For two completely separate reasons, the general sense was that both the Bears and Ravens needed to win this game to keep long-term playoff hopes alive. On Sunday, Baltimore proved to be the hungrier team.
Lamar Jackson didn’t suit up for the Ravens, but their offense was still able to have their way with Chicago’s defense. The result was a 30-16 loss for the Bears that saw their record drop to 4-3 in the 2025 NFL season.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the Bears’ Week 8 game.
D’Andre Swift is back
Even though D’Andre Swift’s rushing numbers weren’t exactly incredible, part of that comes down to the lack of a massive workload. He put together his fair share of nice plays, both as a runner and as a receiving back. In particular, his 25-yard pick up on a screen pass and his rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter helped keep the Bears in the game. He deserves credit for how he’s bounced back in recent weeks.
Too many mistakes from Caleb
On a key drive which saw the Bears down by three points in the fourth quarter, Caleb Williams threw an interception. On several different instances on Sunday, Williams overthrew his targets down the field. Chicago’s offense stalled multiple times in field goal range.
Where you stand on the long-term outlook of Williams depends on your patience. If you tend to err on the side of positivity, you’re still in the camp that he can be the franchise quarterback he was selected first overall to be. But if you’re jaded by years of poor QB development by the Bears’ organization, you may believe that things are already dead on arrive. Regardless, he should be much better midway through Year 2 than he is at this point.
Dennis Allen overcorrects his defensive philosophy with injured secondary
The Bears came into this matchup without their top three cornerbacks, and they sure looked like it with how their defense performed against the Ravens. They were porous in coverage and struggled to stop the run, though I’d argue part of that game down to Dennis Allen going way too passive with his calls.
I understand the philosophy of running less man coverage when you naturally have inferior talent in your secondary. But I’d say Allen went too far in that direction, as the underneath was pretty consistently available for the Ravens to move the ball down the field. That helped them keep their offense on the field for lengthy drives and milk the clock against Chicago.
