2024 NFL Draft could feature the Chicago Bears at the top (again)

The Chicago Bears’ 2023 season is over, so we might as well lean into the 2024 NFL Draft.

Sadly, the NFL Draft has become the Bears fan’s Super Bowl recently. It’s the reward for suffering through unbearable losing seasons, much like the one we’re in the midst of now. It’s why the 2023 offseason was so exciting, the Bears ended the 2022 season with the No. 1 pick, and, for the most part, they dominated the winter and spring months.

The 2024 NFL draft has a chance to be even more exciting.

The Bears lost their Week 4 game to the Denver Broncos, dropping their record to 0-4. They’re one of two winless teams in the NFL, the other being the Carolina Panthers. Chicago has the Panthers’ 2024 first-round pick in its arsenal. As a result, the Bears hold the first and second picks in next April’s draft entering Week 5.

There’s a lot of football left to be played this year, and there’s a chance the Chicago Bears could rip off two or three meaningless wins that knock them from the perch of the first-round order. But the odds both they and the Panthers somehow win more games than teams like the Broncos, Vikings, Bengals, or Patrots is slim at best.

It’s an excellent year to have an early first-round pick, let alone two. Prospects like USC quarterback Caleb Williams and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. are borderline generational at their positions. And they’re premium positions, too.

It sucks to be 0-4. It sucks that the Chicago Bears’ season is over before Halloween. And it sucks that the Bears are staring down another offseason with a coaching search and nauseating questions about Justin Fields.

But if there’s any year to outright suck, 2023 is a good one, because the 2024 NFL draft will be special.