The Chicago Bears took care of business on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a perfect affair. The offense did the heavy lifting, pouring 59 points onto the scoreboard. That made it easier to stomach the fact that the defense allowed 37, reinforcing fears about the unit’s lack of difference-makers. Perhaps the most unnerving part of the performance was the secondary. Once considered a team strength, the group has taken a major toll from injuries, and it showed as Bryce Young racked up 361 yards. This once again brings back the issue of Kyler Gordon.

There is no question that the Bears’ defense is better when he’s on the field. Unfortunately, the cornerback missed all summer with a lingering calf problem. Now he is out for at least the first four games of the season. Many have grown tired of his persistent soft-tissue problems. Why should they believe anything will change when he finally does return? Maybe it’s because he is finally getting advice from somebody who knows what he’s doing. At least that is what specialist trainer Montel Fleming thinks. He’s been working with Gordon on his recovery and didn’t hide his opinion on why things have gone wrong up until now, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune.

The Bears’ training staff has badly mishandled Kyler Gordon.

“Due to overcompensation,” Fleming said. “OK, so a lot of strength and conditioning coaches in these programs and these clubs think that lifting weights is the only outcome to prevent injuries and to gain strength. Well, they don’t understand that a key measure is called your myofascia. Your fascia is what allows your body to have the range of motion that it needs to have.

“Athletes have to be agile, they have to be able to move at the twitch of a second to change direction, right? So if you have range of motion that is limited, now other muscles have to overcompensate for that. So we have what we call the kinetic chain throughout the whole entire body. And the anterior controls the posterior, posterior controls the anterior, lateral left side controls right, right controls left. OK? So if you look at the body at a four-dimensional degree, then you understand that overcompensation can lead to other injuries, and that’s what happens to 90% of athletes. Not just in football.

Is this criticism fair?

It is worth noting that Gordon was far from the only player to deal with soft-tissue problems last season. No fewer than 11 other players on the roster missed at least one game last season with such an issue. They ran the full range from hamstrings and groins to quads, thighs, and calves. This doesn’t count the several such setbacks they suffered in training camp, both last year and this year. So maybe Fleming is onto something. The Bears didn’t make any notable moves on their strength staff when head coach Ben Johnson took over, mind you.

He opted to promote Pierre Ngo to the job. Up until that point, Ngo had only been an assistant coach during his NFL career. That meant the Bears were handing the job to somebody inexperienced. He also didn’t come from a proven background. Justus Galac, Loren Landow, Jason George, and Jason Lascalzo were the four strength coaches he worked under prior to his appointment. Landow, George, and Lascalzo aren’t even in the NFL anymore. They’ve gone to the college ranks. Galac held his post for eight seasons before being released. He’s been an assistant since then. This may help explain why Ngo can’t seem to get a handle on the Bears’ soft tissue problems.

We’ll find out the truth next month.

Kyler Gordon seems to have taken the cautious approach to his recovery. Rather than trust the Bears’ staff, he’s opted to seek outside advice. That is how he connected with Fleming, who also works with Jaylon Johnson. The trainer is likely one of the people who advised him not to return until they could get his body into proper alignment, thus mitigating future risks. If Gordon returns and manages to make it through the season healthy, it may quiet the calls for his job.

It may also raise serious questions about the team’s strength staff. Then again, if he just gets hurt again, it will be confirmation that Gordon is injury-prone. Either way, these next several weeks are the most important of his career. The cornerback has put himself in an awkward spot by choosing the cautious approach. Some have started questioning his commitment to the game. He must be ready to go when he returns, or he may not survive next offseason.

The Carolina Panthers defense felt optimistic coming into 2026. Why shouldn’t they? The team spent vast resources in the offseason upgrading the unit, first with pass rusher Jaelan Phillips and again with linebacker Devin Lloyd. Then, for good measure, they used their 2nd round pick on nose tackle Lee Hunter. Everything pointed to this unit being much better than the average one they were last season. So you probably can’t imagine how it felt when the Chicago Bears walked into their building on opening day and hung 59 points on their heads.

It was brutal to watch. Carolina couldn’t stop them. The Bears racked up 291 yards on the ground, including 65 from quarterback Caleb Williams, who added two touchdowns. Then, for good measure, he threw for 265 and two more scores. Everything the Panthers tried didn’t work. It is hardly surprising that players didn’t take it well.

