I’ve spent about a week trying to figure out how I feel about this Bears team.
On one hand, they’re 7-2. That’s their best start through nine games since 2012. They’ve won four straight, three of them in prime time, and they haven’t trailed for a single second since Caleb Williams came back from his hamstring injury. In their last six wins, they’ve outscored opponents 59-0 in the first quarter. That’s what a team that knows exactly who it is looks like.
On the other hand, I watched them turn the ball over five times on Sunday night and need Cairo Santos to bail them out as time expired. I watched them get pushed around at Lambeau. And I’ve looked at what’s left on the schedule.
So consider this me working through it out loud. Here’s what I love, what worries me, and where I land heading into the stretch run.
What I Feel Great About at the Bears Bye Week
Caleb Williams, obviously. The gap between this offense with and without him isn’t subtle. In four games since his return, he went 30-of-36 for 305 yards in Atlanta, threw for 308 yards and two scores against New England, and stayed composed in a deafening Lumen Field. He leads the NFL in first-quarter completion percentage (78.3) and first-quarter passer rating (130.3).
The four interceptions against Tampa were ugly, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But I went through all four of them earlier this week, and I came away mostly unbothered. Two were the product of the same aggressive streak that makes him special, and one of those was a tipped ball. The other two were genuinely bad decisions, the kind you can’t live with, but they look so little like the quarterback we’ve watched for two seasons that I’m not losing sleep over them. What stuck with me more is that he shook off the worst stretch of his career and still drove the offense into field-goal range with the game on the line.
Sep 13, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) runs the ball for a touchdown in the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn ImagesThe defense on third down. Opponents are converting just 22.8 percent of their third downs against Chicago, the lowest rate in the league by a wide margin. The Bears have also recorded at least two sacks in every game this season. Dennis Allen’s group doesn’t always look pretty, but it gets off the field when it matters.
Jeffery Simmons. Two first-round picks are a steep price. I’ll still take the All-Pro defensive tackle in his prime, thank you very much. He has a sack in each of his first two games as a Bear, and the Bears are 2-0 with him in the lineup. More on him in a minute.
Ben Johnson against the rest of the league. Johnson is 7-0 against non-division opponents this season and 15-2 against them in two years. When the Bears play someone outside the NFC North, they expect to win. That hasn’t been true around here for a long time.
What Keeps Me Up at Night
The division. Which brings me to the elephant in the room. The Bears are 0-2 against the NFC North, with a 9-3 home loss to Minnesota and a 31-7 beatdown in Green Bay. Four of their final eight games are against division opponents. They lead the North at 7-2, but only by a half-game over the Lions and Vikings (both 6-2), with the Packers (6-3) a game back. Minnesota plays at Green Bay on Sunday while the Bears sit on the couch. Being great against everybody else is nice. It won’t win the division.
The protection. This isn’t a one-week problem. Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores and his unit harassed Williams all afternoon in Week 2, sacking him three times and holding him to 138 passing yards before he got hurt. Edge defender Dallas Turner had two sacks by himself.
Fast forward to Sunday night, and Williams faced pressure almost instantly on a lot of his dropbacks against Tampa. Even more worrisome was how often Tampa got home straight up the A-gap. That’s a blueprint, and you can bet Green Bay, Detroit, and Minnesota saw it. Flores gets another crack at this line in Week 18; the Packers do on Christmas. Detroit gets two. That needs to be cleaned up during the bye.
Sep 13, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Chicago Bears center Garrett Bradbury (67) reacts to a touchdown scored by running back D’Andre Swift (4) in the first quarter against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn ImagesThe run game since Kyle Monangai went down. Over the first four weeks, the Bears averaged 196.3 yards per game on 4.9 yards per carry. In the four games since Monangai’s toe injury, those numbers fell to 105.3 yards per game and 3.34 yards per carry. D’Andre Swift’s touchdown total has hidden some of that, but the Bears ran for 72 yards on 22 carries against Tampa. Monangai is expected back against the Saints, and I can’t overstate how much this offense needs him.
Special teams. Sunday night was a mess. A blocked punt, a holding call that wiped out a 91-yard kickoff return, and a false start that killed a fake punt. Santos covered it all with the walk-off kick, but you can’t count on that every week.
The turnovers. Since 2011, teams with five or more turnovers in a game are 11-151-1. The Bears are one of the 11. That’s a fun piece of trivia for a team that won. It’s a warning label for a team that wants to play in late January.
Life without Cole Kmet. Losing Kmet for the season stings on and off the field. Colston Loveland has stepped up, including two big catches on the game-winning drive against Tampa. But rookie Sam Roush is now behind him, with Stephen Carlson elevated from the practice squad for depth. Through the first two weeks, Ben Johnson had at least two tight ends on the field for 54 percent of his plays, the second-highest rate in the league. An offense built like that will feel the loss.
About That Deadline
Ryan Poles pushed his chips into the middle of the table for Simmons, and I respect it. You don’t get many chances to add a player of that caliber midseason, and the Bears’ picks will probably land near the bottom of each round anyway. The Vikings’ big deadline answer was Kirk Cousins. I know which move I’d rather have.
What the Bears didn’t do is trade for a tight end after the Kmet injury. They’re riding with Roush and practice-squad depth instead. I understand why. It’s hard to find real help at that position in November. Still, it’s worth watching how the offense adjusts if Loveland gets banged up.
Nov 2, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Chicago Bears defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (99) on the sidelines against the Seattle Seahawks during the first quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn ImagesThe Road Ahead
Here’s what’s left:
vs. New Orleans at Detroit (Thanksgiving) vs. Jacksonville at Miami at Buffalo (Saturday night, Dec. 19) vs. Green Bay (Christmas) vs. Detroit at MinnesotaThe Saints at home coming off a bye is a game you win. After that, it gets real in a hurry. The trip to Buffalo to face a 7-1 Bills team is the toughest game on paper. The one that scares me most is Thanksgiving in Detroit. It’s a division game on a short week, on the road, against a team that knows Ben Johnson’s offense better than anyone. Win that one, and the Bears take control of the North. Lose it, and suddenly that 0-2 division record becomes 0-3, and the race gets tight again.
Where I Land
Somewhere between giddy and nauseous, which is the natural state of a Bears fan in a good year.
This team has earned my belief. It hasn’t earned my comfort yet. Clean up the protection, get Monangai back, and win a division game or two, and it will.
Enjoy the bye. We’re going to need the rest.
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