The Chicago Bears became a team that doesn’t do things conventionally in the NFL draft once head coach Ben Johnson took over. They became less focused on addressing needs and more interested in taking the best possible player on the board, even if that meant doubling up at a position that didn’t really need more help. That is how they ended up with Luther Burden in 2025 despite already having Rome Odunze and D.J. Moore. However, no position has seen this philosophy more clearly than the tight ends with the arrivals of Colston Loveland and Sam Roush.

Taking Loveland in the 1st round of the 2025 draft was a mild surprise. Many felt the team would go hunting for pass rush help or maybe a left tackle. However, Johnson felt he needed another tight end to run more “12” personnel, which was a big part of his offense. Fair enough. Things got uncomfortable when the Bears grabbed Roush in the 3rd round this past April. There was no way the Bears could justify tight end being a need. This felt like a luxury pick that wouldn’t contribute much outside of occasional blocking.

All of that changed with a disastrous moment in the win over New England on Thursday night.

The Sam Roush pick suddenly looks incredibly fortuitous.

Cole Kmet tore his ACL on that play. His season is over. It is an incredibly sad development for one of the most beloved players on the roster, both inside and outside Halas Hall. On top of that, the Bears are losing one of their biggest offensive chess pieces. Kmet’s excellent versatility as a blocker and receiver made them even harder to match up against. Replacing that would’ve been next to impossible for most teams. Somehow, Johnson’s push to grab Roush looks like a stroke of pure genius.

Stop for a second and think about where the Bears would be right now if they hadn’t drafted Sam Roush. Suddenly, the depth behind Loveland would be non-existent. They’d have to go hunting for help in free agency or pray one of their guys on the practice squad can fill the void. This would force them to use Loveland as a blocker more often, limiting his impact in the receiving game. Instead, they can simply slide Roush into Kmet’s role. He has a similar skillset—just not the experience. Johnson seems plenty confident he can handle it.

“I’ll start with Sam. We’ve been very pleased with the improvement that he’s made over these first seven weeks. There’s a high likelihood that his rep count is going to go up as a result of what’s going on here. We’ll be able to see the player that we drafted and had high hopes when we took him. Very smart player. He had some rookie hiccups early in the season, like everybody does, and yet he learns. He doesn’t make the same mistake twice. I’m confident in what he’s going to be able to do for us here in the back half of the season.”

You can question the process, but not the result.

Right now, in this moment, the Bears would much rather have Roush than not have him. Sure, they didn’t select him in the spring, predicting that Kmet would suffer a season-ending knee injury. It was more about building depth at a key position to allow for more offensive diversity. Still, Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles also know that the tight end position is physical. Injuries happen there more often on average than at others. It is always a smart idea to assemble multiple pieces.

This is why the best-player-available approach always has merit. The Bears felt Roush was too talented to pass on in the 3rd round. In addition to giving them another piece for the offense, they also bought insurance against losing one of their two most important players. Lots of people will never admit the pick was a smart idea. Yet they can’t argue how crucial it’s starting to look, thanks to recent events.

Anyone familiar with the modern sports media landscape has heard of Barstool. It was founded by Dave Portnoy as a sort of sports enterprise by the fans, for the fans. It’s certainly had plenty of success, but hasn’t done much for the image of its owner. Over the years, Portnoy has earned a reputation less as a happy-go-lucky fan living the American dream and more as an ignorant blowhard who likes to hear himself talk. Never is that clearer than any time he’s talking about Caleb Williams.

Portnoy has been outspoken about the Chicago Bears’ quarterback for years. He has stated on more than one occasion that he believed Williams was destined to be a bust coming out of USC. He’s also offered not-so-subtle hints that Williams is soft, a crybaby, and not a real man. That was on display a few weeks ago when he called out the quarterback for milking his “minor” hamstring injury.

Well, it seems Bears players didn’t take kindly to those remarks. After beating the New England Patriots, Portnoy’s favorite team, on Thursday Night Football, cornerback Kyler Gordon and tight end Colston Loveland decided to send him a message.

Dave Portnoy built a side gig as a pizza reviewer.

He’d go to various places with a strong reputation and review their pies. He’d then give them a rating. Plenty of restaurants weren’t happy about it, feeling he was using his platform to stain their reputations. What makes him the end-all be-all of pizza experts? The guy was a degenerate gambler who failed at his first career as a market researcher before hitting it big with Barstool Sports. Even that didn’t become a success until he started including beautiful women in his newspaper and blog.

