When the schedule was released back in May, it was easy to see how a Week 5 bye could be a much more significant issue than something that helped the Chicago Bears. After seeing how the first four weeks of the season played out, their bye couldn’t be timed any better. Even better? The Bears are heading into that early bye week with a (2-2) record, despite losing their first two games of the season. It was far from pretty on Sunday in Las Vegas, but in the end, the Bears got what was most important, and that was a victory. Before we gear down for Week 5, let’s take a look at Sunday’s game, what to expect during the bye week, and how things are shaping up coming out of it. All of this and more in Week 4’s installment of 10 Bears Takes.
1. Following an impressive Week 3 showing, the first half of Sunday’s game was… Uninspiring.
If we are being honest, the majority of their 60-minute performance was uninspiring. The team’s defense forced three first-half takeaways, and they came away with just six points. Three of the Bears’ first four drives started inside the Raiders’ 30-yard line. Most teams would find a way to get at least 17 points out of that. Instead, Chicago went into the half down 14-9.
On paper, Dallas’ defense was considerably worse. Their lack of pass rush and injuries in the secondary made for a good matchup for the Bears at home. In Vegas, Maxx Crosby single-handedly ruined multiple drives, including three batted passes and an interception. We’ve seen this story play out before. The offense starts slowly and never gets going. Frankly, it was easy to see that exact scenario playing out in the second half. Although things were never pretty, the offense managed to score 25 points. Although that figure was aided by four defensive turnovers, in the end, it’s still almost seven points per game better than the offense’s average last season.
It’s impossible to deny that this unit still has a long way to go. It would also be naive to believe that the defense will be able to keep them in games against better offenses consistently. Ultimately, if the Bears are going to find success, it will be tied to the offense, with the occasional quality performance on the defensive side of the ball. It might not always look pretty, but the ceiling for this offense has yet to be reached. These types of performances (and wins) build character. It helps a brand new offense form its identity. Things need to improve, and consistency will be key, but these are the types of games that can help define a young team’s season. That’s what fans should be hoping for moving forward.
2. The Bye Week is coming at the right time, especially from a health standpoint.
There’s just no other way around it; injuries have been highly impactful for the Bears in the early going. Jaylon Johnson’s two quarters of play have been felt. Austin Booker’s speed off the edge is missed. T.J. Edwards’ leadership in the middle of the defense? Needed. Oh, and don’t forget about Kyler Gordon, who is sorely missed with a banged-up secondary missing two of their starters.
In addition to those names, Darnell Wright, Colston Loveland, and Grady Jarrett all missed Week 4 with what have been characterized as minor injuries.
With a week of downtime before heading to Washington for a Monday night showdown with the Washington Commanders, how many players can we realistically expect back? Gordon and Loveland appeared close to playing on Sunday. Booker’s four-game stint on Injured Reserve is eligible to conclude next week. Edwards and Wright get an extra week of rest to heal from their injuries. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Bears could be looking at most, if not all, of the names returning in 14 days.
Another overlooked aspect of the early bye week is that this coaching staff can reassess their plan(s), determine what this team does well, and make adjustments accordingly. The Bears are far from a finished product, but a chance to catch their breath, get healthier, and adjust their approach could pay off in the coming weeks. As tough as going into a bye week coming off a win can be, make no mistake about it, the Bears need this.
3. The defense isn’t controlling the line of scrimmage, but their ability to take the ball away is keeping their heads above water.
One approach is more sustainable than the other, but at this point, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen will take what he can get. Over the last two games, the Bears’ defense has recorded just two sacks, but has managed eight takeaways. I don’t need to be the one to say it, but those margins are not sustainable, even in the short term.
Simply put, the Bears must find a way to get after the quarterback. Two sacks against Dak Prescott were understandable. He’s a veteran quarterback with a good offensive line in front of him. Not to take anything away from Geno Smith, but he’s not someone who typically avoids sacks. For reference, Smith was sacked five times in Week 3 against a so-so Washington front, and 12 times through his first three starts of the season. The Raiders’ offensive line is a mess, and every team outside of Chicago has been able to expose that with little effort.
Just as concerning as their lack of pass rush has been their inability to stop the run. Ashton Jeanty came into Sunday averaging less than four yards per carry. On Sunday, he averaged 6.6 per carry on his way to 138 rushing yards, while accounting for all three Las Vegas touchdowns on the day. As a unit, the defense gave up 240 yards on the ground, with a whopping 7.7-yard average. That simply can’t happen, especially if you’re not getting after the quarterback.
