The Chicago Bears are 3-2. Some believe the door is now open for a trade to help improve the team. They need help at multiple positions, particularly pass rusher. GM Ryan Poles has been aggressive in the past. Maybe something happens. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune didn’t dismiss the idea, but from how he talks it doesn’t seem as if the organization is viewing this season as playoffs-or-bust. Head coach Ben Johnson is busy evaluating the roster and intends to build a sustained winner. Aggressive moves don’t often lead to that.

On the flip side, Biggs indicated the Bears might go in an unexpected direction. Rather than being buyers, they could be sellers, unloading one or two of their veteran players for future assets.

Also, don’t completely discount the idea the Bears could trade a player. If a team has a need for an experienced offensive tackle, maybe Braxton Jones could be available. That would leave second-round pick Ozzy Trapilo as the swing tackle. Jones would be a rental because he’s in a contract year, so the return would be small, but in a world where everyone wants to talk about potential moves, there’s another idea to file away.

It makes sense. Jones is a free agent next offseason. The Bears won’t be re-signing him. Johnson made his thoughts on the former starter clear when benching him in Las Vegas. Still, there has to be a handful of teams out there who could use some experience at left tackle. Getting anything back for him at this stage would be a win for the Bears.

The Chicago Bears may have another name or two worth considering.

One is Olamidea Zaccheaus. The free agent addition hasn’t produced much this season at wide receiver. Meanwhile, Luther Burden seems to make plays every time he gets meaningful snaps. The Chicago Bears need to get him more involved. Moving Zacchaeus would make plenty of sense to help accomplish that. They could also consider moving Cole Kmet, hoping to clear the way for Colston Loveland. That is less likely, though, given Kmet’s valued versatility.

It might not be the blockbuster move fans want, but such an approach would be a good way for the Bears to keep their eyes on the future. Poles said he wants to avoid knee-jerk moves that may provide a short-term burst but hamper the team in the long run. Unless he can swing a trade for someone the Bears can keep for a few years, the deadline may not go as many expect.

Becoming the only head coach in franchise history to get fired midseason must’ve required something special from Matt Eberflus. If the McCaskey family weren’t willing to dump Marc Trestman during that disaster of a 2014 season, one can only imagine how bad it was last year. We know the stories. Eberflus was already struggling to maintain credibility coming into the 2024 season. Then you had the nightmare in Washington, followed by back-to-back blowout losses, the blocked kick vs. Green Bay, losing in OT to Minnesota, and the breaking point with the failure to call a timeout in Detroit. Players had enough. The locker room exploded. Eberflus had to go. If you think there aren’t any hard feelings, you’d be wrong. Kyler Gordon just proved that.

Multiple players have taken subtle jabs at the former Bears head coach in the months since his departure. The nickel cornerback didn’t even bother covering up his feelings. When discussing new head coach Ben Johnson with Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times, it became plainly obvious how little respect or admiration he had for Eberflus.

“It’s better than it’s ever been,” nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon told the Sun-Times. “His ability to relate to all the players and get everyone to feel where he’s coming from and his energy is just different from what we had the last three years — very much so.

“Once you get to the rest of the team and they see his concept with his energy behind it, we all believe it. No one can be half in, half out.”

Kyler Gordon reflects the lingering bitterness in that locker room.

The Bears had a real chance to succeed in 2024. They built some momentum towards the end of 2023. One more push could see them compete for the playoffs. However, multiple decisions by Eberflus ultimately sabotaged them. He hired Shane Waldron to develop #1 pick Caleb Williams. That didn’t even last half of the season. You had the soft coverage call against Washington that set up the Hail Mary. More soft coverage calls in OT against Minnesota that enabled their drive to the winning field goal. Lastly, he pocketed the timeout in Detroit and then blamed his rookie QB for it. The appalling lack of accountability proved his undoing.

Jaylon Johnson was the one who exploded first, calling out Eberflus for ruining everything. Others followed, and it sure sounds like Kyler Gordon was one of them. He must be thanking his lucky stars the Bears did the logical thing by hiring Johnson. For the first time in years, he has a chance to experience true success.

