The Chicago Bears finally benched Braxton Jones. It was something we’d felt might be coming for some time. While head coach Ben Johnson said the team loved some of the things he could do, his inconsistency over the past month finally led to a change. During the win over Las Vegas, Theo Benedet was moved into the left tackle spot while rookie Ozzy Trapilo took over at right tackle. It was enough to pull out the victory. However, it left the primary question unanswered. With Jones likely done, who will take over in the long term? Some wonder if Darnell Wright is destined for that job.

The former 1st round pick is the Bears’ best tackle. While he has played his entire career on the right side, he has the size and athleticism to make the switch. The belief is he could take over at left tackle, opening the door for Trapilo to play his natural spot at right. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune was asked about this. He stated that while the Bears have considered this possibility, it isn’t something they’re comfortable tinkering with. Not in the middle of the season, anyway.

Switching Wright to the left side is something the Bears mulled publicly before the start of the offseason program. Then, we never saw him there. Jones, Trapilo, Kiran Amegadjie and finally Benedet all took turns at left tackle over the summer. That clearly told us the team’s preference was to keep Wright at right tackle…

…Asking him to switch sides in the middle of the season and coming off an injury probably isn’t Plan A at Halas Hall. Instinct tells me Benedet, who played left tackle when Jones was removed from the game against the Raiders in the second quarter, will get the next shot at the job.

Could Wright be a consideration before the end of the season? Anything is possible, but if the Bears really liked this option, they probably would have been more proactive in the offseason when four other players got a shot on the left side.

This decision with Darnell Wright is the most logical one.

The thing to remember here is that if the Bears were to move him over, they wouldn’t just be changing the left tackle. They’d be changing the left and right tackle. Doing that in the middle of a season can be jarring for a unit that depends heavily on continuity. Keeping Darnell Wright at right tackle while simply switching Jones with Benedet is the most sensible course of action. The second-year blocker looked solid at the job last week and has shown lots of promise despite misgivings about his shorter arms. If things don’t pan out as hoped, the Bears may revisit the idea with Wright at a later date. Barring that, it could be their solution next offseason when they have time to implement the plan fully, presuming they don’t aim to just draft a left tackle in the 1st round next year.

The Chicago Bears are off to a 2-2 start in the 2025 season but rank 24th in rushing yards per game, highlighting a clear need for a dynamic backfield addition during their upcoming bye week. With D’Andre Swift as the lead back but the room lacking explosiveness, trade rumors have heated up ahead of the November 4 deadline. Based on recent reports and speculation, here are four realistic running back trade targets that could elevate their ground game.

Top Trade Targets

De’Von Achane (Miami Dolphins): The explosive speed back has been Miami’s change-of-pace weapon but could be expendable for the right price. Achane’s elusiveness would pair perfectly with Swift for a versatile committee, addressing Chicago’s 24th-ranked yards after contact. He’s the most obvious and frequently mentioned fit for the Bears.

Projected cost: Mid-round 2026 pick (maybe even more)

Breece Hall (New York Jets): A budding superstar with over 2,300 rushing yards over his first three seasons, Hall’s vision and receiving skills (50+ catches in each of the last two years) make him a three-down threat. The Jets 0-4 start could make him available, especially if they’re sellers—pairing him with Caleb Williams could transform the Bears offense.

Projected cost: 2nd or 3rd round pick

Alvin Kamara (New Orleans Saints): The veteran dual threat running back remains a monster at age 30 despite New Orleans 0-4 start. He’d provide immediate stability and even more screen-game juice for Chicago, at a reasonable price given his contract year. Multiple teams, including the Bears, are likely interested but Kamara has stated in the past that he prefer to finish his career in New Orleans.

Projected cost: Mid-round pick

Tyler Allgeier (Atlanta Falcons): A bruising 2022 fifth-rounder, Allgeier could be shopped if Atlanta leans more on Bijan Robinson. His power-running style would complement Swift’s elusiveness and fix Chicago’s short-yardage woes and just bring more juice in between the tackles.

Projected cost: Sixth-round pick

There might not be a more divisive figure in Chicago sports right now than Ryan Poles. The Bears GM has been on the job for over three years now. To date, he doesn’t have much to show for it. His teams have one of the worst win-loss ratios in franchise history. Several of his decisions contributed to this mess, including hiring Matt Eberflus as head coach, trading for Chase Claypool, signing Nate Davis, and failing to address the trenches properly. Lots of fans were not happy hearing the news that the Bears chose to extend him before the season.

