The Chicago Bears had everybody saying they were a contender and maybe the NFC’s favorite after beating the defending champion Seahawks in Seattle on Monday Night Football. It was a complete win in which all three phases shined. One would think those are the games that tell whether a team is the real deal. In fact, the best way to determine whether a team has the goods to survive that death march through the playoffs to the promised land is how they handle it when everything goes wrong.
Chicago got their answer on Sunday night. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense put on a showcase, intercepting Caleb Williams 4 times and also forcing a fumble. They also held the Bears to just 3.3 yards per carry. If you look over the past decade, even during the Ben Johnson era as head coach, they lost 100% of those games. The Bears were constructed so that the offense could not afford off nights.
Not anymore; the defense stepped up to the plate, allowing just 24 points off 5 turnovers, grabbing two of their own, including a Jaylon Johnson pick-six.
The Chicago Bears defense is a totally different animal.
Most of that is because Jeffery Simmons is now in the fold. The star defensive tackle was a menace once again, collecting a sack, a tackle for loss, and a pass defense while constantly harassing Baker Mayfield. Thanks to the attention he drew, Austin Booker and Shemar Turner both collected sacks of their own, while Daniel Hardy and Grady Jarrett split one. Linebacker Devin Bush was everywhere, making tackles, laying big hits, and knocking down passes in coverage. They actually did a great job keeping Bucky Irving in check until the final minutes of the game.
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Being a good team is one thing. Being a complete team is another. Can the other side of the ball step up when one side isn’t having a good night? Last season, the Seahawks turned it over 4 times against the Houston Texans, an eventual playoff team. They still won the game 27-19. In 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles failed to score for 3 quarters against the New Orleans Saints. They ended up winning 15-12 thanks to two 4th quarter touchdowns. Don’t be pretty. Be good.
That is what you’d call a character win.
There are going to be those moments where things aren’t going your way. This is the NFL. It’s inevitable. Tampa Bay came into the game hot, having won three straight. Did the Chicago Bears overlook them? Probably not. They got off to a great start. It’s just that somewhere after the first quarter, they lost their rhythm and they fell into, and Shane Falco put it, quicksand. One thing goes wrong, and then another, and another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. That’s what it felt like.
That said, quicksand is only deadly if you have nobody else around to help. The Bears offense didn’t have to worry. The defense was there to keep it close long enough for them to piece together that game-winning drive at the end—complementary football at its finest. If the Bears end up going far this season, nobody will remember this game in the grand scheme of things. All they’ll see is the W attached to it.