Chicago Bears fans have no real context with which to view Caleb Williams. Most haven’t seen anything resembling good quarterback play in decades. There have been only fleeting instances, such as Trubisky in 2018, McCown in 2013, Cutler in 2011, and Kramer in 1995. Otherwise, it’s been one long parade of sadness. That is probably why the reactions to Caleb Williams are somewhat muted. While fans appreciate the progress he’s made since last year, they aren’t committing fully as they have in the past. Perhaps that is because they’ve been burned so many times.

Still, Williams’ accomplishments are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. He already holds the team’s rookie passing records for yards, touchdowns, completions, and passer rating. If that weren’t enough, he also reached fourth all-time with a streak of 356 passes without an interception. Now the Bears quarterback is doing unseen stuff again. The win over the Washington Commanders saw another streak broken as he became the first Chicago quarterback to ever throw for at least 200 yards and one touchdown in the first five games of a season.

Caleb Williams is taking the Bears down a new path.

He isn’t among the elite of the NFL. Nobody would dare make that assumption. However, it looks like the 24-year-old has introduced something new to the Bears: competency. Caleb Williams is playing the position far smarter than he did last year. He protects the football so well, but does it in a way that he’s not sacrificing the offense’s explosive potential. Williams still takes his shots when available. He just does a good job of keeping the ball out of harm’s way. It is a big reason why the team is suddenly 10th in scoring this season. It hasn’t always been pretty, but Williams is putting points on the board. He is finding ways to win football games. A Bears quarterback is doing all of this.

This isn’t another guy who is getting carried by a good team around him like McMahon, Grossman, or Orton. He is often the one putting the team on his back in crucial moments. This is what Chicago has waited for.

Fixing the offensive line was priority one for the Chicago Bears going into this year. You can’t have your quarterback get sacked 68 times and maintain the status quo. GM Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson knew they had to find multiple solutions. The odds of finding them in the draft alone were unrealistic. If they wanted to turn things around quickly, they would have to get creative. To Poles’ credit, he did. In one fell swoop, the Bears revamped their entire interior offensive line, headlined by former All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney in a trade with Kansas City and free agent center Drew Dalman.

However, the most controversial move was trading for right guard Jonah Jackson. People knew he’d had great success in Detroit under Johnson, but that was years ago. His recent stint in Los Angeles was a disaster, marked by injuries and ultimately resulting in him being benched. Poles knew this, but made the deal anyway, flipping a 6th round pick to the Rams. As it turns out, that move is shaping up to be one of the Bears’ best. In five games this season, Jackson has only nine pressures with no hits or sacks on the quarterback. Five of those pressures came in the opener against Minnesota.

He’s also a core part of an offensive line that ranks 3rd in run-block win rate.

The Chicago Bears trusted the one person who knew Jackson best.

There is no question that the trade was made at the behest of Coach Johnson. He’d worked with the veteran guard for years and understood what he did best. If put in that same situation again, it was logical that Jackson would return to his productive ways. Such an evaluation has proven correct. The 28-year-old is back to the form he showed in Detroit. If this holds for the rest of the season, that trade should be considered one of Poles’ best. Getting a top-shelf guard in his prime for a 6th round pick is winning football. It also eases the pressure on the team to find long-term solutions since he should be able to play at least a couple more seasons. As always, it comes down to health.

Hopes were high for Austin Booker coming into this season. He flashed serious potential at times last year despite his limited snaps. He looked great in training camp this summer and was almost unblockable in the preseason. The Chicago Bears appeared to finally have that speed rusher they desperately needed to complement Montez Sweat. Then Booker suffered a knee injury. There wasn’t much deliberation. He was placed on injured reserve, meaning he’d miss the next month of action.

Well, that month came and went. Booker still hasn’t appeared. Many felt this Sunday against the New Orleans Saints was finally his time. The Bears waived defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, which felt like a signal that Booker would be activated. Instead, running back Travis Homer was. No Booker again. That was the first red flag that something might seriously be wrong with the second-year edge rusher. Despite practicing for two weeks, the Bears have not activated him. That leaves only one more in the 21-day window. Otherwise, he will be shut down for the year.

Booker’s situation makes the Chicago Bears’ plans obvious.