One person had a different perspective on it. Matt Forte is one of the greatest players in modern franchise history. He has kept tabs on the team for years, even after his retirement. He sat down to speak with Ryan Heckman of Fansided and was asked about Poles. His answer didn’t reflect the same feelings as others.

“Good for him. The Bears chose to extend him. I don’t think he’s done a terrible job. I think he’s done a decent job and he has room to grow as well, as a GM…

…As long as Ryan has good counsel around him, a good team around him, then they’re going to be good going forward…

…Having some humility in the room, where you’re able to listen to other perspectives of people … I’m looking to see improvement when it comes to, okay, who are we drafting and why, and are we filling positions of need, and are they going to contribute immediately?”

Forte doesn’t see an inept person completely unsuited for the job. He sees a young executive who has learned some harsh lessons about the job he took. Lessons that seem to have had an effect.

Forte’s assessment of Ryan Poles is dead on if you believe the rumors.

Tyler Dunne of Go Long released an exposé on the Bears’ GM before the season. It revealed that he had a reputation inside Halas Hall for not listening to the advice or opinions of others if they didn’t fit his narrative. That is what has led to misfires like Velus Jones, Zacch Pickens, and Kiran Amegadjie. He tends to focus too much on physical traits, not accounting enough for on-field production.

That seemed to shift somewhat in the 2025 draft. Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, Ozzy Trapilo, and Kyle Monangai were all players who had considerable on-field success for their respective programs in college. All have made meaningful contributions early this season. Maybe this is a sign Ryan Poles has finally started listening to the people around him.

Or it’s just a sign Ben Johnson calls the shots now. Either way, Forte deserves credit for his level-headed assessment.

The stories have been growing in number for months. Players have all agreed on one thing. Head coach Ben Johnson is not one to overlook anything. He is a peculiar blend of a computer nerd and a football junky. He knows everything there is to know about the game. Specifically, what works and what doesn’t. The man wants things done the right way. There is no room for compromise. Players must be on board with running plays as they’re designed. If one thing is out of place, the entire mechanism falls apart. Rome Odunze found that out early.

The wide receiver went on The Rich Eisen Show to discuss his torrid start to the season. Eventually, the conversation came around to Johnson. Odunze explained how intensely and diligently the coach is about everything the players do, regardless of their position. He is on top of everything. The example that stood out most came early in training camp. Odunze was supposed to line up two yards outside the hashmark. The receiver made the mistake of taking it a half-yard too far.

Johnson lit him up in front of everybody for it.

Rome Odunze got an education on what real NFL coaching is.

Johnson is not the first coach with that kind of attention to detail. Many great head coaches have had similar reputations. Don Shula was one example. Bill Walsh was another. Marty Schottenheimer would famously hold double practices whenever he felt players weren’t grasping things. Johnson seems intent on hammering it into his players’ heads that no way but his will be acceptable moving forward. If you make enough mistakes, don’t expect to get more opportunities. Braxton Jones already found that out the hard way. Rome Odunze learned fast, and that is probably why he is getting the football so often.

Others will follow his lead as Johnson’s culture takes greater effect in the coming weeks. It will be accelerated if the Bears continue to find ways to win.

Caleb Williams has quietly started playing much better football. While most people have focused on the first four games of this season, the reality is that it started as far back as late November of last season. In his first 10 games, Williams had nine touchdowns, five interceptions, a 61.9% completion percentage, and an 82.3 passer rating. Since then, he has 19 touchdowns, three interceptions, a 62.9% completion percentage, and a 96.2 passer rating. All of this has happened despite inconsistent protection, no running game, and multiple changes to the coaching staff.

The national media haven’t yet acknowledged this improvement. That is probably because the Bears aren’t winning many games. They started 0-2, including a 52-21 thrashing at the hands of Detroit. However, after back-to-back wins, the buzz around Williams has begun to build. Nick Wright of FS1 has closely monitored the situation. In that time, he’s begun to notice something. He told the CHGO Bears podcast that Williams’ improvement strikingly resembles another top quarterback’s

Caleb Williams is learning the same lessons Allen did.

