Right now, the Chicago Bears are underdogs for Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Quarterback Caleb Williams isn’t looking likely to play with a hamstring injury. The same goes for backup Tyson Bagent, who has a concussion. The Eagles are 2-0 and have one of the better-coached defenses in the league. Things aren’t lining up to offer much optimism. Then again, it feels like not enough people are talking about Philadelphia’s injury situation. One that feels pretty notable.

We’ll start with the obvious one. Tight end Dallas Goedert, one of their best offensive weapons, is out for the next several weeks with an MCL injury. He leads the team in touchdown catches and has been a steady, dependable blocker as well. That alone is a tough blow. The other to watch is running back Saquon Barkley. He exited last week’s game with a neck stinger and didn’t return. Philadelphia only ranks 14th in rushing so far this year, and that’s with him in the lineup.

If he can’t go, it falls to Tank Bigsby, who is averaging 2.8 yards per carry.

The Chicago Bears should not turn down any advantage.

As successful as the Eagles have been to start the season, their offense hasn’t been good enough to make one think they can shrug off losses of this magnitude. They’ve scored 24 points in each of their first two games. Nothing special. It was against two opponents, the Washington Commanders and Tennessee Titans, who boast below-average defenses. That is not to say the Bears’ defense is anything special, but it showed last week that it can be a strong unit when everybody’s on the same page.

The last thing Philadelphia needs is options taken away. If Goedert and Barkley are both out, the Chicago Bears can focus on stopping the two primary drivers of the offense. Those are receivers, DeVonta Smith and Dontayvion Wicks. They’ve already shown they can contain Smith, holding him to just 48 yards in last year’s meeting. As for Wicks, he is quite familiar with the Bears from his time in Green Bay. He has 7 catches for 61 yards across the last four games he has played them.

All this to say, Chicago isn’t the only team hurting.

The Eagles are still a good football team, but this isn’t the one that stampeded its way to the Super Bowl two years ago. There are vulnerabilities. Enough to pull an upset? This is the NFL—any given Sunday, as they say. We know for certain that Goedert will not play. That is a big loss on its own. If Barkley can’t go, that completely changes the outlook of the game. Suddenly, the Bears would go from likely having to score 24-27 points to have a good shot at winning to maybe 20-23. That is a huge difference.

It doesn’t make Philadelphia’s defense any less difficult to deal with. The Bears must navigate that minefield without any help. Yet sometimes you have to overcome challenges like this if you want to be a champion. Head coach Ben Johnson won’t make any excuses. This team should’ve won last week and paid the price for too many mistakes. If they can play cleaner football on Monday night, they can win.

The Chicago Bears lost a frustrating game to the Vikings last Sunday. Unfortunately, they don’t have much time to dwell on it. They have an equally tough opponent waiting for them on Monday Night Football. The Philadelphia Eagles are 2-0 and cruising through their early schedule. Nothing about them makes them less daunting than they’ve been for the past several years. They’re still talented and well-coached. If the Bears want to avoid a second straight loss, they must play significantly better than they did against Minnesota.

Can the coaching staff get it done despite a serious health situation at quarterback? Let’s look at the matchup and make a prediction for week three.

Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears backstory

These two teams met last year in Philadelphia on Black Friday. It was a brutal experience for the Eagles, who allowed over 280 rushing yards and were defeated 24-15. It was punctuated by Ben Johnson’s shirtless celebration in the locker room. You can bet the Eagles are out for revenge for that humiliation. They have reasons to be confident, too. Philadelphia has won 8 of its last 10 games at Soldier Field. The Bears are reeling from that frustrating loss to Minnesota last week. Who will respond?

Injuries:

TE Dallas Goedert (MCL)

Losing one of the most versatile tight ends in the league is never a good thing. Goedert not only led the Eagles in touchdown catches this season, but he’s been one of their best run blockers as well. That knee injury knocks him out for a long time, forcing the team to bring back veteran Zach Ertz to plug the hole. He isn’t the same player he was a few years ago, making it more difficult for the Eagles to attack the middle of the field.