One way or another, they must add to the pass rusher at some point in the near future. Their last chance to do so in a meaningful capacity is the November 4th trade deadline. If they elect to pass, it all but guarantees they’ll go hunting for help in the 2026 draft. That may not seem fair to Booker, who has worked his tail off to show everybody he can play. Unfortunately, he’s succumbing to the harshest truth in all of sports: the best ability is availability. The Chicago Bears won’t keep giving him opportunities if he isn’t reliable. If this knee injury is more serious than feared, it alters any plans they may have had for the defensive end spot.

We will know where things stand next week. If Booker remains out, don’t be surprised if the Bears make a countermove on the trade market.

When people look at how the Chicago Bears are constructed from a coaching perspective, most of the credit for the team’s offensive success goes to Ben Johnson. That is only natural. It’s his system. He calls the plays. Everything runs through him. That is why there wasn’t much of a reaction when the team hired Declan Doyle as the offensive coordinator. He was viewed as Johnson’s glorified assistant, tasked with taking some of the workload off the head coach during game preparation and offering ideas on new play designs.

However, the team has found that his value goes deeper than that. Aside from being a highly intelligent coach himself, Doyle had the benefit of working under one of the best in the business for years. Sean Payton will end up in the Hall of Fame one day. He has a ring and has enjoyed extended success with two different franchises. One lesson he taught Doyle in their time together was understanding how to weather the storm early in a season. The young assistant explained to Adam Jahns of CHGO.

This influence apparently found its way into the Bears’ locker room.

But Doyle’s an integral part of Ben Johnson’s operation. He’s seen (Sean) Payton at work when things need to be figured out early in the season.

“We’ve always been process-oriented,” Doyle said. “So we just go right back to what is going to allow us during the week – the decisions we make – how are we going to create championship-level habits that are going to carry us in those moments? Because in those big games, when you want a result, you’re just going to do what you did in practice.

“And so the biggest thing is getting back to, ‘Alright, what do we value as an offense? What do we think championship level looks like on Wednesday? Let’s look like that on Wednesday and let’s commit to that – to each other.’ And then you’re also figuring out who are guys that might not be all into that. And that’s a process as you go, but you just go right back to the process. That’s the biggest thing.”

Declan Doyle influence can be seen in changes the Bears made.

After their blowout loss in Detroit to reach 0-2, the team implemented changes in the aftermath. They started by upping the intensity at practice. Coach Johnson said he felt their habits weren’t at a championship level, which aligns with what Declan Doyle mentioned above. Then came the next part: identifying which players were the weak links in the chain. Left tackle Braxton Jones was benched the next week in Las Vegas. That sent a clear message to everybody else that they had better start picking up their games.

Chicago beat the Raiders and then went into Washington, stunning the Commanders with their second straight fourth-quarter comeback. Just like that, the Bers were 3-2. Their season is alive. It’s nothing new for Doyle, having seen it done several times by Payton in New Orleans and Denver. Credit to him for remembering the lessons and communicating them to Johnson when needed.

The Chicago Bears are set to face the 1-5 New Orleans Saints on Sunday in what could be a statement game for Ben Johnson’s team. Coming off an impressive win, Chicago looks to build momentum at home — and I’ve got a few bold predictions for how this one plays out.

Caleb Williams tops 300 passing yards

Believe it or not, Caleb Williams still hasn’t hit the 300-yard passing mark yet this season. Some of that is due to penalties, questionable calls, and drives stalling out at the wrong time. But this feels like the week it finally happens. The Saints secondary has been vulnerable to explosive plays, and with the Bears offense clicking, Williams should have plenty of chances to air it out in front of the home crowd.

D’Andre Swift eclipses 100 rushing yards again

Yes — I’m calling it. Back to back 100-yard games for D’Andre Swift. The Bears offensive line seems to have found its rhythm, and Swift’s recent play fit perfectly behind this rejuvenated unit. Expect a heavy dose of the run early to set the tone.

Rome Odunze goes nuclear

Rome Odunze was robbed of a touchdown last week, but this time, he makes up for it — in a big way. I’m predicting three total touchdowns from the Bears number one WR, marking his breakout performance of the season.

Final Score: Bears 33, Saints 25.