Week 8 Power Rankings: Bears can’t be ignored

Week 8 Power Rankings: Bears can’t be ignored
Windy City Gridiron Windy City Gridiron

It’s hard to overlook a team on a four-game win streak. The Chicago Bears, fortunately, are on a winning streak.

By record, the Bears are an above-average team, but where do you rank them in a league full of slightly-above-average and average teams?

That is the task of the power rankers this week. The parity of the league makes the middle of the league perhaps the most difficult to judge.

Let’s see how the Bears are viewed around the league.

WCG – Aaron Leming

14. Chicago Bears (4-2) Previous Week: 18

Since their brutal (0-2) start, the Bears have been on a roll. For the most part, it hasn’t been pretty, but a four-game winning streak later, they finally find themselves out of the NFC North cellar and able to realistically talk about a potential playoff run. Quarterback Caleb Williams might have had his worst performance of 2025, but the run game got going (222 rushing yards), which helped their offense maintain their streak of 20-plus point performances to open the season.

CBS Sports – Pete Prisco

13. Bears (17) Ben Johnson has turned this team into a physical group that can run the ball. They are 4-2 and in the thick of the division race after winning four straight.

The Ringer – Diante Lee

19. Chicago Bears (20) Since Chicago’s bye in Week 5, the Bears have found something sustainable in the run game, which gives me confidence that this team is now balanced enough on offense that it can be a frisky competitor the rest of the season.

Playing against porous defenses like Washington last week and New Orleans on Sunday certainly helps, but it’s not lost on me that Chicago’s doing a much better job of executing up front lately. If this recent trend holds up, that takes a ton of stress away from quarterback Caleb Williams—and that’s a good thing for everyone in Chicago.

PFT – Mike Florio

15. Bears (No. 17; 4-2): “Thank you, Troy Aikman.”

Yahoo Sports – Frank Schwab

14 (17): Chicago Bears (4-2) Caleb Williams had 172 yards and an interception and the Bears still won. Part of that is playing the Saints, but it’s a good sign that the running game was dominant. Chicago had 222 rushing yards. That’s a Ben Johnson influence, too

The Athletic – Josh Graff and Josh Kendall

14. Chicago Bears

Last week: 18

Sunday: Beat Saints 26-14

Reality check: Ben Johnson’s culture is sticking

Caleb Williams wasn’t at his best Sunday, but Johnson got the running game going. Chicago ran for 222 yards (compared to 44 from the Saints) as the Bears dominated the time of possession and cruised to a win.

NFL.com – Eric Edholm

14. Chicago Bears (18) That’s now 15 takeaways in the past four games for the Bears and, perhaps not coincidently, four straight wins to completely turn the season around. Another pleasant...