LAS VEGAS — The visiting locker room inside Allegiant Stadium came alive Sunday afternoon, electrified by a Chicago Bears team that had, in simplest terms, found a way. The Bears had found a way to work past a shaky offensive start; found a way to make up for the huge holes in their run defense; found a way to steal a game they so easily could have lost — and probably should have.
In Las Vegas terms, this was equivalent to drawing 13 at the blackjack table against a dealer’s face card, yet somehow hitting twice for 21.
On an afternoon when Caleb Williams posted a season-low 73.3 passer rating, the second-year quarterback entered the huddle for his final possession emanating confidence.
“Focus. Composure. Command in the huddle,” running back D’Andre Swift said after the Bears’ 25-24 victory over the Raiders. “When we need a voice in there, he’s that voice.”
Yes, the Bears trailed 24-19, were back on their 31-yard line and had squandered far greater opportunities to score earlier in the game. But Williams felt himself lock in with contagious confidence that the day’s biggest job could be finished.
“Those are the moments you wish for,” he said. “Those are moments you dream about.”
Thus, it was little surprise to Bears players that Williams steered an 11-play, 69-yard go-ahead touchdown drive that finished with Swift’s 2-yard run with 1:34 remaining.
And it was little surprise to the special teams unit just a few moments later when Josh Blackwell came screaming off the edge on the game’s penultimate snap to block Daniel Carlson’s 54-yard field goal attempt. That group had prepared all week with a game-changing block in mind.
“We believed in our strength up front,” defensive tackle Gervon Dexter said. “We believed in our speed off the edge. And that’s what got it done.”
Indeed, the Bears found a way Sunday and left Vegas at 2-2 with renewed energy and confidence.
“We’re building something special here,” first-year head coach Ben Johnson said. “And I think they’re feeling it.”
After a dispiriting 0-2 start, the Bears have done everything necessary to bounce back, to keep themselves relevant heading into October. Now, with the arrival of an early bye week, they have a long to-do list plus a fresh set of questions to answer if they hope to be true playoff contenders.
Before setting his players free for the week, Johnson plans to hold lighter practices on Tuesday and Wednesday at Halas Hall. From there, he’ll dive deeper with his coaching staff in an effort to reset the vision for the rest of the season. Among the Bears’ many issues, here are three to keep close tabs on:
A hard reboot?
Since the spring, Johnson has expressed enthusiasm about this early bye week, which offers an opportunity to assess what this team is and what it isn’t.
“I’ve said all along, this is a good thing for us,” Johnson said.
Two days before facing the Raiders, Johnson was careful not to get too far ahead of himself but still felt eager to attack this upcoming evaluation phase.
“We’re going to have a good feel after four games for who we are, what we do well, what we can sink our teeth into and whether we want to pivot a little bit in certain spots — whether that’s personnel-driven or schematic — (in a way) that can get us better going ahead.”
Even with back-to-back victories, Sunday’s performance was evidence of an offense that is still a work in progress. The Bears averaged just 2.7 yards per rush and, through four games, rank 25th in rushing average at 3.8 yards per carry.
Seven of Sunday’s eight penalties were committed by the offense, including four more pre-snap infractions, bringing the season total to 11. Among Sunday’s miscues, tight end Cole Kmet was responsible for two false starts and also had difficulty catching the football, most notably on a second-quarter dart from Williams that could have been a 24-yard touchdown.
We’ll talk more momentarily about the renewed offensive line questions. But the Bears’ mistake log from Sunday in Vegas also included holding fouls against receiver Olamide Zaccheaus and guard Jonah Jackson and a shotgun snap that whistled past Williams’ left hip and resulted in a loss of 19 at a key juncture in the fourth quarter.
Hellooooo, fourth-and-24.
On five other possessions, the Bears faced third-down plays with more than 11 yards to go. Perhaps most frustrating, two Johnson attempts to dig into his trick bag misfired. A recreation of Johnson’s renowned 2024 “Stumblebum” play was called in the second quarter but ended with a Williams incompletion.
A fake flea flicker looked nifty and went for 7 yards in the third quarter but was negated after Swift got his right pinkie caught inside Germaine Pratt’s facemask during a stiff-arm attempt. With the resulting personal-foul call, that turned into an 18-yard net loss.
In other words, the Bears’ offensive effort was far from sharp. And in its September state, the offense has been too error-prone and inconsistent. That’s partly why Williams attached his own asterisk to Sunday’s postgame jubilation. “Everything feels better when you win,” he said. “But we have to look back on this and be truth tellers.”
Bears left tackle Braxton Jones, blocking for quarterback Caleb Williams, was benched late in the first half. (Stephen R. Sylvanie / Imagn Images)
Setting a line
Braxton Jones’ final play at left tackle Sunday came with 5:08 remaining in the first half, a third-and-19 Swift run that lost 2 yards. There was confusion to the left side of the play with Raiders defensive end Malcolm Koonce left unblocked and making the easiest tackle for loss of his career. For the Bears offense, that completed what went into the books as an astounding eight-play, minus-1-yard field goal drive.
