Week one already feels like a long time ago. You remember it, right? When the Chicago Bears dropped 59 points on the Carolina Panthers and made a statement to the league that they were for real.
And then, Caleb Williams got hurt in the slop bowl, and the Bears have just kind of slipped into the mix of other really good football teams but not uniquely great ones that deserve extra attention from fans and the media.
A 31- 23 win over the Atlanta Falcons may not seem like a statement win, but it certainly
showed that the Bears, with Caleb Williams back, are indeed that team you don’t want to cross.
When Caleb Williams plays, they are simply a different team. They go from a good team to a great team. They go from a team that can make the playoffs to a team that can make some noise in the playoffs.
In weeks 1 and 6, when Caleb Williams is healthy and plays a full game in good conditions, the Chicago Bears average 45 points per game. In the games without him (not even including the Minnesota game), they average 19 points per game. Think about that. The Bears are averaging a 26-point differential with or without Caleb Williams.
Packers fans and other critics still want to criticize Caleb Williams. That’s getting tougher to do. If you set the qualifying number at 90 attempts so Caleb qualifies, he is currently first in completion percentage, third in QBR, 9th in yards per attempt, sixth in success rate, and 1st in completion percentage over expected. He’s 5th in EPA per play and 7th in adjusted EPA per play. When you look at the numbers, there’s no question: Caleb Williams is one of the top 10 QBs in the league. The question at this point is: will he be a top 5 QB by the end of the year?
Some of us (myself included) may have bought into Ben Johnson’s wizardry a bit too much. We thought perhaps his offense was still good enough to beat the Green Bay Packers with Tyson Bagent. But I (and many others) learned our lesson. Ben Johnson is elite. Caleb Williams is elite. But Ben Johnson needs Caleb Williams and Caleb Williams needs Ben Johnson.
Tom Brady had Bill Belichick. Drew Brees had Sean Payton. Brett Favre had Mike Holmgren. John Elway had Mike Shanahan. Dan Marino had Don Shula. The list goes on and on. You can go back to the early parts of the league. Sid Luckman had George Halas, Otto Graham had Paul Brown, Bart Starr had Vince Lombardi, and so on, and so on.
A great coach and a great QB need each other to become legends. The Bears have the combo. Now the only question is, will they eventually become legends? It’s way too early to say, but the early returns certainly look promising.
We are starting to see the vision for winning this year: control the clock and choke the life out of the opponent. Ben Johnson is approaching these games like a boa constrictor. In the Bears’ victories, they are averaging a whopping 38:30 in time of possession. Even in their two losses, they still held the ball more than their opponent at 31:10.
The Bears want to run the ball, keep the clock moving, and keep their defense off the field. That’s going to give the opponents less chance to exploit the more questionable unit and keep them fresh and ready to attack the opposing offenses as well.
At this point, the Bears offense isn’t going to set any NFL records because of those games that Caleb Williams missed, but they can still absolutely become the highest-scoring team in Chicago Bears history, and they can still absolutely be the best offense in the NFL.
The Bears’ 2026 season is going to go by how this offense goes. And as far as I can tell, with Caleb Williams back, the Bears offense is real, and it’s spectacular.
