The Chicago Bears don’t really have time to pay attention to what’s happening in Pittsburgh right now. They’re focused on trying to collect enough healthy bodies on defense. All three of their starting linebackers and two starting cornerbacks won’t play. That leaves defensive coordinator Dennis Allen in a massive predicament. Most assume that Aaron Rodgers will play on Sunday despite breaking his wrist the week before. However, it appears there is no consensus on this front inside the Steelers’ building.

While Rodgers is desperate to play, likely seeing it as his last chance to face the Bears before retiring, Pittsburgh doctors aren’t as receptive to the idea. According to Adam Schefter, they’ve urged caution against letting Rodgers play, fearing the wrist will be susceptible to a more significant injury before it has had a chance to heal. Even with a brace, there is no guarantee it will help much. One big hit or even a hard enough snap under center could lead to disaster.

Per usual, everything with Rodgers has to be a circus.

Smart money says Aaron Rodgers will get his way.

He’s a future Hall of Famer. Teams usually give such players more say on whether or not they can play in games. If Aaron Rodgers is pushing to play Sunday, it’s hard to imagine head coach Mike Tomlin will go against him. That said, Pittsburgh is in an awkward spot. If Rodgers aggravates the injury, there is a serious chance he could miss the rest of the season. That would seriously hamper their chances of winning the division. If sitting Rodgers even one week allows the injury to heal a little more, it might be worth drawing his ire.

A betting man would be wise not to get caught up in the nose. The warning signs already indicate Rodgers will play. He’s practiced each of the past two days, even if it was in a limited fashion. Unless the doctors make a concerted effort to prevent it, the quarterback will play in this game. The Bears are likely preparing for that eventuality.

The Chicago Bears have been beset by injuries in numbers this organization hasn’t seen in years. It reached a new crisis level on Saturday with the news that all three of their starting linebackers are out, with Tremaine Edmunds going on Injured Reserve. Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon have still not returned. That means the defense will be down six starters on Sunday against Pittsburgh. If that weren’t enough, left tackle Theo Benedet is also looking iffy for the game after a practice injury on Thursday. Head coach Ben Johnson has to be wondering what’s going on.

What stands out the most about the situation is the types of injuries being suffered. It’d be one thing if they were knee, ankle, elbow, and other various joint-related problems. However, the vast majority of losses have been of the soft tissue variety: hamstring, groin, quad, and calf. When this happens, it often raises questions about whether the training staff has properly conditioned the players. Mason West, a clinic director for Ignite Physical Therapy and Sports Performance, was asked if the strength and conditioning coaches deserve blame for this.

His answer required no explanation.

Ben Johnson likely regrets overlooking that area of his staff.

Remember, head trainer Andre Tucker and strength coach Pierre Ngo are holdovers from the previous coaching staff. Tucker has been with the team since 2018, and Ngo was promoted this offseason. Ben Johnson likely felt maintaining some stability in the weight room was the wisest course of action. In hindsight, it would’ve been better if he’d sought out people who would know how to handle the specific demands he’d be making of the players in the coming months.

The same thing happened to Lovie Smith in 2004. Injuries also ravaged that team. Smith fired the training staff the following offseason and brought in a new group. The problems immediately decreased. It feels like Johnson must be prepared to do the same thing after this season is over. Winning a Super Bowl is almost impossible unless you can keep your roster mostly healthy.

Six. That is how many defensive starters the Chicago Bears will be down on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. All three linebackers are out. Dayo Odeyingbo tore his Achilles a few weeks ago. Now it’s been revealed that Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon won’t be activated. That means the Bears will face Aaron Rodgers, their long-standing boogeyman, with a defense held together by glue and duct tape. It’s a reasonable assumption that group won’t be able to do much trying to stop the future Hall of Famer.

That means it falls on the Bears’ offense to win the game.

This is rather fitting, in a dark and twisted sort of way. People always credit Rodgers with owning the Bears during his legendary career in Green Bay. Not enough of them bother to realize this forgotten fact. Rodgers faced Chicago 29 times in his career. Care to know how many of those games saw the Bears score 21 or more points? Eight. In other words, they scored 20 or fewer in 21 of those games. It’s easy to own another team when they can’t score.

It seems appropriate that Chicago would need to make it nine times to have any prayer of finally slaying the Rodgers demon.

Aaron Rodgers is no longer invincible.