So much for the premium field position Kevin Byard had provided, with the veteran safety twice making interceptions and adding returns that gave the Bears the ball at the Raiders’ 24-yard line. Both times, the Bears settled for field goals, moving backward on each possession after Byard’s interceptions.
After that — yes, it’s worth repeating — eight-play, minus-1-yard field goal drive, Johnson decided a change up front was necessary. He pulled Jones. At that point, through five possessions, the Bears had 53 total yards and four first downs.
“It’s easy to get frustrated,” Johnson said. “But we don’t panic.”
Still, just like that, the offense was without the two starting tackles who opened the season together. Jones, it turned out, wasn’t sidelined for any health-related issue. Darnell Wright, meanwhile, missed just his second game in three seasons with an elbow injury.
Suddenly, the Bears found themselves in a Vegas street fight with two incredibly green offensive tackles still learning to compete on the NFL level. Second-year underdog Theo Benedet (Sunday’s starter at right tackle) and rookie Ozzy Trapilo began the day with a combined 27 career offensive snaps and ample uncertainty as to how they’d acclimate when tested by premier players at the sport’s highest level.
Notably, over five true possessions and 39 snaps together Sunday — excluding the Bears’ final “victory formation” kneeldown — Benedet and Trapilo held up with the Bears scoring 19 points in that span and punting only once.
The Bears’ first-half difficulties slowing Raiders star Maxx Crosby were significant. But the in-game shakeup on the line and the adjustments to compensate were encouraging.
Benedet slid into Jones’ spot on the left. Trapilo anchored in on the right side, responsible for taking on one of the league’s most ferocious defensive ends in the middle of a dominant performance.
Said Johnson: “That’s a ‘welcome to the NFL’ moment right there if there ever was one.”
Trapilo responded.
“Ozzy didn’t bat an eye,” Johnson said. “He competed his tail off. I’m sure there are a couple plays he would like back. But I was really pleased with the way he went out there and (played). I think it’s a good foundational piece for the future.”
The big question now is how Johnson and his staff may change their vision for the line coming out of the bye week. What will their self-scouting reveal and how will that alter their plans?
Furthermore, if Wright returns healthy in Week 6, will Benedet supplant Jones as the new starter on the left side? And what does everything mean for Trapilo, who has spent the past two months trying to find his equilibrium while riding the NFL roller coaster?
“We need to look at all four games so far as a whole,” Johnson said Monday. “We’ll get a good feel over the next few days of where we’re at schematically. What are we doing well? What aren’t we doing well? And I think we’ll really have a good grasp of what we need to do going forward. It’s too early for me to tell now.”
Health watch
On the topic of injuries, there’s hope that Kyler Gordon could return for Week 6 when the Bears travel to face the Commanders on “Monday Night Football.” Gordon was back practicing Friday at Halas Hall, his first action in that setting in 20 days.
But the Bears must be cautious with their standout slot cornerback, given how much time he missed in August with a hamstring injury that again flared up the day before the season opener.
In front of his locker stall on Friday, Gordon acknowledged how patience-testing the past month has been.
“I was definitely itching,” he said. “Then, watching the pieces of these games, I was jealous of everybody else being able to play. That was hard, just watching.”
In other defensive injury news, the Bears are optimistic that linebacker T.J. Edwards is progressing from his hamstring problem, an injury that first popped up in training camp and then was aggravated during the Week 2 loss in Detroit.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, meanwhile, has opted to have surgery to repair his groin with the Bears crossing their fingers that, in a best-case scenario, his recovery and rehabilitation could open the door for a return from injured reserve late in the season. (The team’s place in the NFC playoff picture will no doubt factor into the decision as well.)
Other injured Bears to keep tabs on coming out of the bye include tight end Colston Loveland (hip) and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett (knee). Loveland, a rookie, was inactive Sunday but could be tracking toward a Week 6 return.
Jarrett, 32, missed the final nine games of 2023 after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. But in his other nine seasons combined in Atlanta, he missed only three games. Jarrett’s durability was part of his appeal when the Bears signed him to a three-year, $43.5 million deal in March. His return will matter to a defensive front needing more oomph.
The defense needs all the reinforcement it can get to stabilize a league-worst run defense that allowed 240 yards Sunday and has given up an average of 6.2 yards per attempt this season.
“That’s not what Chicago Bears football is about,” Ben Johnson said. “So we’re working very diligently on getting better in that regard. The most important thing we’re looking at is how do we get better with some of our fundamentals. We’re not shedding blocks to the degree we’d like or at least as consistently as we’d like.”
(Top photo: Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
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