Everything about the guy screams sleaze. He did not play sports at any meaningful level in his life, yet he acts like he has a clear eye for who the good players are. Keep in mind, one of his primary motivations was rejecting political correctness. So, of course, he disliked Williams. The Bears quarterback is very much a modern-day athlete who rejects the gruff, tough-guy persona. He loves fashion. He paints his nails for fun. It is anathema to everything Dave Portnoy stands for.

Williams doesn’t have to worry about it.

He clearly has the firm backing of his teammates, who seem to dislike Portnoy as much as pretty much everybody. Beating the Patriots was fun on its own. Knowing they also ruined his week was icing on the cake. One has to imagine Williams’ excellent performance in that game was partially motivated by what Portnoy said about him weeks ago. The Bears quarterback is exactly the type of person who’d file that away until he needed it. Beating New England’s golden boy, Drake Maye, only added to the thrill.

Rest assured, this isn’t likely to shut Portnoy up. He’ll run his mouth regardless. That suits the Bears fine. They don’t mind firing right back. One must applaud them for saving their shot for when it would sting the most. Portnoy would be wise not to do any pizza reviews in Chicago anytime soon. He might not make it out of town alive.

Listen, at the end of the day, this doesn’t actually matter a whole bunch, but people are talking about it, and quite frankly, you’re reading this, so you do care at least a little bit. First thought: there’s a time and place for everything. Having a hated rival in sports is a good thing; it’s obviously better when you’re actually competitive, and for the first time in a long time, Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are giving Chicago Bears fans something to be proud of.

Last season’s back-to-back wins at Soldier Field over the Green Bay Packers were euphoric for Bears fans, and again, for the first time in a while, chanting “Green Bay Sucks” actually meant something coming from Chicago. Johnson and the Bears punched the bully in the mouth, and as the underdog, it was great to see your head coach not back down from the Packers, giving the rivalry a newfound edge.

I’ve seen the argument that Bears fans are simply following Johnson’s lead. We loved his “Fuck the Packers’ roar after the Bears beat them 31-27 in the Wild Card Round of last season’s playoffs. This season, the Bears’ head coach fired up the locker room heading into their first matchup against Green Bay, simply asking, “You guys know what next week is? Alright, enough said.”

Unfortunately, the Bears were humbled, getting blown out 31-7 at Lambeau Field.

That doesn’t mean Bears fans should be completely stripped of their ability to shit-talk the Packers, their fans, and so on, but you know what Ben Johnson doesn’t do? He’s not trash-talking the Packers or taking jabs at Green Bay when their next matchup isn’t for another two months.

This is little brother shit to a T. The Bears just won a primetime home game; Caleb Williams was great, Cairo Santos made the longest field goal of his career and the third-longest in Soldier Field history, but what did everyone who stuck around for the postgame show hear?

There’s a time and place for this, and this shit ain’t it. The Packers have nothing to do with a Bears win over the Patriots. It won’t stop anytime soon, but it’s still embarrassing to watch Bears fans pander to the lowest common denominator.

But that’s just me; obviously, fans are eating it up, or it would have died down by now. At least the Bears are winning now, and that’s something we can all get behind in Chicago.

Ben Johnson had a difficult decision to make. Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had just taken a bad sack to push the team out of field goal range for Cairo Santos. He’d never hit one 58 yards in his career, let alone at Soldier Field. That left Johnson with three options: none of them ideal. He could go for it on 4th-and-15 to try to keep the Patriots off the field; he could punt it back to them in hopes of forcing a long drive with 1:39 left; or he could roll the dice on Santos. Ever the gambler, Johnson chose option #3. The decision shocked everybody, including Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.

He thought the Patriots had played the situation perfectly. They’d saved time by giving Chicago a 1st down on 3rd and short, then got the sack on Williams to push them out of range. Every instinct for a normal head coach would be to punt the ball and hope the defense gets a stop. Johnson, as we’ve all learned for the past year and a half, is not normal. He asked Santos whether he wanted to try the field goal. Santos said yes. The veteran went out there and put it straight through the uprights.

Vrabel didn’t seem happy about it after the game.

Mike Vrabel has fair reasons to be salty.

Many people forget that the Bears weren’t the only team to give Santos an opportunity after his promising tenure in Kansas City fell apart. Vrabel, then with the Tennessee Titans, saw potential in him and signed the kicker in 2019. It was, for lack of a better word, a disaster. Santos went 4-of-9 on his field goal attempts that season. Tennessee released him after 5 games, leaving his career in limbo. A year later, he signed with the Bears and went 30-of-32 on his field goal attempts. He’s been here ever since.

