Will Johnny Morris's receiving record ever be broken by a Chicago Bear?
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Historically, the Chicago Bears have always had a great run game, which means they haven't had to lean on their pass catchers as heavily as other franchises lean on theirs. The Bears' failure to incorporate an adequate pass game over their 100-year existence has meant that they have only had one player ever surpass 5,000 receiving yards, fullback Johnny Morris. Morris spent all nine seasons of his career in Chicago and gained a grand total of 5,059 receiving yards. Morris's record makes the Bears the only franchise in the NFL to have only a single receiving target who has more than 5,000 receiving yards.
An even more troubling statistic for a historic franchise like Chicago is that they only have two wide receivers in the top five for receiving yards all the time. One of those wide receivers is Alshon Jeffery, who played for the Bears from 2012 -2016.
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In his four years with the Bears, Jeffery was targeted 529 times, had 304 catches, and gained 4,538 receiving yards. That is enough production to put Jeffery third all-time behind wide receiver Harlon Hil, who gained 4,616 receiving yards with the Bears. Hill played with the Bears from 1954-1961. So before Jeffery, it had been around 40 years since a Bears wide receiver had over 4,500 receiving yards. Rounding out the top five behind Jeffery are Bears legends: running back Walter Payton, who had 4,538 receiving Yards, and tight end Mike Ditka, who had 4,505 receiving yards.
With the NFL leaning to a more pass-heavy approach in the last decade, it is shocking that the Bears' receiving records are still so low. However, with the Bears' outlook on offense potentially being on an upward swing for the next few seasons, there is a high chance that the receiving record gets broken. Currently, the Bears have a wide receiver in D.J. Moore who, if he stays with the team long enough, definitely will break the record.
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This season, which was Moore’s first with the Bears, he gathered 1,364 receiving yards. That puts Moore fourth all-time for receiving yards in a single season as a Bear. For Moore to start out his tenure with the Bears like that is impressive, since he was pretty much the only reliable wide receiver the Bears had in 2023.
Moore has two seasons left on his contract with the Bears, meaning that if he was to break the record in the next two seasons, he would need consecutive 1,847 yard seasons. While it is highly unlikely that Moore has that productive of a season in consecutive years, he should still be able to get 1,000 receiving yards in each of the next two seasons. Even though that would put him shy of the mark when his contract is up, if he produces three 1,000-yard-plus seasons, the Bears are highly likely to re-sign him. Moore receiving a contract extension would almost guarantee he set a new receiving record.
If, for some reason, the Bears decide they don’t want to re-sign Moore in 2026 when his contract is up, they are likely to draft a wide receiver with a top-ten pick this year. While no college prospect is ever a sure thing in the NFL, there is a slightly higher chance of hitting on a player when they are drafted early.
With that in mind, if the Bears draft a player like Rome Odunze or Malik Nabers, they have a high chance of passing D.J. Moore up in the receiving pecking order on the Bears in the next two seasons. If either Nabers or Odunze accomplishes that, they could be on the path to breaking the record instead of Moore. Since Nabers and Odunze also have two more years of cheap team control than Moore, it allows them more of a chance to break the record.
Whether it is Moore, Nabers, Odunze, or someone else, when the receiving record gets broken it will be a day to remember for the Bears organization.