I have a lot of thoughts on this win one day later. The Bears’ win was impressive on a lot of different levels last night. But what impresses me most is that, week after week, Ben Johnson’s team is proving it can beat you in so many different ways. And that’s the sign of a team that can win in the postseason.
Chicago can run the ball on anyone and dominate time of possession. They can push the ball downfield when you take away the quick stuff. They can dink and dunk you to death and make defenders miss in the process. It just feels like whatever you try to take away from Ben Johnson on defense, he’s got an answer and the personnel to pull it off. And what a change that is from, well, really my entire Bears fandom.
Let’s recap the impressive TNF win 24 hours later.
Oct 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears running back D’Andre Swift (4) runs for a touchdown against the New England Patriots during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn ImagesBears 24-Hour Rule
Yet again, we have to start with quarterback play. Both quarterbacks were awesome last night. Caleb Williams made all the big-time throws and showed off his elusiveness, arm strength, and accuracy yet again. Drake Maye faced constant pressure all night and still avoided sacks, stayed in the pocket, and found open receivers. I’m not sure how anyone could have watched that game and felt anything but impressed by the two 2024 draft classmates. Both of them showed how good they can be, that they’re near the top of the league at their best, and that they’ll both be NFL quarterbacks for quite some time. But yeah, for as good as Maye looked at times, Caleb was just better last night. He made the bigger throws. He avoided the big mistake. He spread the ball around. And while he still looks like he’s not moving right, he avoided sacks in the pocket for the most part. Thankfully, Cario Santos bailed him out after the one inexcusable sack he took late in the game. Every week, he keeps getting better. He’s proving that he can beat you any way you will let him. Take away the deep stuff? Fine, he’ll find the outlets. Loading the box and making him push the ball down the field? No worries, elite arm strength and timing have him covered. There are just so many ways the Chicago Bears quarterback can beat you. And I smiled from ear to ear typing that out because that’s a sentence I’ve quite literally never been able to write in my lifetime as a Bears fan.More from BN Bears: Caleb Williams Makes More History In Bears Win On Thursday Night Football
I’m not sure any Bear benefits more from the mini bye than Caleb. For as good as he looked in the last two games, playing two games in four days coming off a hamstring injury is going to take its toll. While he’s played awesome, you can tell he’s not quite moving right. Really happy he gets an extended period off here before the Monday Night Football matchup in Seattle. Oct 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) looks to pass against the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Moving on from our star quarterback, let’s talk about the run game. Was it great on Thursday? No. But it was good enough when it had to be. Mike Vrabel wanted to do his best to take away the run. And his defense did a decent job. But D’Andre Swift still ran his tail off, even though he clearly wasn’t 100%. The Bears offensive line wasn’t great, but it put forth a gutsy performance. And the Bears did just enough on the ground to control the clock, get the pass game going, and keep the defense off the field for a bit. Controlling the ball and the clock has become a big part of the Bears’ identity this season. Last night, the Bears held the ball in the fourth quarter for a whopping 12:21. This season, the Bears lead the league with an average of10:23 of possession time in the fourth quarter. That’s incredibly impressive. When the offense has the ball and needs to put the game away, they’ve done it better than anyone in the NFL. Obviously, they’ve been executing at a high level. But you can’t do that without the correct attitude, mindset, and belief. Ben Johnson’s offense has that right now. They’re playing at a really high level, and also with the utmost confidence. Over the last few weeks, we’ve really started to see how dangerous the Bears group of pass catchers is. Luther Burden III dominated the first half. Rome Odunze made some massive catches in the second half to extend drives and help put the game away. Colston Loveland looked like the star tight end we thought he’d be this year. I loved seeing him immediately bounce back from the critical drop with a big catch to extend a drive. And now, as teams start to sleep on Kalif Raymond a little with the big names stepping up, I wouldn’t be stunned to see him have a big game pop up soon, too. This offense can beat you in so many different ways, and Ben Johnson is perfectly fine using any of them. Oct 