“Fifty-nine is an ugly score to put up as a defense,” said Phillips.

“However you feel, I completely understand. Because we obviously got paid a lot of money to come here and play well,” Lloyd added.

Brown and Horn were less diplomatic about it. The big defensive tackle took full ownership of his poor performance, dropping expletives along the way. Horn? He summed it up pretty well with two simple words.

The Chicago Bears can understand the feeling.

There was a time when their credibility on defense was severely shaken. Everybody remembers the nightmare 7-day span when they gave up 51 points to New England and then 56 to Green Bay. It was by far the darkest stretch for the Bears’ defense in franchise history. Yet they eventually found their way back to the light. Just a year later, they’d rebound to finish in the top 10 thanks to the arrival of Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator. The same can happen for the Panthers. Just as long as they don’t play the Bears again this season.

The good news for them is that the rest of the division didn’t fare much better. New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta all lost their respective games. So the slate remains clean in that regard. No doubt that defense hopes to come out with some serious heat next weekend. Washing the bad taste out of their mouths is priority #1. The Chicago Bears have likely already moved on to next week. They have a big divisional game of their own against the Minnesota Vikings. The biggest takeaway for them is that they now have a significant tiebreaker advantage for the NFC wild card spot.

The Bears are on pace to make history.

They’ve said multiple times that the NFL record of 606 points in a season is in their sights. It sounded ambitious at first. After what you just saw on Sunday, it may not be anymore. With 16 games left to play, the Bears must average 34 points per game the rest of the way to overtake the record. Last season, the Bears only cracked that number twice. Just to give you an idea of the monumental task in front of them. That said, one record that is in perfect position to overtake is the franchise record for points in a season.

That honor has been held by the 1985 Bears, who collected 456 points en route to their Super Bowl championship. To topple that one, this team only has to average 24 points per game the rest of the way. They can easily become the first Bears team in history to crack 500 points. Only 14 franchises have claimed that honor. It would be a monumental statement about this team’s new identity if they became the 15th.

Now it is possible that Caleb Williams was just being polite. The Chicago Bears quarterback has never been known for being malicious. He’s always come across as respectful to opponents. He shakes their hands, offers praise in the media, and so on. However, we also know that Williams has a reputation for being a massive troll. His shredding of a block of cheese after beating the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs was glaring proof of that. It’s why what the quarterback did right after the Bears’ 59-37 romp of the Carolina Panthers was more than a little cutthroat.

As the two teams walked onto the field to shake hands after the game, Williams found Panthers head coach Dave Canales for a hug. They exchanged an initial hug and pleasantries. Then the quarterback added one last comment.

“Y’all are a great defense man.”

Again, Williams might’ve just been trying to be nice. Yet to say something like that, literally minutes after dropping 59 points on their heads, feels a little cheeky. It’s doubtful he went into that exchange planning to troll Canales like that, but the intent seemed pretty clear.

Caleb Williams likely knows the truth about that game.

The Panthers have a bunch of good players. This was never in question. Derrick Brown, Devin Lloyd, Jaycee Horn, and Jaelan Phillips make up a solid core of talent. Unfortunately, it wasn’t nearly enough. Williams and head coach Ben Johnson had them in a blender all day. The scariest thing is that, as bad as allowing 59 points was, it could easily have been much worse. Don’t forget the Bears were flagged 12 times in the game and turned it over on the opening drive. Just imagine what the score might’ve been had those setbacks not gotten in the way.

In truth, this game was less about how bad the Panthers’ defense was and how good the Bears’ offense was. Everybody knew this team had firepower. What they never quite grasped was just how deep the talent pool is. So many different guys made plays. Caleb Williams hit seven different receivers during the game. Colston Loveland, their most dangerous weapon, was not one of them. That is another reason this group is so terrifying. If this is how good they are when things aren’t fully clicking, then what are we in store for?

The Panthers will have better days.

They have too much talent not to improve. This game was more of an affirmation of how good the Bears have become. Signs were already appearing down the stretch last season that this offense was evolving. Head coach Ben Johnson insisted all summer that the group was practicing so well in training camp. It is why he seemed so optimistic about the upcoming season. They were finally practicing like a “championship-caliber” team. Hanging 59 points in the opener is about as strong an affirmation as you’ll get.