QB Caleb Williams (hamstring)

Hardly a shocking choice. Williams is the centerpiece of the Chicago Bears’ offense. He makes so many things happen with his playmaking skills. While the injury he suffered thankfully wasn’t serious, the odds are still good that he will miss this game. That means it falls to either Tyson Bagent or Case Keenum to start this game. Bagent is dealing with a concussion, so it’s looking like the latter. Keenum hasn’t played in a game since 2023.

Key matchups:

OG Cam Jurgens vs. DL Dayo Odeyingbo

Philadelphia’s offensive line has looked vulnerable despite the team’s 2-0 start. The biggest tell has been Jurgens, who’s allowed 3 pressures over two games and has looked subpar in his run blocking. Now he’ll tangle with a suddenly resurgent Odeyingbo, who has 8 pressures and a sack through two games and is doing a lot of it from the interior. The size differential alone is worth noting. Odeyingbo has two inches over the embattled guard.

HB D’Andre Swift vs. LB Zack Baun

Baun has become a central pillar of the Eagles’ defensive success over the past few years. His versatility makes him such a weapon, particularly in coverage. He is usually the one tasked with guarding the opponent’s running backs in space. That means he and Swift will cross paths more than once or twice in this game. Swift is a big threat in the passing game and is no doubt eager to regain his form as a runner after the clunker against Minnesota.

X-factors:

S Dillon Thieneman

Philadelphia has been one of the best deep-throwing teams in the league to start this season, completing 6-of-9 passes of 20 yards or more. You can bet they will be interested in testing the Chicago Bears’ rookie safety with a couple of shots at some point in the game. Thieneman has been targeted 5 times so far this season, allowing 3 completions for 46 total yards. This will be his toughest test to date.

WR Dontayvion Wicks

The injury to Goedert puts a lot more pressure on the Eagles’ wide receivers to pick up the slack in the passing game. Wicks has been a positive revelation with 127 yards through two games. He also has plenty of familiarity with the Bears from his time with Green Bay. They will need him to be at his best in order to take some of the attention away from DeVonta Smith.

Prediction: Eagles win 23-17

This is one of those games that feels like a small handful of key plays’ll determine it. Philadelphia has the momentum. Chicago has home field. This comes down to the quarterback situations. Plain and simple. The Bears can’t expect Keenum or Bagent to have any sort of strong evening against that tough Eagles secondary. Conversely, Hurts should be able to find some opening in a coverage unit that has looked vulnerable since the season began. This will be a tough one to overcome.

The drama surrounding cornerback Kyler Gordon never seemed to ebb. It’s incredible to see how fast the young man went from defensive cornerstone to persona non grata. The Chicago Bears left him on the PUP list to start the season, meaning he would miss the first four games. However, league rules permit him to return to practice this week to start ramping up for a return. Three such players have reached that junction, with Shemar Turner and Noah Sewell joining Gordon. He was the only one who didn’t show up.

Head coach Ben Johnson was asked for an update on why this is the case. Gordon has been releasing workout videos in the past couple of weeks. One would think that is a sign he is nearing a return. Johnson’s reply was both short and icy.

There have been signs for much of the past month that top decision-makers inside Halas Hall aren’t happy with Gordon. They haven’t said it outright, but it isn’t hard to read between the lines. Few have made that clearer than Johnson, who seems tired of answering questions about the cornerback. He has no time for players he doesn’t trust. Gordon has played 5 games since he took over as head coach. Why should he spare any time for someone who doesn’t play, and he didn’t help draft?

Kyler Gordon may have already lost his job.

While he’s been taking the scenic route in his recovery, someone else has been establishing himself as a legitimate player. No Bears defender has had a better first two weeks of the season than rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad. The 4th round pick was thrust into the nickel role once it was clear Gordon wasn’t returning. After a shaky first few weeks, he seemed to grow into it with remarkable speed. This culminated with him collecting an interception against Carolina and a sack against Minnesota. He has been targeted 11 times, allowing just 5 catches for 47 yards and a 27.5 passer rating.

