Bears D/ST or Broncos D/ST: Who Should You Start?

Preliminary board

2026 Week 1 · deterministic head-to-head · Verdicts based on PPR scoring.

Verdicts sharpen as practice reports land.

Start the Broncos — the lineup-share and projection edges are too wide to ignore.

Broncos D/ST is started in more leagues (started rank 4 to 17) and projects 5.9 to the Bears's 5.7. the Bears's edge is the opponent total, 21.0 to 22.5 opponent implied points. The gap is comfortable.

Bears D/ST

D/STCHIvs CAR

Projected Points

Toss-Up

Broncos D/ST

D/STDENvs KC

Projected Points

Sit

Why Bears D/ST

Toss-Up

Toss-up — a middling defensive matchup (No. 12 this week): on the road, and 5.7 pts projected vs CAR.

  • CAR's offense gives up 2.2 sacks and 1.4 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
  • Vegas has CAR at 21 points as 2.5-point dogs.
  • Under-started: only 8% of leagues have them in, 17th among defenses, against a No. 12 matchup.

Why Broncos D/ST

Sit

Sit — a bottom-tier defensive matchup this week (No. 11): 5.9 pts projected vs KC.

  • KC's offense gives up 2.9 sacks and 0.9 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
  • Vegas has KC at 22.5 points as 2.5-point favorites.
  • Over-started: 88% of leagues have them in, 4th among defenses, against a No. 11 matchup.

Head-to-head stats

MetricBears D/STBroncos D/ST
Projected points
Projection rankProj.DST12Proj.DST11
Started in8% of leagues88% of leagues
Opponent sacks allowed / game2.2(2025)2.9(2025)
Opponent turnovers / game1.4(2025)0.9(2025)
Opponent implied total21.022.5
Home / awayAwayAway
Start/Sit record00+1 toss-up

Signal breakdown

  • 5.7 vs 5.9 projected PPR pointsBroncos D/ST +
  • Started rank 17 vs 4 (8% vs 88% of leagues)Broncos D/ST +
  • 2.2 sacks / 1.4 TO vs 2.9 sacks / 0.9 TO per game allowedBroncos D/ST +
  • Opponent implied 21.0 vs 22.5 pointsBears D/ST +
  • Away vs Awayeven

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