Williams certainly did his part. He finished with 334 total yards and 4 combined touchdowns. He also completed 72% of his passes. If this version of him remains consistent throughout the season, then the rest of the NFL should be very afraid. We’re talking 2018-2022 Patrick Mahomes-level stuff. That is how talented he is and how stacked the offensive roster has become.

The Chicago Bears spent most of the past three decades at the mercy of the Green Bay Packers. Such is life when your rival enjoys Hall of Fame quarterback play. For the longest time, everyone knew that things could only change once the Bears found a way to match the Packers at the position, not to mention at head coach. Then, two champions arrived within a year of each other. First came Caleb Williams, #1 overall pick in 2024 and widely lauded as one of the most talented quarterbacks of the past decade. Next came Ben Johnson, the offensive whiz kid who helped in the Detroit Lions’ franchise resurrection.

Both men immediately had one thing in common. They hated the Packers and made it their mission to reverse years of mental torture the city had suffered. As has become their trademark, they did it in dramatic fashion. After falling to the Packers at Lambeau Field last season, they ushered in one of the most emotional comebacks in the rivalry’s history, rallying from down 16-3 in the 4th quarter to force overtime. Then, in the extra period, D.J. Moore made the catch of the year to send Soldier Field into a frenzy.

A few weeks later, the two teams met again in the playoffs. Again, Green Bay jumped out to a big lead. This time 21-3. Again, the Bears rallied in the second half, scoring 25 points in the 4th quarter to deliver an all-time 31-27 victory.

It’s possible that sequence may have broken the Green Bay Packers.

Why? Their psyche clearly hasn’t recovered. Opening day looked like a perfect time to make a statement. The Packers defense knocked Kyler Murray out of the game early and built a commanding 22-10 lead over the Vikings in Minnesota. U.S. Bank Stadium was dead silent. Then it happened again. Justin Jefferson caught a touchdown pass with two minutes left in the 3rd quarter to make it 22-17. Just like that, the floodgates opened. Minnesota scored 29 unanswered points while Jordan Love, who’d played well up to that point, committed brutal back-to-back turnovers.

Everything felt incredibly familiar. The Green Bay Packers had spent all offseason insisting the demons from those losses to Chicago were behind them. Then they go and deliver a vintage performance. Against a backup quarterback, no less. Packer fans have insisted up and down that their team still has the mental edge in the rivalry. Last year was a fluke. Yet when you watch how that team has played since the December loss at Soldier Field, they’ve been in a funk they can’t seem to shake.

That loss already puts them in a hole.

Losing a game like that is bad enough. Losing it to a division rival is even worse. Every NFC North team won its opening game on Sunday except for the Packers. That is uncharted territory for a franchise that has enjoyed consistent success for so long. Green Bay is getting a taste of something it hasn’t felt in ages: vulnerability. Teams aren’t awed or intimidated by them anymore. The aura is gone. They may not be a bad team, but they stopped being a great team years ago.

Chicago sensed it last year. Now others have followed suit. Once you know an opponent will fold if you put pressure on them late in games, you learn how to do it very well. The Packers are likely hoping things will return to normal once Josh Jacobs and Micah Parsons return. This team is not built to win big games without them. The Bears started the ball rolling downhill. Now they’re hoping to deliver the kill shot.

Opening day in Carolina was all about the Chicago Bears’ offense. It was pretty much unstoppable all afternoon. Despite the big offseason additions the Panthers made, none of them mattered. Caleb Williams, D’Andre Swift, and the offensive line led a full-on blitz of the scoreboard, racking up 59 points. It was a clinic. Meanwhile, the defense allowed 37 points, doing little to quiet concerns that the unit is not strong enough to complement the team. However, this overview missed some key details.

By far the biggest impact came from two of their promising draft picks. It started late in the 2nd quarter. Trailing 31-24, Carolina had a chance to add some points with 17 seconds left. Malik Muhammad, the Bears’ 4th round pick out of Texas, made a brilliant play to cut off a Bryce Young pass for an interception.

That helped preserve the Bears’ lead going into the half. Unfortunately, Carolina tied it up anyway early in the 3rd quarter. Chicago quickly scored twice to make it 45-31. It looked like the Panthers were in the process of answering to start the 4th quarter as Young hit Tetairoa McMillan for 21 yards. Then the wide receiver got a greeting from 1st round pick Dillon Thieneman.

The Chicago Bears’ youth movement on defense is already shining.