He’s still good, but the quarterback is clearly a shadow of his MVP form from five years ago. His last three games have been mostly average. Even if the Bears don’t have the bodies to get stops, they can still find ways to frustrate him. Pittsburgh has not scored more than 34 points this season, even against defenses as atrocious as Cincinnati’s. That means 35 points should be the number the Bears aim for in this game.

Is that possible? Pittsburgh has allowed 30 or more points in a game four times this season. They aren’t the Steel Curtain of years past. Head coach Ben Johnson should see weaknesses on tape that he can exploit. Pittsburgh is 32nd against the pass this year. Maybe it could be Caleb Williams finally having his big moment, and against his childhood idol, no less. If the Bears do take down Aaron Rodgers, it had to happen this way.

The Chicago Bears are in the midst of easily the worst injury crisis of at least the past decade, probably longer. Eleven players had already ended up on Injured Reserve this season for various lengths. That number grew to twelve on Saturday as linebacker Tremaine Edmunds was added to the list with a groin issue. It begs the question of how this team managed to reach 7-3 when half of their defense has been out for long periods. Mercifully, the offense has managed to duck the worst of it, save for one spot.

Left tackle Braxton Jones was another of those names on IR this season. Now his replacement, Theo Benedet, is suddenly in jeopardy of missing Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune shared the key details.

They were two of a handful of transactions announced in advance of Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) at Soldier Field.

Linebacker Carl Jones Jr. and running back Brittain Brown were signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad.

Offensive tackle Jordan McFadden and tight end Nikola Kalinic were elevated from the practice squad to the game-day roster.

It was notable the club did not activate cornerback Jaylon Johnson (groin) and nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon (calf) from injured reserve.

The McFadden move casts doubt on the availability of left tackle Theo Benedet, who suffered a quad injury in Thursday’s practice and is questionable.

This means rookie Ozzy Trapilo is likely to start in his place. Don’t forget the 2nd round pick was removed from the left tackle competition in the summer because of persistent struggles. Now he’ll be asked to tangle with T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward.

The Chicago Bears won’t make excuses.

Injuries are a fact of life in the NFL. You can’t fight against them. All you can do is pray they’re limited. Sometimes, the football gods don’t listen. The Chicago Bears are missing six starters on defense. Now they’re likely down their starting left tackle as well, who was a big part of their successful rushing attack. Head coach Ben Johnson and his staff have been tremendous to this point, but there is only so much magic you can work before the talent depletion becomes too much.

Just don’t expect Johnson to lean on this as a crutch. Nothing changes. The Detroit Lions were plagued by a wave of injuries last season. They still went 15-2. It’s next man up. You find a way. Everybody does their job. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It just has to be enough.

As Caleb Williams embarks on his quest to claim every Chicago Bears passing record, it brings up memories of Jay Cutler. There is no doubt the former quarterback is probably the most divisive player in modern franchise history. He gave fans some of the most exciting football they’ve seen in the past quarter-century, but was also an enigmatic figure known for being grumpy and standoffish. He did have his supporters, though. Kyle Long was one of them. The former Pro Bowl guard feels Cutler was misunderstood.

That said, Long also admits his former quarterback was…unique. During an appearance on Kevin Clark’s podcast, the former guard told a story that summed up Cutler in every way possible. The truth is, football needed him, not the other way around. He was a solitary creature who never quite fit into a team sport. Even so, he did everything he could to fulfill his role as a leader. One might say he went a little too far at times. Long found that out the hard way.

That is probably why Kyle Long loves him.

There is no quarterback in the NFL today who would do something like that. Just walking into another guy’s home without an invitation just to make sure he doesn’t miss practice the next day. That would be considered way over the line. That never seemed to register with Cutler. Kyle Long chalked it up to the quarterback being one of a kind. Rather than fight against it, the better thing to do was to let it be. By embracing the inherent strangeness, life became easier. There was no changing Cutler.

Everything that has happened since retiring starts making more sense. Cutler has become somewhat of a recluse, dabbling in chicken farming and other solitary activities. His recent DWI offers a harsh reminder that such a life can be difficult. It doesn’t change the fact that Long still loves him, and the quarterback was a brighter part of Bears history than many realized.

Ben Johnson came in with a reputation from his time in Detroit. While most young offensive geniuses are all about the quarterback and throwing the football, he was not. Johnson was a big believer in the running game. He believed establishing it consistently made life much harder for opposing defenses. You couldn’t argue, given his rampant success with the Lions. Sure enough, the head coach has been good to his word. After an ugly start through the first four games, the Chicago Bears have emerged as one of the best rushing teams in the NFL.

