That was hard to watch. Week 2 promised fireworks as Ben Johnson returned to Detroit, but unfortunately for the Chicago faithful, the fireworks were squarely on the side of the home team. The Lions played like they had something to prove, and whether that had to do with Johnson, the Week 1 performance against the Packers, or pure pride (no pun intended) it worked to the greatest extent. If nothing else, Jared Goff and company’s performance serves as just the latest example of what the Bears should
aspire to be, and yet their own performance left much to be desired from almost all of their players. Here’s a look at how the Bears are stacking up statistically against their benchmark comparisons.
Quarterback
Caleb Williams
Comp: 2022 Jared Goff
Benchmark Statistics:
It’s hard to judge Caleb’s performance in this game. On one hand, he appeared to clean up some of the accuracy concerns that plagued him in week 1 and you really can’t blame him for this loss. On the other hand, he did have a bad decision lead to his first interception of the year in a game that felt like the Bears were never really competitive in, so it leaves you to question how much weight you can put in his individual performance.
Running Backs
D’Andre Swift
Comp: 2022 D’Andre Swift
Benchmark Statistics:
Swift managed to improve his numbers a bit in week 2, but with the game getting away so quickly, the Bears didn’t have the option of relying too much on a shaky run game to mount a comeback. We’ll see if he can continue an upward trend or if the team will have to look elsewhere for a solution at some point.
Roschon Johnson, Kyle Monangai, etc.
Comp: 2024 David Montgomery
Benchmark Statistics:
The good news here (if you want to classify it as such) is that we saw an actual running back take handoffs as the backup behind Swift in this game as Kyle Monangai saw a few carries as opposed to DJ Moore having to line up in the backfield out of necessity again.
Tight Ends
Cole Kmet
Comp: 2021 T.J. Hockenson
Benchmark Statistics:
Cole Kmet saw his receptions double from 1 catch in week 1 to 2 against Detroit. His two catches amounted to fewer yards combined than his lone catch last week, but hopefully we can see the TEs get more involved in the game plans going forward.
Colston Loveland
Comp: 2023 Sam LaPorta
Benchmark Statistics:
Loveland’s performance continues to be disappointing to this point. I still think he has a lot of potential to play really well this season, but let’s just say I’m pretty glad I don’t have to put Tyler Warren’s stat line up here as a comparison.
Wide Receivers
DJ Moore
Comp: 2024 Amon-Ra St. Brown
Benchmark Statistics:
The yards per reception number is what stands out to me here. This is an obviously low sample size, and with the way Moore gets used, you can imagine that number could dip easily, but 14 yards per reception is nothing to sneeze at. Ben Johnson and Offensive Coordinator Declan Doyle could circle that number, and point to it in meetings with Caleb Williams this week with the message to find #2 a little more often.
Rome Odunze
Comp: 2024 Jameson Williams
Benchmark Statistics:
The biggest and brightest (maybe lone) positive takeaway from week 2 is probably this. We may look back at this game at the end of the season as the day Rome was built.
Olamide Zaccheaus
Comp: 2023 Josh Reynolds
Benchmark Statistics:
Caleb has continued to look OZ’s way in the passing game, but it hasn’t been quite as fruitful as we may have hoped entering the season so far. The season is still young, so we can look for this to turn around in the coming weeks before his share of targets gets redistributed.
Luther Burden III
Comp: 2023 Jameson Williams
Benchmark Statistics:
I lied earlier. This was another positive takeaway. Luther Burden’s 5-yard reception results in a new (literal) positive receiving yard total for his career.