It must feel like dark poetry that Santos came back to haunt Mike Vrable like this. He gave the kid a shot in Tennessee and couldn’t do a thing with it. Then he goes to Chicago, a far tougher place to play, and seemingly can’t miss. That is the height of irony. It probably doesn’t help that his own kicker, Andrew Borregales, has missed 9 kicks since the start of 2025. Most people don’t realize that because the team has managed to win games anyway, but that is something Vrabel knows will be important.

This is a tale as old as time in the NFL.

There are many examples throughout league history of players bottoming out with one team only to resurrect their careers with another. Hell, Mike Vrabel is living proof of that. He was a non-descript backup for the Pittsburgh Steelers across four seasons and quietly left in free agency in 2001. That was where he joined the New England Patriots and became one of the fixtures of their first three Super Bowl championship teams. Sometimes it’s all about landing in the right situation.

For Santos, it might’ve been coming under the tutelage of Chris Tabor. He was renowned as one of the league’s best special teams coordinators in 2020. He’d worked with some excellent kickers such as Gould and Phil Dawson. His presence may have helped the struggling kicker rediscover his self-confidence. Sometimes that is all it takes. Santos has been a fixture in Chicago through some turbulent times ever since.

I still can’t believe Cairo Santos nailed that 58-yard field goal, which became the difference-maker in the Chicago Bears’ 30-24 win over the New England Patriots on Thursday. Ben Johnson continues to coach unafraid, and as great as Caleb Williams played, there’s no doubt that Santos bailed out the quarterback after he took a sack on third down that momentarily made Johnson think about punting.

We’ve seen the interaction that led to the decision to give Santos another chance after the kicker missed a 53-yard field goal with less than eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. An injury timeout gave everyone an extra moment to think, and ultimately, Johnson trusted Santos.

The Prime cameras cut to Johnson on the Bears’ sideline, and as we’ve come to expect, the second-year head coach was stoic and offered little after Santos sealed the victory for Chicago. But we’re not all Ben Johnson, and running back D’Andre Swift, who was right beside the Bears’ head coach, gave us the most relatable reaction to the clutch kick.

Swift, who struggled to get into the game in the first half against the Patriots’ defense, finished with 78 rushing yards, adding 12 more on four catches. Swift made a valiant effort, looking banged up early on, but the team still leaned on the veteran, with Swift finishing with 22 of the team’s 24 rushing attempts from the running backs.

While Johnson was as cool as a cucumber after his gamble paid off, Swift embodied every Bears fan watching at Soldier Field, at a bar, or at home. Let’s be honest: you didn’t think Santos was going to make that kick either, and the relief on Swift’s face after the ball split the uprights says it all.

Same, D’Andre, same hahahahaha!

But credit where credit is due. Fans will probably never feel confident about the power in Santos’ leg, but you can’t argue with how accurate he’s been throughout his career. And while he missed the 53-yard attempt earlier in the fourth quarter, he had the distance, so it was great to see Johnson show belief in his guy, and he came through in a big way.

The weather was nearly perfect on Thursday night, but that doesn’t change the fact that making long field goals at Soldier Field is tough for any kicker. Santos’ 58-yarder wasn’t just his career-long; it’s now the third-longest in Soldier Field history, tying Robbie Gould’s 58-yard field goal from 2013. Will Reichard and Matt Prater both hold the record for the longest made field goal at Soldier Field, each converting from 59 yards.

Good shit, Cairo. Glad to be proven so wrong.

The Chicago Bears drafted Rome Odunze in the hopes that he would become a true go-to guy for Caleb Williams. It’s been a long time since they had a genuine #1 wide receiver. This felt like the first time since Brandon Marshall where they had someone with all of the necessary traits. Two and a half seasons into his career, the sentiment around Odunze is complicated. He’s not a bad receiver. He’s been too productive to say that. However, he has not taken that final step to become a legitimate #1 target.

More and more, it feels like Luther Burden is assuming that role after a stellar showing against New England on Thursday night. However, that game may have cemented a different identity for Odunze. True, he hasn’t become the demon many thought he would, but one truth has surfaced about him that can’t be denied.

Odunze is a clutch wide receiver.

It feels like every time the Bears have needed a big catch in a big moment, he is the one who makes the play. He proved it last season with that massive 4th and 8 catch against the Packers in the playoffs. Then, in the 4th quarter against New England, he made 3 catches for 63 yards. Two of them were on 3rd and long.

Rome Odunze was money when the chips were down.

The first play came on 3rd and 11 from the Bears’ 13-yard line. Williams does an incredible job dodging a free Patriots blitzer, resets his feet and fires a pass to a wide open Odunze for a first down. This is more of a great play by the quarterback, but it once again shows the receiver knew where he needed to be and made sure to secure the catch. While that drive ultimately ended in a missed field goal, it ended up burning 7 precious minutes off the clock, shrinking New England’s window to come back. Everything hinged on that first down grab.

