Things couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start for the Chicago Bears in 2025. After an insanely hyped offseason following the hiring of Ben Johnson, the Bears blew a 4th quarter lead to Minnesota – at home – in Week 1 to start this era very similarly to Matt Nagy’s in 2018.
Unfortunately, there was no correction in Week 2. In the Detroit Lions’ revenge game, the Bears got blown out decisively, never really standing a chance against a revved up crowd at Ford Field. Just like that, an 0-2 start. To add insult to injury, the Bears lost Jaylon Johnson indefinitely, lost T.J. Edwards again, and have yet to have Kyler Gordon see the field.
No need to fear, though! It could, of course, potentially get worse. The coach whom the Bears fired last November — Matt Eberflus — returned to Soldier Field this week as the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. For those keeping score, the Bears have lost every seeming revenge game in the last two years.
Jayden Daniels? Beats the Bears on a Hail Mary.
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Drake Maye? Soundly drubs Chicago on their own field with a supporting roster one could mistake with a CFL team.
JJ McCarthy? The aforementioned blown 4th quarter lead in his own hometown return.
The Lions against Ben Johnson? The aforementioned blowout above.
Could the Bears finally win one game in such a scenario against Eberflus, at home, against Dallas?
The answer: Ben Johnson’s team came ready to play from start to finish, running away from the Cowboys to get Johnson his first career win as an NFL head coach.
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on X @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Thoughts and Observations
1. Bears got the ball first on offense and… yuck. Caleb airmailed a well-designed play to Colston Loveland to start. And then an Eberflus slot blitz blew up D’Andre Swift for a loss of four. The Bears ended up losing total yardage on the first drive.
Thankfully, as the run defense was getting torpedoed for the second consecutive play, Tyrique Stevenson made an insane play by ripping the ball out of Javonte Williams’ hands near the sideline. It would’ve been a ~30 yard run, and instead, got the ball back to Chicago. The defense needed someone to make a play. Hopefully that wakes the unit up.
2. Well, the old coach constantly preached complementary football. And the Bears’ offense delivered it against him. A deep shot to Colston Loveland off play-action set the Bears up in Cowboys territory. And a couple plays later, Trevon Diggs failed to press Rome Odunze and Caleb Williams found him in stride to take a 7-0 lead. Great turnaround after a rough opening possession.
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One thing that’s plagued the Bears’ defense early is giving up big drives right after an offensive score. And while the defensive line continues to be a liability in run defense, tackling in space — especially strong starts by Noah Sewell and Tyrique Stevenson — allowed Chicago to hold Dallas to a field goal. A win, considering last week.
3. Ben Johnson promised to get his rookies involved. And boy, has he. A flea-flicker on the ensuing possession that almost saw Swift ruin it with a ballooned lateral, Caleb (basically flat-footed) unleashed a 62.1 air-yard rope to Luther Burden for his first career touchdown. And just like that, 14-3 Bears. I’m telling you, the throw from Caleb was one of the best you’ll see in terms of sheer arm talent/power. A beaut. And welcome to the NFL, Luther Burden.
4. Well, the road team sure weathered a fairly hot start by the Bears. After going down 14-3, the Cowboys have gone up and down the field with ease and tied it at 14 midway through the second quarter. They are dominating TOP and get the ball after halftime.
One could forgive the secondary with all their injuries. But the healthy DL? They haven’t been able to sneeze on Dak Prescott or the RBs behind the LOS. It’s domination up front and that’s what’s letting Dallas play routine football.
5. This is exactly the perfect response getting to halftime the Bears needed. They’ve been a team that’s let some adversity get to them before collapsing all too easily in games. Instead, they’ve really buckled down and allowed themselves to keep the Cowboys from controlling the middle-eight.
First, a clutch screen on 3rd and 9 to Swift flipped the field from the Bears’ 30+ yard line to near the red zone. Though Caleb’s third down bullet to Odunze wasn’t caught in the end zone, it was the right read and a good throw in a key situation. A FG put the Bears up 17-14.
Then, somehow, some way, the Bears clawed out a three-and-out from Dallas finally. A great pass breakup from Stevenson (again!) on second down saved the drive.
And then the Bears drove all the way down the field in two minutes to score a touchdown at the end of the first half to go up 24-14. Some nice running from Kyle Monangai to settle in and pick up 14 yards on three carries to bleed the clock. A nice third-down conversion near the sideline to Odunze. A total BULLET to Luther Burden again put the Bears in the red zone. And then a nice 4-verts call to Cole Kmet scored the touchdown.
That is some clutch football by the quarterback and this young offense to put the pressure back on Dallas opening the second half.
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6. That third quarter was two total drives. The Cowboys — running the ball at will — inexplicably chose to pass from shotgun on 2nd and 5 in Bears territory. And Dominique Robinson (!!) came flying in for a sack that eventually killed their drive.
Why teams won’t choose an 90/10 run/pass ratio against this run defense is beyond me. But that helped the Bears scrape together a stop.
7. Remember when I talked about adversity earlier? Well, the Bears also had yet to put together a sort of killshot drive — one that sucks the soul out of the opposing team. They almost did against the Vikings in Week 1, but a bad holding call against Darnell Wright killed momentum and then the drive. And then the game.
This time? Ben Johnson ran the ball 11 straight times en route to a 19-play drive that resulted in a 4th and goal touchdown to D.J. Moore. Beautiful. They’ve had a get-right game so far today on offense.
8. Tremaine Edmunds has largely been invisible this season. A highly paid LB who’s been left alone a bit with T.J. Edwards missing a lot of time with his hamstring injury. But that INT off the hands of George Pickens as Dallas was driving was incredible. Unreal timing, reaction speed, and great hands getting that corralled.
That, too, after a phantom illegal contact call on Stevenson gave Dallas a free first down on 3rd and 12. They’ve been resilient today.
9. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Caleb immediately had a defender in his face on a naked rollout. Somehow, he threw an off balance rope to Odunze for a first down. A seemingly dangerous throw… worked out.
He also did a great job on a second third-down to scan the field (multiple reads) to find OZ for a first down, before they eventually had to punt. A punt, by the way, that pinned the Cowboys inside their five-yard line.
10. Truly a heroic turnaround for this Bears defense. After letting the Cowboys dance their way (slowly) to the red zone, the Bears buckled down at the 1-yard line to turn away Dallas and (likely) seal the game. A (soft) roughing the passer call on Grady Jarrett and Montez Sweat let Dallas get a first and goal, but on 4th and goal from the 1, Gervon Dexter got in Dak’s face and Edmunds got yet another interception. Beautiful.
To limit an explosive Cowboys offense and scrape by with some well-timed positive-EPA plays in this game was a special coaching performance by Dennis Allen.
11. Seriously, Caleb Williams has been absolutely fantastic today. His blitz recognition has improved, his footwork has been excellent, and his eyes have been downfield and going through his reads very well. If this is the growth rate of the QB? The Bears will be just fine.
12. On Ben Johnson, below. Kudos, seriously.
13. The Bears head to Sin City next Sunday to take on the Las Vegas Raiders before their early bye week. The Raiders have a FUN roster on offense, led by Geno Smith, Ashton Jeanty, Brock Bowers, and Jakobi Meyers. Can this defense find enough stops against what could be another track meet sort of offense on the road?
If the Bears’ offense plays like they did today — in a sustainable, efficient, and explosive manner — then I think the Bears can sneak into their bye at 2-2. There’s a chance.
Early prediction: Bears 24, Raiders 20.
