We were promised a chess match between the Vikings Defensive Coordinator, Brian Flores, and Bears Head Coach/Offensive play-caller, Ben Johnson. What we were delivered was an all-around disappointment with rain pouring throughout, 12 total points, dropped passes, a goal line fumble, a blocked field goal, and one incredibly scary quarterback injury. After a 59-point debut, the Chicago offense faced all kinds of adversity in a week 2 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. With questions about how long the team
will be without their starting quarterback, how has this game impacted the outlook for the Bears moving forward? We continue with Benchmarking Da Bears below:
Quarterback
Caleb Williams, 3rd NFL season
Comp Player: 2022 Jared Goff (Detroit Lions)
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Obviously, the biggest storyline surrounding Caleb Williams is his hamstring injury and the collective sigh of relief that we’ve all breathed since getting additional information following the game. Ben Johnson called Williams “week-to-week” while speaking to the media, which could mean any number things in regards to his return timeline. Realistically, I think it’s fair to expect the team to play it very safe with Caleb (even against his wishes, if it comes to it) and have him miss the next couple of games at minimum to recover.
As for the game, Caleb seemed to struggle with what Flores was throwing at him and the receivers’ inability to get open with much regularity made it a difficult day overall. I don’t think these two games are a great sample of what the final form of this offense will be for Caleb, but the current projections (at 15 games played) are certainly underwhelming for a passer while skewed heavily by his running production so far.
Running Backs
D’Andre Swift, 7th NFL season
Comp Player: 2025 D’Andre Swift (Chicago Bears)
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Kyle Monangai, 2nd NFL season
Comp Player: 2024 David Montgomery (Detroit Lions)
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The running backs had the potential to come away as the position group that escaped the water-logged Soldier Field in the most impressive fashion. Unfortunately, a fumble at the goal line by Swift as the Bears were threatening to score to start the 2nd half, all but forfeited their opportunity to set themselves apart. Monangai had the better game overall, but was also apparently a bit beat up, as he was limited at times. Still, these two are now on pace to accumulate about 2,700 rushing yards between them, and we have seen enough over the last two seasons to know that their level of play is much closer to week 1 than week 2.
Tight Ends
Colston Loveland, 2nd NFL season
Comp Player: 2023 Sam LaPorta (Detroit Lions)
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Cole Kmet, 7th NFL season
Comp Player: 2021 T.J. Hockenson (Detroit Lions)
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The tight ends (including Sam Roush) were a huge disappointment in this game. They were targeted 7 times, and caught only 2 passes for 12 yards. Roush dropped a potential touchdown, Kmet was held without a catch, and Loveland amazingly has only 3 receiving yards through the first 2 weeks of the season. Last season saw the TEs start extremely slow as well, but the thought was that they were set to hit ground much faster in year 2 of this scheme. If the Bears are going to have a chance to be competitive in a matchup with the Eagles, they can’t rely on QB and WR play alone – and Philly will be ready for the run game. This next game will be huge for Loveland and Kmet.
Wide Receivers
Rome Odunze, 3rd NFL season
Comp Player: 2024 Jameson Williams (Detroit Lions)
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Luther Burden, 2nd NFL season
Comp Player: 2022 Amon-Ra St. Brown (Detroit Lions)
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Kalif Raymond, 10th NFL season
Comp Player: 2022 Kalif Raymond (Detroit Lions)
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Once again, there was no activity from Zavion Thomas on offense in this one. As for the primary WR trio, they were largely ineffective for most of the game, with some production coming near the end of the game. Some media around the team (and even Ben Johnson) have commented on the impact the weather had on the game, and I’m inclined to believe that it definitely affected the WRs ability to separate from defenders. They are all on track for solid seasons, with Raymond pacing for the best of his career, but you’d hope for Odunze and/or Burden to ascend to star status over the course of the season.
With Tyson Bagent facing concussion protocol, we’re officially in Case Keenum mode for the Eagles on Monday Night Football. There’s still technically a chance that Begent (or Williams, I guess) are able to play by the time Monday rolls around, but either of those scenarios seem less likely than QB3 taking the field. Fortunately, he’s probably the best 3rd string quarterback in the NFL (for whatever that’s worth) and it’ll at least be interesting to see what approach Johnson and the offensive coaches take with Keenum at the helm.
