Windy City Gridiron
The Ben Johnson era is not off to the start many Chicago Bears fans hoped for. They’re (0-2) with one fourth-quarter collapse and one 31-point drubbing. The offense, while better than last year, hasn’t wowed anyone. They’ve been dealing with some key injuries on defense, but they’ve yet to gel under coordinator Dennis Allen.
And then there’s the roster construction.
The rebuilt trenches haven’t impressed.
The first two 2025 draft picks (1oth and 39th overall) have combined for 4 receptions for 14 yards, and the next two picks (56th and 62nd) can’t even crack the gameday roster.
All that said, the Bears did just play two of the better teams in the NFL, and there’s a lot of football left in the 2025 season.
As for the game, the numbers are u-g-l-y.
The 52 points the Bears allowed are the most since November 9, 2014, when the Packers dropped 55 in what was the second of consecutive 50-Burgers they allowed under Marc Trestman.
The 511 yards they let the Lions rack up is the most they have allowed since October 14, 2018, when they gave up 542 in an overtime loss under the hot Miami sun.
Chicago put up 339 yards of offense, while converting 53.8% of their third-down tries, but were 0-2 on fourth downs. Detroit was 40% on third down and 1 for 1 on fourth, and they had 25 first downs to 19 for the Bears.
The Bears were flagged 8 times for 50 yards, to 3 for 28 for the Lions
Let’s look at the Bears’ playing time breakdowns and a few individual stats from the game.
Caleb Williams was fine. He could have been better, but things fell apart for the whole team in the second half.
He had an interception that he said he probably should have thrown away, but he had a miscommunication with Olamide Zaccheaus on a scramble drill. Caleb said he thought his receiver was going to run upfield, so he threw it down the sideline, but O.Z. ran to the sideline.
D’Andre Swift looked better than last week in the run game, but I’m still waiting for an explosive play in the passing game. I figured we’d see him on some screens or option routes out of the backfield.
Rome Odunze’s 7 receptions and 128 yards were both career highs.
No sacks, passes defensed, or turnovers for the Bears’ defense. Also, they only had 4 tackles for loss and 4 QB hits on Jared Goff. That’s a troubling lack of stats for Chicago’s new look defense.
Jaquan Brisker led the Bears with 9 tackles.
Tremaine Edmunds had 7 tackles and a TFL.
T.J. Edwards had 4 tackles before leaving with a hamstring injury.
Jaylon Johnson, who I thought had a pass breakup (but not per the official statistics), had 2 tackles before leaving the game with a groin injury.
Cairo...