As Wright said, the two are completely different talents. Allen is a massive human being with the strength to power through tackles and strike deep. Caleb Williams is more about elusiveness, improvisation, and making big plays after escaping danger. The problem for Allen early in his career was that he only seemed interested in attacking. He struggled playing within the confines of an offense, moving the chains and taking what the defense gives him. That is why turnovers and inconsistency marred the first five months of his career. It wasn’t until October of his second season that things finally started clicking.

It feels like the same is happening for Williams, perhaps even faster than it did for Allen. There is more proving to do. His completion percentage still needs work, and he can stand to finish more drives with points. Still, the situation around him needs to improve as well. Head coach Ben Johnson has acknowledged that constantly. What he has accomplished deserves praise.

The Chicago Bears escaped disaster in September. After a brutal 0-2 start characterized by demoralizing losses to Minnesota and Detroit, they rallied to knock off Dallas and Las Vegas, reaching the bye week at 2-2. It wasn’t without lots of drama. They needed a good month from quarterback Caleb Williams to overcome a disappointing defense and a dead running game. The latter is something that seems to haunt the nightmares of head coach Ben Johnson. It was a big reason why he chose to bench left tackle Braxton Jones. However, the problems don’t stop there.

Johnson admitted that there were several things he did over the past four weeks that led to some of the issues. One thing is that he has no clear understanding of his players’ strengths and weaknesses. That is partly why he has been using various schemes. According to Adam Hoge and Adam Jahns of CHGO, it seems that this is about to change.

Like Johnson said during training camp, he’s still got to figure out what everyone does well together. That’s Swift, the offensive line, the tight ends and the receivers. He’s got to blend his personnel with the right scheme. Are they going to be an inside zone team? Or will it be more outside zone? Do they have to make other scheme or lineup changes?

“There were some things execution-wise that we knew what we were going to do but the techniques, the fundamentals, we didn’t adhere to them when we needed to,” Johnson said. “When you look at it as a whole, it was just a mess, man. I’m just not proud of what we put on tape. I think it’s a reflection of myself. I always take it personally. I saw us getting better the first three weeks in a lot of ways on offense and then this was just a little bit of a step back for us. Like I said, the bye week is coming at a good time and we’re really going to be able to take a good look at ourselves and do a little soul searching.”

Hoge went on to mention what he noticed.

I’ll get into some of the specifics in a minute, but the biggest priority has to be figuring out what his offensive line does well in the run game and what they don’t do well. They look like an outside zone team to me, and maybe Johnson just needs to embrace that.

This is confirmed by watching the tape. D’Andre Swift has five runs of 10 yards or more this season. Three of them came from some variation of an outside zone. The reality is this offensive line isn’t built with power in mind. Guys like Jones, left guard Joe Thuney, and center Drew Dalman are known for their athleticism and technique. Such players are built for the outside zone.

Ben Johnson knows he can’t persist with the current plan.

Las Vegas had one of the worst run defenses in the league and still held the Bears to 69 yards. It is almost impossible to win games like that unless you have an elite quarterback and a good defense. Right now, Chicago has neither. Williams is improving rapidly, but he’s not in Mahomes territory by any means. The defense ranks dead last against the run and lacks a reliable pass rush. Ben Johnson isn’t naive. The only way to give his team a reasonable chance moving forward is by fixing the ground attack. It is a crucial part of his offensive identity.

Chicago has achieved success in recent years by utilizing an outside-zone system, as seen in 2022 and 2023. Shane Waldron ruined that last year with his inside-zone shift. It seems Johnson might be close to fully reversing course on that.

The Chicago Bears came out of Las Vegas with a much-needed win, but it was clear that Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby made his presence felt throughout the game. At times, it felt like Crosby was single-handedly keeping the Raiders in it, constantly applying pressure and making life difficult for the Bears offense and Caleb Williams.

After the game, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams didn’t hold back his praise for Crosby. Speaking to reporters, Williams called Crosby “probably the best player [he’s] played against” so far in his football career — a strong statement considering the level of talent he’s already faced.

Crosby later responded to the compliment on The Rush Podcast, which he hosts. He said he truly appreciated the words from Williams and had high praise for the young quarterback in return. Crosby called Williams a tough competitor, saying he respected how Williams kept getting up, never backed down, and continued to fight to keep his team in the game. That level of respect between an elite defender and a young QB is rare — especially when it involves a Bears quarterback.

Crosby also pointed out how difficult Williams is to tackle, something that’s been a trademark of his since college. Considering how tightly contested the game was, and how Williams ultimately led a game-winning drive, the mutual respect between the two stood out in a big way.