CHICAGO — The Bears lose Montez Sweat for two games, and the more worrying part is what is left behind him: a pass-rush room where the leading sacker has four and three of the players asked to fill in have never recorded an NFL sack.
The NFL announced the suspension on Tuesday for a violation of its performance-enhancing substances policy. It is without pay, Bleacher Report reported, and it covers Sunday’s game at Atlanta and the Thursday night game against New England on October 22, with Sweat expected back the week after against Seattle. The league did not say what he allegedly did, and none of the accounts reviewed carries a statement from Sweat, the Bears or the NFL.
Chicago goes into the stretch off its worst defensive showing of the season. EH reported that Green Bay’s Jordan Love completed 25 of 31 passes for 367 yards in a 31-7 Packers win at Lambeau Field on Sunday, with five turnovers forced. Sweat has two of the Bears’ 12 sacks this season, according to Fox Sports.
That figure is the point. Sports Illustrated calls Sweat the Bears’ best edge rusher but notes that he leads the team in neither sacks nor pressures: Austin Booker has four sacks, and Dayo Odeyingbo has three sacks and 14 pressures. Odeyingbo left the Green Bay game with a quad injury, and his status for Atlanta is unclear. Behind them are Daniel Hardy, with no career sacks, James Lynch, with 3.5 in 75 career games, Jamree Kromah, who has never played a regular-season snap, and Shemar Turner, back from the physically unable to perform list with five career games and no sacks. Marcus Davenport, released and then retired, is no longer an option.
Sweat’s own record explains why the Bears will miss him anyway. He has 23.5 sacks in 47 games for Chicago, including 10 last season, and 59 in 114 career games, Fox Sports reported. Washington drafted him in the first round in 2019 and traded him to the Bears in 2023, and he is a former Pro Bowler who has missed one game in four seasons, Yahoo Sports reported.
The standings add pressure. The Bears are 3-2, level with Green Bay and Detroit and behind a Minnesota team that, EH reported, reached 5-0 on Sunday. Quarterback Caleb Williams has been out since Week 2 with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, with Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum starting in his place, and is expected back soon.
None of the accounts reviewed says what Sweat is alleged to have taken, how it was detected, or whether he will appeal.