They rank 2nd through ten games, averaging 146.6 yards. D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai are both averaging 4.7 yards per carry. While Caleb Wiliams has helped this total with his elite scrambling ability, it doesn’t change what Johnson has accomplished. In fact, the stats get even crazier. Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports dug into the numbers further. He came away with some findings that must be seen to be believed. What the Bears are accomplishing this year hasn’t been seen since at least the start of the new millennium.

The running backs have gained 12 or more yards on 9.2% of their runs this year (which ranks fourth) and are currently first in rushing success rate in the entire NFL at a whopping 46.7%, which is easily the best by a Bears offense since at least 2002. In fact, since 2013, five of the Bears’ top 11 games in terms of rushing success rate have come this season, and six of their top 16 since 2002. Meanwhile, 52% of the Bears’ run plays to their running backs gain 4 or more yards, the second-highest rate in the NFL this season.

The Chicago Bears are somehow doing more with less.

Don’t forget this stat encompasses a period where the team had Thomas Jones in the mid-2000s, followed by Matt Forte, and even the brief but productive run of Jordan Howard. The fact that the Chicago Bears have surpassed all of those eras with a running back tandem that most called weak is mind-boggling. It’s an undeniable testament to what Johnson and his coaching staff have accomplished. So much of the success comes up front, with their retooled offensive line controlling the point of attack on every play.

This offense is the living proof that rushing attacks don’t require elite running backs to have elite success. It starts up front. Add elite coaching on top of it and you get this. The best part is that this likely won’t be going anywhere. It isn’t a potential one-year thing. Johnson will run the show moving forward, implementing this philosophy every year. That means if the Bears maintain adequate personnel in the right areas, they will continue to be among the best rushing teams in the NFL for years to come.

If you were to ask Chicago Bears fans what the biggest concern with Caleb Williams is this season, most would say one of two things. Either he is holding onto the ball too long, which is a carryover from last year, or his low completion percentage. Going into Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, it sits at 59.7%. The league average is 64%. Many consider this the primary reason the passing game hasn’t gotten on track this year, despite the continued success of the offense overall. Such is the nature of playing quarterback. The blame falls on you when things aren’t clicking.

However, Williams does have his share of defenders. Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports is one of them. He has watched the Bears’ offense unfold all season. He is convinced that while Williams does deserve some blame, not enough people are acknowledging another reality. That is Ben Johnson’s system. While his offense has done wonders this year, it has asked a lot of Williams. Among the biggest is the lack of outlet pass options. Johnson is hunting big plays and requires Williams to hit them.

It sounds simple, but that’s difficult for a young QB who is still learning a new playing style.

Caleb Williams looks comfortable, and common complaints against him are due to the offense’s design

Johnson craves explosives. Every interview he talks about them, and he practices what he preaches. The Bears’ play-action concepts are built to seek out chunk plays…

…There are some qualms with Williams’ completion rate, but that’s the design of this offense. There aren’t a ton of gimmes in it. Sure, screen passes are sprinkled in, but the entire plane isn’t built out of quick-hitters and bubbles and flat routes. Johnson is comfortable making one 20-yard gain that they hit half of the time as opposed to stacking together multiple 4-to-6-yard gains in a row. And Williams is finding plays in-structure, while also creating his Garrincha-like moments to make free running defenders miss in the pocket.

There is a narrative that Williams holds onto the ball too long that is simply unfounded. The offensive plays are designed for him to hold the ball long, which makes sense; it takes longer to attack down the field, especially for an offense that uses a high rate of under-center play action. Williams also enters creation mode for good reason, whether it’s making a free running defender miss or because a receiver doesn’t pop open.

Context is key when assessing Caleb Williams.

Have some of his passes been off-target? Yes. That said, this whole completion percentage issue is far more nuanced than people want to admit. For one, Bears receivers have 17 dropped passes this year. That doesn’t help. If they catch most of those, Caleb Williams is much closer to league average. Add Johnson’s intentional decision to craft a passing game that attacks the intermediate and deep levels, and it becomes clear that not all of this is simply the quarterback being bad.

It always comes back to execution. Good teams learn to execute plays with efficiency and precision. The Bears are still in their first year with this offense. Executing it at a high level with a second-year quarterback was asking a lot. The great irony, though? Chicago is 5-0 in games where Williams had his lowest completion percentages. Perhaps that number is less significant than people would like to admit.