Yet somehow that was just the appetizer. The big moment came on the very next drive. Again, the Bears were pinned deep in their own zone. This time, they faced 3rd and 9. The Patriots dropped 7 in coverage and seemed to have all parts of the field blanketed. Williams fired a pass that just cleared the outstretched fingers of safety Kevin Byard. That alone was crazy. Yet Rome Odunze may have somehow outshined his quarterback by corkscrewing his body back around to make a near-fingertip catch for the first down.

It didn’t stop there.

Facing a 2nd and 12 later in that same drive, Odunze again found open space on an out route. After Williams put it on him, the receiver showed good awareness to turn it upfield for another first down. A few plays later, Cairo Santos kicked a career-long 58-yard field goal to put the game on ice.

This is far from the first game in which Odunze has done something like this. Look back over his career, and you’ll find snapshots of it every time the Bears were in tight games. Everybody remembers Williams’ scrambles in the comeback against New York last year. They forget Odunze put them within striking distance on the previous drive with two big catches. He had the biggest catch on the game-winning TD drive to beat Las Vegas earlier that season. People also forget his two massive grabs on the final drive against Green Bay at Soldier Field in 2024 because the game-winning field goal was blocked.

Odunze might not be a star wide receiver, but he’s a big-game player. Guys like that are incredibly valuable when you need to beat good teams in tight games.

The Chicago Bears stared down one of their toughest games of the season. Not only did they face a short turnaround on Thursday Night Football, but they had to face the defending AFC champion New England Patriots. Winners of 3 of their last 4. This was not a game the Bears could win by conventional means. Defense would not save them in this one. If they wanted to take down a contender, they needed their young quarterback to deliver. Unsurprisingly, Caleb Williams embraced the challenge.

On a night he went toe-to-toe with fellow 2024 draft classmate Drake Maye, the Bears’ young quarterback came out swinging. He hit a very good Patriots defense for 8 plays of 20 yards or more, including 2 touchdowns. He finished with over 300 yards for the second time in five days. Yet one of his passes stood far above the rest. Leading 27-21 late in the 4th quarter, the Bears faced 3rd and 9 from their own 10-yard line. A punt would give New England great field position for a chance to steal the game.

Williams took the snap, hung in the pocket, and fired a rocket just over the outstretched fingertips of former Bears safety Kevin Byard to Rome Odunze for the 1st down. That play helped the Bears drive to what became a game-clinching 58-yard field goal.

Caleb Williams left literally everybody in awe.

You have to understand the situation. New England had everything set up perfectly. They put the Bears in 3rd-and-long, meaning Williams was going to pass. They flooded the zone with seven defenders, concentrating near the line to gain. Byard was in great position to play that throw. Williams just made it irrelevant. His arm talent is at such an absurd level that he was able to throw it into a window that couldn’t be more than a few inches wide. Slightly to the left, and Byard gets his hand on it. Slightly to the right, Odunze has no chance to catch it.

Fans and media alike kept rewatching the play over and over, wondering aloud how in the world Caleb Williams did that. It wasn’t just the best throw of the season for any of the Bears quarterbacks; it has a case for being the best of his career. At least in terms of pure difficulty. There are maybe two or three other quarterbacks in existence who could pull that off.

You know a pass is truly ridiculous when even the opposition was left wondering how he did it. Patriots’ Pro Bowl cornerback Christian Gonzalez had this to say about it after the game.

“Caleb is an amazing quarterback. You know, that play to Rome, I mean, the ball went maybe a millimeter above KB’s finger. If it was a little bit lower, KB would have tipped it. And, I mean, who knows what would have happened. So, I mean, that’s just one you tip your hat. And, you know, he made an amazing throw and a good catch. So, it’s the NFL. They’re going to make plays.”

This is uncharted territory for Bears fans.

They’ve seen so many quarterbacks walk through those doors at Halas Hall. None of them ever came close to drawing the same reactions and praise as Williams. Sure, plenty of them had raw talent. Jay Cutler had a similar arm. Justin Fields was a similar athlete. Yet neither of them could ever combine those traits into something so absurdly devastating. New England did everything right in that situation. No mistakes were made. It just didn’t matter. Williams threw the perfect pass.

There is no defense for that. It is a feeling that is hard to describe as a fan. You’ve gone from dreading every time the quarterback drops back to having a quiet confidence that he will somehow make a play. Williams proved it so many times last season. Sure enough, the Patriot aura had no effect on him. When it came time to make a play for his team, he delivered again.