For the second year in a row, the Bears have the No. 1 pick in the draft. They clinched it Sunday with the Panthers’ 26-0 loss to the Jaguars and the Cardinals beating the Eagles 35-31.
At 2-14, the Panthers are assured of having the worst record. Everyone else in the NFL is at four wins or more.
The Panthers traded their 2024 first-round draft pick to the Bears in March to move up from No. 9 to 1 as part of general manager Ryan Poles’ deal that also landed the Bears wide receiver DJ Moore and an extra second-rounder in 2025.
The last team to get the No. 1 pick two consecutive years was the Browns, who kept the selections and took defensive end Myles Garrett in 2017 and quarterback Baker Mayfield in ‘18.
The biggest question with the Bears’ pick is whether Poles will use it to take a quarterback, which almost certainly would result in him trading Justin Fields.
Former Bears general manager Ryan Pace traded up to draft Fields 11th overall in 2021.
After the Bears traded down to No. 9 in the Panthers deal, they swapped again with the Eagles and moved to No. 10, where they took right tackle Darnell Wright.
