The Chicago Bears felt like a pretty secure team with their 5-2 record going into this week. A road game in Seattle against the defending-champion Seahawks felt important but not essential to their season. Has that changed thanks to the results of Sunday’s action? Ben Johnson may have reasons to think so. Things just got way more interesting in the NFC North after the Detroit Lions took down the undefeated Minnesota Vikings 19-15. Suddenly, the division has grown much tighter, as has the margin of error for all four teams.
How much so? If the Bears win on Monday night in Seattle, they will reach 6-2, take 2nd place in the division, and sit only a half-game back of the lead. Conversely, if they lose, they drop to 5-3, assume 8th place in the NFC, and are out of the playoff picture entirely. That is how brutal the division situation has become. The Bears can still have a perfectly solid record and not be good enough to reach the postseason. It tells you how tough those losses to Minnesota and Green Bay were for them earlier this year.
Ben Johnson must have urgency in this game.
There can be no resting on that great win last week over the Patriots. As impressive as it was, it doesn’t help their overall situation much. Stacking wins in the NFC is far more crucial. The Seahawks are currently the gold standard in this conference. They hold the crown and continue to play as if they fully intend to keep it. They’re 3-1 at home this season, with their only loss being a narrow one to the San Francisco 49ers. The Bears are 2-1 on the road this year, but Carolina and Atlanta aren’t nearly as inhospitable as Seattle is.
This is probably the most challenging task of the season for Ben Johnson. Mike McDonald runs one of the best defenses in the league. Meanwhile, Seattle boasts the best wide receiver in football with Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Navigating those two massive challenges is vital to any hope of an update. The good news is the Bears got major reinforcements with the arrival of Jeffery Simmons. He gave the Seahawks problems last season when facing them with Tennessee, and he’s surrounded by better players this time. The key will be the running game.
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Seattle is 6th in the league against it, but #1 against the pass. It is their only “weakness.” Johnson will have to do it without Kyle Monangai, who remains injured.
Caleb Williams certainly has incentive to play well.
Everybody remember the last time he played Seattle. It was that ugly affair on Thursday Night Football in 2024 when he got sacked 7 times and only put up 3 points. Lots of people gave up on him after that performance. So much has changed since then. He’s grown a ton as a passer, and this time he’ll have Johnson guiding him. A vast improvement over Shane Waldron and Thomas Brown. All three of Seattle’s losses this season came down to the same thing: turnovers.
They had 10 combined giveaways in those three games. The Bears have 4 takeaways in the past two games. They’ve been well-coached at creating them. With Simmons in the mix, it figures to help unsettle quarterback Sam Darnold a little more. He has a history of serving up interceptions when he’s under duress. That should be the primary goal for the Bears defense. Then it becomes a matter of whether Johnson’s offense can put up the 21+ points it will likely take.
