Big Blue View
The New York Giants are 2-7 for the third consecutive season. The season seemingly over — from a playoff perspective — in early November. Yes, it’s bleak, but the season carries on, and the Giants find themselves in the Windy City for a Week 10 matchup against a 5-3 Bears team that just had a whacky 47-42 victory over the Bengals in Cincinnati. Quarterback Caleb Williams connected with Colston Loveland for a 58-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left in the game:
The Bears, and Cincinnati for that matter, have had several close wins, including one over the Commanders in Week 6 (25-24) and another over the Raiders in Week 5 (also 25-24). However, the Bears also famously blew a lead on Sunday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1. Ben Johnson, though, is a good football coach who has his team prepared and, despite some of the faults we will acknowledge in this article, the team finds a way to win football games.
Ben Johnson entered the 2025 season with the reputation of an offensive prodigy — a schematic savant who could have chosen virtually any open head-coaching job. He chose the Chicago Bears, a franchise that had just invested the first overall pick of the 2024 draft in quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams endured a turbulent rookie year, though he still managed 3,541 yards, 20 touchdowns, and only three interceptions — despite being sacked a league-high 68 times. His struggles to process the field carried over, at times, into 2025 under Johnson’s guidance. Still, the offensive structure and play sequencing crafted by the rookie head coach have been nothing short of elite.
The Bears average 26.9 points per game, which ranks sixth in the NFL. They’re fourth in yards per game (378.4), with just the Bills, Colts, and Cowboys ahead of them. D’Andre Swift, who missed Week 9, is assisting the Bears to the second-best (per yardage) rushing offense in the league; rookie seventh-round pick out of Rutgers, Kyle Monangai, rushed for 176 yards in Cincinnati on Sunday. Johnson is an elite play designer who maximizes the efficiency of his rushing attack, while alleviating the burden of pressure on the players always to make a play — he puts them in successful positions.
The Bears’ rushing attack continues to set up their play-action game, a hallmark of Johnson’s offensive design. Overall, Chicago ranks 10th in passing yards per game (234.0) and eighth on third down with a 42.9% conversion rate. The offensive line has taken a noticeable step forward, and Caleb Williams’ pocket awareness has improved dramatically — he’s been sacked only 14 times through nine games.
It isn’t all roses for the Bears’ offense, though. Williams, despite visible progress, still struggles at times to process the field and react post-snap. He’s thrown for 1,916 yards (7.5 yards per attempt) with a 4.7% big-time throw rate, along with 12 touchdowns, four interceptions, and 183 rushing yards. Still, the offense often stalls inside the 20, ranking...