I’m not sure what the overall solution is here, but Allen has his hands full trying to figure this out. A good start would be figuring out how to rush the passer effectively. Hopefully, adding Booker to the rotation helps, but they’ve got a combined $41 million per year tied up in Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo, who have combined for two sacks on the year. The return on investment is troubling, and I’m unsure how they can address this issue. Having one quarterback hit on that many snaps against a troubled offensive line isn’t going to get it done.
On the surface, there’s no quick fix that remains on the free agent market. It might require more patience, or general manager Ryan Poles might be forced to make another trade at the deadline. Either way, the ceiling on their season will be severely limited if they can’t find a way to start winning in the trenches on the defensive side of the ball.
4. Caleb Williams’ overall day might not have been as hoped, but his ability to continually march his team down the field in crunch time is a great trait to have moving forward.
Coming off NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors, it’s fair to say that many fans expected a strong follow-up start, even against a better defense. Reality is, his game as a whole might have looked so-so, but his performance when it mattered the most on the final two drives of the game shows a quarterback with the requisite “it factor” to win games in crunch time.
Williams was just 22-of-37 (59.4%) for 212 passing yards (5.7 average), a touchdown, an interception, and a season-low 73.3 rating. Thus far, I would characterize Williams’ first four performances as such:
Week 1: Not good enough
Week 2: So-so
Week 3: Excellent
Week 4: So-so
His development hasn’t been linear, but if you’ve listened to Johnson speak at all since he’s taken the job, that was never a realistic expectation. Even if his numbers weren’t significant, the finer details within his performances are improving. Last week, he took no sacks for the first time in his career. This week, despite being under constant fire, he took just one sack. I’m also not going to put the interception on him, even if he had an alarming number of passes batted down at the line on Sunday.
Williams’ pocket presence has improved, as has his poise in staying calm. Steps in the right direction are being taken; sometimes you just have to look beyond the box score to find them. After all, Drake Maye is the only second-year quarterback who is stringing together any semblance of weekly consistency.
We need to see Caleb do this against better defenses, but outside of a bad Week 3, the Raiders’ defense has been no slouch to start the season. In fact, they were giving up just 16.5 points per game in their first two contests. In the end, his ability to play his best football when it matters the most is something we haven’t seen in Chicago since the days of Jay Cutler.
Even better, Williams is on pace for these numbers over a 17-game season:
334-for-553 (62.3%) | 3,940 passing yards | 34 touchdowns | 9 touchdowns | 97.8 Rating
5. This wasn’t a game the Bears would have won in the Eberflus era. When the game gets ugly, finding a way to win is a big sign of progress.
You heard it straight from Johnson in his postgame speech to the team. This was a culture-building win. It’s really that simple.
How often have we seen the Bears lose these games over the last five years? You’d have to go back to 2020 when they went on an improbable run at the start of a season with comeback wins to accurately compare Sunday’s win to anything we’ve seen from this team in the past five seasons.
For most fans, this was a painful 60 minutes. Despite forcing three takeaways in the first half, they went into the break trailing 14-9. The offense had three possessions where they started inside Vegas’ 30-yard line, and yet they had only six points to show for those takeaways. Heck, even coming out of the half, they had a prime opportunity for a touchdown following Tyrique Stevenson’s interception. Yet, a bad penalty and errant snap later, they found themselves settling for a 52-yard field goal to cut the lead to two points.
Through all the bad and frustrating moments experienced on Sunday, the offense marched down the field in crunch time and took the lead with less than two minutes remaining in regulation. After an impressive kick return, it felt like a guarantee that the Raiders would get a chance to take the lead via field goal. Following a big third-down stop, the Bears weren’t dead even with a field goal, but in the end, Josh Blackwell came flying off the edge to seal the victory for the Bears.
Getting to (2-2) heading into the bye week is valuable beyond words. It doesn’t guarantee them a playoff spot, or even to be in the mix come December, but it gives them a chance after a disastrous (0-2) start. In Year 1 of the Ben Johnson era, their ability to show some fight and even their record through four games is impressive, to say the least. There’s no denying that this team has a long way to go, but wins like Sunday haven’t come along very often in recent memory, and for that, Bears fans should celebrate.