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze (15) takes the field before the game against the New England Patriots at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images It sucks that Cole Kmet was probably lost for the year last night. The hit looked bad, but in slow motion, it looked like his knee buckled right before it. I’d be stunned if he’s not done for the season, and it’s fair to ask if he’s played his last down in a Bears uniform. Hopefully that’s not the case, but it sure feels possible. Cole has been here through the dark times, and just as things look like they’re starting to get great, he suffers that injury—such a bummer for a really good football player and a really good teammate. I do wonder if tight end just got added to Ryan Poles’ trade deadline shopping list. Obviously, Colston Loveland is awesome. But we know how much Ben Johnson loves running multiple tight end sets, and Sam Roush hasn’t exactly proven worthy of a bigger role. Plus, while Cole Kmet’s receiving numbers weren’t the flashiest, he’s so valuable in the Bears’ blocking schemes. I wonder if there’s a veteran that Poles and Ben Johnson have in mind that can be had for cheap. Maybe call Indianapolis about DeForest Buckner and Mo Alie-Cox? Unfortunately, defensive line and tight end might not even be the Bears’ biggest needs. Cornerback seems to be the most glaring need, as we’ve seen over the past few weeks. Jaylon Johnson seems to be physically cooked. He’s struggling to keep up in man coverage. He was awful trying to open-field tackle in some big spots last night. Malik Muhammed had the AJ Brown assignment for much of the night until he got hurt (hopefully that’s not an extended injury, either). Jaylon Johnson has been an outstanding Bear, and like Kmet, he was a great player through the really hard times. But it sure does feel like his time is coming to an end soon. Hopefully, somehow, he can find a way to regain his past form or something close to it, but at this rate, the Bears might need to add a corner at the top of their to-do list before the trade deadline. Overall, I was pretty happy with the defensive effort last night. No, they didn’t get home as much as they could or should have with all of the pressure they brought. But that’s going to happen. New England game-planned for it and executed it. Now, I’d have liked to see a little more up-the-middle pressure given that the Patriots had reserve guards in the game. But Dennis Allen’s defense, as currently constructed, will live and die by causing chaos. Sometimes it’ll hit, and it’ll be fun. Sometimes it won’t, and it’ll put defensive backs in a bad spot. The way I see it, I’m not sure the secondary is good enough to cover for extended periods when a four-man rush isn’t getting home. So you might as well pressure the quarterback, force a bad throw or a bad decision, and hope your DBs can take advantage. Cairo Santos takes a lot of crap in this city, and sometimes he’s an easy target. But we have to give him credit where it’s due. Drilling that 58-yarder took some major stones. He told Ben Johnson he wanted it, and he drilled the game-icing field goal from 58, and it was probably good from 60. We had every reason to doubt him and be upset after the missed 53-yarder earlier in the quarter. But Santos didn’t let that miss linger. He stepped up in his next opportunity and came up big. Oct 22, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland (84) celebrates after placekicker Cairo Santos (8) makes a field goal against the New England Patriots during the second half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images And really, over the last two seasons, Santos has put to bed the myth that he can’t kick from 50+ yards. That used to be the case, but it’s just not anymore. This year, he’s 3-of-5 from 50+, and last year he was 5-of-7 from 50+. Can he still improve there? Sure. But those kicks aren’t missing short, either. Long story short, Cairo Santos is by no means a perfect kicker, but we have to put to bed the “noodle leg” insults and claims that he has no power. He’s proven that he does, and he’s doing that in one of the hardest stadiums to kick in the NFL. Alright, I’ll wrap things up with one last thought. I think I’m so happy about last night’s win because those are the types of wins good teams pull out. They played a good team. They didn’t play perfectly. They gave up big plays that felt demoralizing. They missed opportunities to convert and put the game away. But it didn’t matter. Every time something went wrong, the team bounced back. They never let bad vibes or momentum swings linger. That’s what winning teams do. And there’s a lot to clean up still. But they’re doing that with a 5-2 record—pretty impressive stuff.Hence then, the article about bears 24 hour rule pick your poison the bears have an antidote was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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