The Chicago Bears are laser-focused on their Week 1 matchup with the Carolina Panthers. Head coach Ben Johnson doesn’t care much for what happens across the league. He can’t afford to. However, if he had peeked at the league’s national opener on Wednesday night between last season’s Super Bowl participants, he would have noticed major happenings. By far the biggest was the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks losing their quarterback, Sam Darnold, mere minutes into the season to a reported hip injury.
It was bad enough that he didn’t return. What made it worse were the initial comments from medical experts. The most credible was David Chao, a former NFL doctor. He believes Darnold may have suffered a hip fracture. If it’s as bad as he fears, there is a strong likelihood that the quarterback will miss the remainder of the 2026 season. That would leave the Seahawks’ offense in the hands of backup Drew Lock, a devastating proposition in that loaded NFC West. It also drastically alters the Bears’ fortunes.
The Chicago Bears play the Seahawks later this year.
They visit the Pacific Northwest on November 2nd in Seattle. Most circled that game as a huge litmus test for this team with massive ramifications for the NFC playoff picture. Facing Lock instead of Darnold would be an unquestioned break for the Bears. Scoring on that Seahawks defense is always tough. Darnold was a big reason why the team won so many games. He often put them ahead, allowing said defense to tee off on opponents. That advantage is long gone if he’s done for the year.
It wasn’t limited to Seattle, either. The New England Patriots are another team the Chicago Bears play this season. In fact, they play them the week before the Seahawks. They just got done swinging a huge trade for wide receiver A.J. Brown this offseason. So it probably wasn’t ideal to see him limp off the field with an ankle injury and not return. If it’s serious, New England just lost arguably the best offensive weapon they have. Not great considering how poor their offense looked in that game.
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Those injury updates could prove massive.
Best guess is Brown’s probably isn’t too serious. If it’s not broken, he will likely be back long before the Bears play New England. Darnold is the big one. It sure sounds like the injury wasn’t good. He is the linchpin of Seattle’s entire structure. Without him, there is no way the Seahawks can hold off Los Angeles and San Francisco in that division. Given what we know about the Bears from last season, they are unlikely to show them any mercy if it turns out that way. It’s kill or be killed in this league.
The next 24 hours will be the most telling. If the situation is bad, there will likely be an update within that time frame. If Darnold is done for the year, arguably the hardest part of the Bears’ schedule suddenly gets a bit easier. You never wish for someone to get hurt. Still, such an outcome would be a massive benefit to this team. Something to monitor as the team prepares for opening day.