6. The coaching staff will need to make adjustments at the break, but it’s clear that their two most glaring needs are holding this team back. What now?
After the initial wave of the acquisition period through free agency and the draft, it seemed clear that running back and another edge rusher were significant needs for this team. I went so far as to say that it could be the difference between a playoff season and not. So far, those concerns have only grown.
Through four games, the Bears have just five sacks, with four of those coming off the edge. Sweat, Odeyingbo, Dominique Robinson, Gervon Dexter Sr., and Tanoh Kpassagnon are all tied with the team lead with a whopping one sack apiece. The interior has also been an issue, especially in the run game. Still, their inability to generate pressure off the edge from their two high-dollar investments is not only frustrating but also troubling, to say the least.
So, what now?
JaDeveon Clowney and Za’Darius Smith have since signed with different teams. The free agent market is bare, and this early in the season, it’s hard to imagine many teams looking to trade anyone, and on paper, targeting someone like the Carolina Panthers’ D.J. Wonnum. The issue? He has no sacks on the season and hasn’t been healthy. The chances of any team (contender or not) agreeing to part ways with an impactful edge rusher are slim. This is the problem when a fourth-year general manager fails to select an edge rusher before the fifth round. It eventually comes back to bite a team, especially when they whiff on their other big-money acquisitions.
At running back, the short-term future is a little brighter. Although there’s nothing left in free agency, there should be multiple basement dwellers who could be looking to part ways with their rushers. Breece Hall, Devon Achane, Tony Pollard, and Alvin Kamara are all names that could provide a short-term boost at worst. Hall and Achane are both in contract years.
We’ll see how things shake out, but logic suggests that any moves are probably two to three weeks away, unless one of these struggling teams is ready to pull the plug and would prefer guaranteed draft capital before the deadline frenzy begins.
The Bears were never going to become a complete team in one offseason, but when glaring needs remain, they typically persist throughout the season. We’ll see if the Bears are feeling the urge to make a splash or if they are content taking this season for what it is.
7. Tyrique Stevenson and Kevin Byard III are two players who have stepped up in recent weeks. How will it look once Kyler Gordon is healthy and back?
Barring a miraculous turnaround, it’s probably about time to accept the reality that this defense is going to be in the bottom half of the league for 2025. Losing Jaylon Johnson hurts, but their inability to get any sort of pass rush is highly unlikely to be fixed over the last 13 games of the season. The good news is that in the previous two games, both Stevenson and Byard have stepped up in big ways for this defense.
Byard has three interceptions over the last two games and has started to look like the All-Pro caliber player that flew around the Tennessee Titans’ defensive backfield for almost a decade. He’s already one of the team’s most notable emotional leaders, but his play backing that up is a great thing to see.
The bigger surprise has been Stevenson. Things have simply not been the same since the Hail Mary fiasco in Washington last season. Although the new coaching staff acknowledged his struggles last year, they vowed to give him a clean slate. The first two weeks of the season saw a lot of chasing and a perfect passer rating, but his last two games have been two of the best in his young career. Last week, he was all over the field and was responsible for multiple pass breakups. This week, he accounted for six tackles, two pass breakups, and an impressive interception to open the third quarter. With the struggles of both Nashon Wright and Nick McCloud, having Stevenson step up as the team’s best corner has been a pleasant surprise.
So, what happens when Gordon returns? That’s the big question. If we’re being honest, I’m having a hard time choosing the “best of the worst” when it comes to the performances of Wright and McCloud. Both have been bad in different ways, and probably shouldn’t be starting for any team with playoff aspirations. There’s some cautious hope that Johnson could return at some point in December, but that’s a long way off. Allen could opt to play Gordon on the outside and maybe try Blackwell at the nickel. After all, Blackwell has played well in relief duty before this year.
Gordon’s return gives them options, even if he’s best as the nickel. Initially, Allen had discussed using him all over the field, but with a dire need for quality cornerbacks, perhaps the initial answer is playing him on the outside. Either way, the defense should be better with him on the field. The better question is how much? Only time will tell.
8. Projecting ahead, coming out of the bye. Is the schedule as daunting as it looked one month ago?
Every year, we fall into the trap of projecting a team’s upcoming schedule based on its strength of schedule from the previous year. It rarely pans out that way, which is what makes the NFL so exciting. Parity is king, yet we continue to fall for the same gimmick every year.
