The Chicago Bears won’t have Caleb Williams’ magic for up to a month after the news that he’d suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain. That means their season’s fate is in the hands of backups Case Keenum and Tyson Bagent. It is not a great situation to be in. To somehow stay alive moving forward, they will need a mixture of great execution from the rest of the roster and a stroke (or two) of good fortune in the coming weeks. It’s possible the Bears may have gotten one of the latter already via some alarming Breece Hall news.
Chicago plays the New York Jets next week. Hall has been their best offensive player for quite some time. He was off to a good start again in 2026, amassing 210 total yards and a touchdown in his first two games. Then things went sideways in week 3 against the Detroit Lions. As the Jets were driving deep into Detroit territory, Hall was tackled along the sideline. He seemed to go down awkwardly and failed to get up. He was quickly taken to the locker room and declared out for the rest of the game with a thigh injury.
Losing Breece Hall is a gut punch for New York.
Their running game was already suspect this season even with him. Hall averaged 3.4 yards going into that Lions game. His backfield teammate was even worse. Braelon Allen managed just 3.1 yards. This doesn’t even account for Hall’s impact in the passing game. He was 3rd on the team in receptions with 7. There is a reason the Jets worked hard to extend his contract. Given how it looked when he went down and how fast he was declared out? This feels like it was a quad injury.
A pretty serious one, too.
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He is all but certain to miss next week when New York visits Chicago. Probably more with how rough it looked. This presents a premium opportunity for the Bears. If they can somehow upset the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night to reach 2-1, their odds of beating the Jets are considerably better. Remember, their run defense has been a big problem to start the year. With Breece Hall out of the picture, that becomes less of a concern. Chicago could take advantage to reach 3-1 with two wins coming without Williams in the lineup.
At the very least, this improves the chances of avoiding 1-3.
Presuming the popular prediction holds true, and the Eagles prevail, the Bears would go into a must-win situation next Sunday at 1-2. While the Jets don’t seem nearly as bad as they were last year, they still aren’t a good football team. They are beatable. Head coach Ben Johnson knows Aaron Glenn’s defense well. He should be able to manufacture some points in that game. Responding becomes much tougher for the Jets without Hall. The NFL is all about seizing advantages when they present themselves.
Everything starts with Monday night. The Bears know people are doubting them. Par for the course when starting a third-string quarterback. If they want to show everybody that they’re not a one-person team, this is the time to do it. Philadelphia is good, but they’re not infallible. With the right game plans, they’ve proven to be vulnerable this season. If Chicago can pull it off, so many things open up for them.
