defensive tackles with 28 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats, and he is the only player in the league who has earned three sacks against double teams.
“Jeff has been an elite player here in this organization, both on and off the field,” Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi said. “My respect and admiration for him is probably more than any player I’ve really been around. Just to see the work that he puts in every day, his leadership here the past year and a half that I’ve been here. These are tough decisions.”
The Bears won the division last year for the first time since 2018, finishing with an 11-6 record in coach Ben Johnson’s first season in charge. They advanced in the playoffs by edging the Green Bay Packers in a wild-card game before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in overtime in the divisional round.
The pricey trade for Simmons is another signal that Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles think the team has what it takes to win the franchise's first Super Bowl title since 1985.
Asked Wednesday about his role with the NFL trade deadline coming up on Nov. 10, Johnson said there was “a lot going on.”
“That’s certainly Ryan’s domain, and yet we have constant dialogue of what this team needs and where we can impact ourselves not just this year but years in the future as well,” Johnson said. “He’s turning over every stone that he possibly can to improve this football team just like he has ever since I’ve gotten in this building and I feel really good about our process. We’ll see what happens.”
Tennessee is 1-6 going into Sunday’s game at Cincinnati. It went 3-14 each of the previous two seasons, and it hasn’t posted a winning record since it went 12-5 in 2021.
“No one’s shopping any of our guys, but like I told our guys, when you don’t close out games and you’re standing here at 1-6, teams are going to start fishing,” Titans coach Robert Saleh said. “And eventually a team threw a hook big enough that I don’t think any of us could have said no to.”
Simmons was selected by the Titans in the first round of the 2019 draft out of Mississippi State, where he was teammates with Bears defensive end Montez Sweat. Simmons appeared in nine games as a rookie, making seven starts and finishing with two sacks.
Listed at 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, Simmons has turned into one of the NFL's top interior defensive linemen. He was a first-team All-Pro selection last year, when he had a career-high 11 sacks in 15 games.
The four-time Pro Bowler signed a contract extension in June that reportedly covered three years and included more than $100 million guaranteed.
“Each and every day I wake up, my goal is to just be where my feet are at,” Simmons said Wednesday when asked about the possibility of being traded, “never looking ahead right now, it’s just be in the moment, and that’s from each and every day, from game day, my goal just never changes. I don’t worry about the things I can’t control. Them types of things are a distraction.”
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AP freelance reporter Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.
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