Coming out of their Week 5 bye, let’s take a look at their schedule through Week 10:
Week 6: At Washington Commanders (2-2) (Monday Night Football)
Week 7: Vs New Orleans Saints (0-4)
Week 8: At Baltimore Ravens (1-3)
Week 9: At Cincinnati Bengals (2-1)
Week 10: Vs New York Giants (1-3)
Their next five games could dictate if they are in the playoff chase after Thanksgiving. Initially, Washington, Baltimore, and Cincinnati all looked like tall tasks. The Commanders have been middling at best and have been without quarterback Jayden Daniels and star receiver Terry McLaurin. The Ravens have completely fallen apart, especially with their Week 4 blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bengals might be (2-1), but after being blown out by the Vikings in Week 3, it’s fair to wonder how serious a contender they are without Joe Burrow under center.
In short, all five games are winnable, with the Saints and Giants standing out as games they should absolutely win. How they come out of the bye week will be telling. Fans should expect to see Daniels, but McLaurin’s status is far more uncertain. I still wouldn’t bet against the Ravens, but the Bengals game became very winnable once Jake Browning took over at quarterback, especially with that defense. (3-2) over the next five keeps them in the race, while (4-1) could establish them as a true playoff contender. Again, this team has a long way to go, but stringing together wins can address many of its ailments, especially for a young team with a first-year coaching staff. It’s time for the Bears to show us who they’re going to be for 2025.
9. NFC North Lookaround: The Lions’ hot streak continues, the Vikings have a quarterback problem, and the Packers… Tie?
The Detroit Lions are all the way back after a Week 1 letdown. It started with a 52-24 blowout win against the Bears and has yet to slow down since. Even if their win against the Ravens doesn’t seem as impressive as it did in the moment, this is an outstanding team, and it knows how to win.
The Vikings have a quarterback problem, and I’m not sure time can “fix” that. Eventually, J.J. McCarthy will return from injury and re-take the reins as the team’s starting quarterback. Carson Wentz hasn’t been “bad” by any means, but he’s far from the same player we saw earlier in his career when he was in Philadelphia. The Vikings’ offense isn’t nearly as potent as it was under Kirk Cousins or Sam Darnold in previous seasons. The defense is legit, but teams are using a quick passing game to bypass most of the pressure that Brian Flores has dialed up.
Finally, the Packers have started to come back down to earth a bit. After a hot start over their first two games, they look somewhat beatable, which is a step in the right direction for any of the teams in the NFC North. The defense is legit, but the offense hasn’t really found its stride yet. Sunday night’s game was a wild one that ultimately ended up in a tie. Their defense gave up 40 points, and the final sequence of plays were a complete disaster. No matter the chaos, they are 2-1-1, which takes out most tie-breaking scenarios for them for the remainder of the season.
Heading into Week 5, the Bears are just one game back of the division lead (without any tie-breakers being accounted for). At this point, the Bears just need to keep finding ways to win and see where the cards fall in December.
10. Week 5 Look Ahead: Bye Bye Bye (week).
It’s been a whirlwind of four weeks for the Bears. Despite high expectations, their first two games of the season went about as poorly as anyone could script. Blowing a fourth-quarter lead to the Vikings at home hurt, but being blown out in Detroit during Johnson’s homecoming might have been the wake-up call they needed. Luckily for them, they were able to string together back-to-back wins and have kept themselves in the playoff conversation heading into October. Although it’s early, a (1-3) start would have all but doomed them this early in the season.
More than anything, this is a team that needs to find a way to get healthy. Defensive end Austin Booker, running back Travis Homer, and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga are all eligible to come off Injured Reserve as early as this week. With a bye week and multiple roster decisions needed to clear space, don’t be surprised to see them spread these moves out over the next few weeks. There’s really no rush in designating players to return (or clearing a spot for them to return). In addition, they’ll hope to get back key players like Kyler Gordon, T.J. Edwards, and Colston Loveland.
As noted above, this is also an opportunity for the coaching staff to reassess their approach and make any necessary adjustments. With 13 games remaining in the season, the Bears must take full advantage of this early bye week and get positioned to try and make a run in the “second half”. As for the fans, enjoy the bye week. Whether that’s watching a ton of football or watching no football at all, this will be the last time the Bears don’t play football until (at least) the second week of January. Buckle in, there’s still plenty of season left.
