Windy City Gridiron
It only took three weeks, but the Chicago Bears finally found themselves in the win column for the first time this season. It wasn’t always pretty, but the offense hung 31 points, and the defense held its own when it mattered the most. With just one more game before the bye week, can the Bears get to (2-2) before a soft reset? We’ll dive into all of that and more in Week 3’s 10 Bears Takes.
1. Better late than never, right? Congrats to Ben Johnson for getting his first win as an NFL head coach. Maybe it’s finally time to smile?
Similar to every offseason, expectations were sky-high heading into the season. Their second-year quarterback was primed to take a big step forward after the hire of Johnson and his offensive staff. Training camp and the preseason were uneven, which made fans wonder. Even so, Week 1 was going smoothly until the fourth quarter occurred. All of a sudden, that dominant defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed. That strong offensive start had quickly faded into a penalty-filled disaster. When the clock struck zero, the Bears found themselves on the wrong end of another thrilling Week 1 comeback win.
Then came Week 2. It was an early homecoming for Johnson, yet it was a game surrounded by cautious optimism after how poorly the Lions played in Week 1. Over the course of that three-hour game, it became evident that the Bears weren’t nearly as “close” as some had hoped. Although the quarterback play looked better, nothing else did.
To say that Week 3 was a must-win was about as accurate as that statement can be this early in the season. The Bears needed to deliver to save their season, and that’s precisely what they did.
Most expected this to be an offensive shootout, but it was fair to wonder if the Bears could come out on top. It was a back-and-forth first half, yet Chicago was the one who pulled away when it mattered. I’ve long said that this is a team that needs to learn how to win. The majority of this roster has seen nothing but losing. No matter how many seasoned veterans they acquire, the young core teaching how to have games like this is the most critical factor to their future success. With the ever-elusive first win out of the way for Johnson, we’ll see if he can continue to build offensive momentum in the coming weeks.
2. Quarterback Caleb Williams was two yards short of a 300-yard performance, and there was a lot to like on Sunday.
For starters, and most crucially, Williams was not sacked. I don’t care how you cut it, that’s a massive development worth feeling very good about. A big part of that is Caleb playing on time, and the rest is the offensive line finally starting to gel. That was the first time in his NFL career that he went a whole game without being sacked.
Another positive note (before...