So one must ask the question. Do the Bears have any obligation at this point to give Kyler Gordon his job back when he does return? The guy hasn’t played good football since 2024, and even then, he was dealing with constant health problems. It’s already been said, but there is a strong likelihood Gordon would’ve been cut if not for the cap penalties his contract would’ve brought. At the very least, Johnson is not required to accommodate the cornerback in any meaningful way aside from being a member of the roster.

This is probably the last season for him in Chicago.

It would be one thing if Gordon were present in the facility and working tirelessly to get back. That has not been the case throughout this entire process. He’s stayed away from the team, entrusting his health to a supposed specialist named Montel Fleming, who has a questionable background, to say the least. There is clearly a disconnect between player and team. Unless the bridge is somehow re-established soon, it feels like a growing likelihood that Gordon will never play another down for the Bears.

We saw the same thing happen to Nate Davis a couple of years ago. He always seemed to have health problems that kept him off the field. Eventually, the Bears cut him, and he quietly faded out of the league within a matter of months. Those same warning signs are popping up with Gordon. Hopefully that isn’t the case. One thing is certain. The Bears aren’t waiting for him anymore.

Players are free to do as they choose. It’s part of living in a free country. If they want to keep playing, keep playing. If they want to do something else? Fine. That doesn’t change the fact that their actions have consequences. Chicago Bears fans tried to be understanding when center Drew Dalman abruptly retired this offseason. They had plenty of reasons to be upset. The Bears had just made him one of the highest-paid at his position. It was expected he’d at least perform through the end of that contract. Instead, the 27-year-old decided to hang it up after just one season.

Just like that, one of the vital anchors to Ben Johnson’s entire offense was gone. So much of what the Bears did last season required a capable center to perform. Now Dalman looked like he was taking the money and running, leaving the organization in the lurch. General manager Ryan Poles acted quickly, flipping a 5th round pick to the New England Patriots for veteran Garrett Bradbury. It was felt that they had at least managed to land someone they could trust in the short term.

Time has proven otherwise.

Drew Dalman won’t receive warm welcomes from Chicago anytime soon.

Bradbury has been a tough watch through two games as the starting center. He’s allowed 3 pressures on the quarterback and committed 4 penalties. He also has a 56.7 run-blocking rating, which ranks him 24th in the NFL among centers. Dalman had 4 penalties in all of 2025, and was the 9th-highest rated run-blocking center in the league. This illustrates, with alarming clarity, how much of a downgrade the Bears have undergone at the position. It’s little wonder the entire operation has looked off.

One can only wonder how long of a leash Bradbury has at this point. The underwhelming play is one thing. It’s the penalties that are truly killing the team. One of them cost them a chance at points in the loss to Minnesota. Another almost did the same earlier in the game, if not for an offsetting roughing-the-passer call. Making a switch at such an important position this early in the season is never ideal. Still, the Bears drafted Logan Jones in the 2nd round for a reason. If Bradbury can’t get it done Monday night against Philadelphia, changes will follow. At least the rookie might be able to offer them what Drew Dalman should’ve: long-term stability.

This entire fiasco does prove one thing.

The Bears were right to stick with their original philosophy of building through the draft. Relying on pricey free agents to plug the gaps on a roster leads to bad things. These days, that includes abrupt retirements. Did Dalman always plan to step away this young after he got his big payday? He wouldn’t be the first player to do something like that. Plenty have gotten their big contracts and decided they were done shortly after. It’s certainly not the classiest thing to do, but it’s an unfortunate reality in this business.

Some may argue that health played a part. Dalman might’ve been dealing with something that led him to conclude playing much longer could ruin his body. Again, though, if he was already thinking that way, why stick around just long enough to secure that guaranteed money?

Alas, this is all pointless theorizing. Dalman is gone. He’s not coming back. The Bears have no choice but to continue searching for a replacement. It’s just unfortunate that the center gets out of this without feeling the destruction he left behind.