Jeffery Simmons is ready for prime time — and the Bears think they are too

As the best player on an anonymous franchise, defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons hadn’t played in a prime-time game since 2023.

As the newest member of the Bears, he’ll have two in the next 10 days — starting Monday in Seattle, three years to the day since his last night game.

That’s life in the big city — and near the top of the NFC standings.

“When you got a prime time game, that means you're doing something right … ” Simmons said Friday after finishing his first practice since he was traded to the Bears. “What more can you ask for to come into a situation to help this organization, this team, win big games and [play] especially meaningful football around this time of the year?”

Simmons, who will wear No. 99, will be in the lineup Monday. Fellow defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said that he can’t wait for Simmons to experience the eyes of the nation.

“Obviously,” Jarrett said, “with that comes high expectations.”

What general manager Ryan Poles traded for Simmons on Thursday has already set those expectations sky-high, both for the player and the team. He dealt two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder for Simmons and a 2028 fifth-rounder, the biggest trade haul ever for a defensive tackle.

It was a signal that the Bears believed that their franchise, too, was ready for prime time — and the Super Bowl.

Poles wasn’t the first GM to ask the Titans’ Mike Borgonzi about Simmons, but he was the first to make him a firm offer. He based the price on blockbuster trades for other defensive linemen, including when the Bears traded for Khalil Mack in 2018 and the Rams for Myles Garrett in June.

Poles and Borgonzi worked together for the Chiefs from 2009-21. The relationship helped them keep the brief negotiations, which took place Wednesday into early Thursday morning, quiet.

“You have an opportunity to have one of the best defensive players in the league come,” Poles said. “So then you work backward. What is that gonna take? We worked our process, from a cap standpoint, from a talent standpoint, from an age standpoint.”

The Bears’ prediction models believe Simmons will age well in terms of production and durability.

“Obviously, nothing's guaranteed,” Poles said. “That's the risk thing you take. That's what makes our job so fun is you never know what you get. … But we've taken all those factors and feel comfortable with what we should get.”

He and coach Ben Johnson debated short-term gains against long-term implications.

“I don’t see it as some move that is going to hurt us long-term,” Poles said. “Is it going to bring about constraints? One hundred percent. But that’s where we have to have our processes and systems in who we extend, who we pay in free agency [and] hitting our draft picks.”

Simmons signed a three-year, $105.8 million deal in June. The Bears owe him $7.9 million this year and cap hits of $22.5, $30.9 and $29.1 million
in the three that follow.

The trade likely precludes the Bears from making another splash before the Nov. 10 trade deadline. Poles, unprompted, said the Bears weren’t going to become a franchise — like the Rams — that trades high draft picks regularly. Rather, the deal means the Bears must be smart about how they proceed before the deadline, Poles said. He hinted he’d be conservative.

“We’re gonna listen and see if something makes sense or not,” he said. “But I like to think that whole process will slow down just a little bit.”

Poles has been in the other side of blockbusters. When he got to Chicago, he traded Mack for a second-round pick.

“The hardest [trades] are the ones that you do where you're doing right by the organization and usually involves delayed gratification,” he said. “Yet it feels so wrong in the moment.”

Trading for Simmons, by contrast, felt right. He’s the best pass-rushing defensive tackle in the NFL, by pass rush win rate. The Bears are betting the double-teams he draws will help his former college teammate Montez Sweat, Jarrett and others win one-on-one matchups.

His leadership is a bonus. Simmons has adjusted his style in recent years to fit college players coming from the Name, Image and Likeness world. Pro Football Hall of Famer and mentor DeMarcus Ware told Simmons to “give guys a vision and not an outcome,” and that’s what he’s tried to do.

“He has a certain standard of how you play this game. …” Poles said “He lives that … I think that when you don't live that, he's a guy that makes it a little bit uncomfortable for you, too, which is important. I don't know if we have that.”

They do now. And they’re thrilled.

Offensive coordinator Press Taylor knew something was up Thursday morning when he heard clapping coming from down the hall. Then his brother Zac, the Bengals’ head coach, FaceTimed him. Zac Taylor couldn’t stop smiling, and his brother finally figured out why.

“We play the Titans this week,” his brother told him.

The Titans’ loss is the Bears’ gain.

“It’s like waking up on Christmas morning and you go out and you see all the presents under the tree,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said.

Asked about the best gift he ever received at the holidays, Allen paused.

“I'll take Jeffery Simmons,” he said.