Muhammad had the best play of the game on defense, but the best performance was Thieneman’s. Aside from his forced fumble that pretty much put the game away, the safety finished with 10 tackles (8 solo), a QB hit, and a pass deflection. He was quite literally all over the field. This is a big reason why the Bears drafted him. Thieneman has a rare ability to do everything, be it squeezing throwing windows with his speed or delivering a bone-crunching hit over the middle. He alone won’t fix all of the problems the Bears still have on defense, but it looks like they might have that young building block they’ve been missing.

As for Muhammad, the kid deserves a ton of credit. In truth, he probably wasn’t supposed to see the field this early in the season. It was supposed to be Jaylon Johnson, Tyrique Stevenson, and Kyler Gordon. Sadly, Gordon still isn’t healthy. A knee injury to Coby Bryant and a groin injury to Xavier Woods also forced Cam Lewis to play safety. That meant the Chicago Bears had to trust Muhammad at the nickel spot. It wasn’t perfect, but he did more than enough to help ensure the victory.

This was more than the Bears could’ve hoped for.

There is so much for this team to clean up on defense before their next game. Their pass coverage wasn’t nearly good enough. The run defense allowed 5.7 yards per carry. These are problems carrying over from last season. Alas, it can’t be considered a big surprise. Nothing they did this offseason indicated they’d take a drastic jump in either department. Especially if guys couldn’t stay healthy. Still, the early signs from Thieneman and Muhammad suggest they’re finally laying the foundation for improvement in the near future.

Until then, their continued development must take priority. If they can reach their full potential, the Bears’ secondary will be in great shape. Thieneman has a chance to show everybody why it was a surprise that he fell all the way to the 25th overall pick. Coaches had been careful with what they said about the safety throughout training. Looking back, they may have been keeping their excitement downplayed so as not to tip off opponents.

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson said winning the Super Bowl is the top priority. That is not surprising. He’s made that clear from the moment he arrived. However, it isn’t his only goal for this team. One that he has mentioned more than once, both to his players and the media, is toppling the single-season scoring record of 606 points set by the Denver Broncos in 2013. It sounds ridiculous. After all, the Bears have never even reached 500 points in the season. They’re suddenly going to reach 600+? Well, if the version of Caleb Williams they just saw on Sunday in Carolina sticks around, that is absolutely possible.

It was unlike anything fans in this city have witnessed before. Johnson has said his goal was never to turn Williams into a pure pocket guy or just let him be the off-script improviser that made him a star. It was about finding a way to marry the two. What you saw on that hot afternoon in Charlotte is exactly what he was talking about. Williams was impossible to defend almost all day. He completed 21-of-29 passes for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns, posting a 124.5 passer rating.

If that didn’t make things hard enough for the Panthers, he also added 65 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground. Every button he touched worked.

Caleb Williams wasn’t facing a cupcake.

While Carolina didn’t have a great defense last year, it was at least serviceable. They spent all offseason upgrading it, too, adding big-ticket pass rusher Jaelan Phillips and stud linebacker Devin Lloyd. Aside from a couple of injuries to some key rotational guys, they were mostly healthy. This unit helped the Panthers make the playoffs last season. They were at home on a hot day. It didn’t matter. Chicago rolled right over them like a giant boulder through a mountain cabin.

This is uncharted territory for the Bears. They have never had a quarterback playing at this level consistently in modern franchise history. Jay Cutler teased it once or twice, but rarely stayed there. Jim McMahon couldn’t stay healthy. Only Sid Luckman found that magic zone. That is a long time to wait. It may have been worth it. Williams had his way with the Panthers in this game and did so without making any key mistakes. His full arsenal was deployed to perfection. That is the scariest part about this.

Williams didn’t even utilize his best weapon.

Colston Loveland was left catchless for the game. It was apparent that Carolina was desperate to take the tight end out of the game and force Williams to beat them in other ways. He most certainly did. Seven different players caught a pass in the game. It was another reminder of how good Williams has gotten at spreading the ball around. History says that when a quarterback reaches that point, stopping them becomes a nightmare. You saw it with Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes.

Remember, this isn’t even the midseason form. It is Caleb Williams knocking off the remaining rust from the offseason. If this is the first form of the year, what are we in store for when he gets a few games under his belt? The quarterback did warn everybody that he would be better this year. Maybe it wasn’t bravado after all. His mastery of this offense looks better than ever, and the NFL should be terrified.

The Chicago Bears have a good sense of what to expect as they prepare for opening day against the Carolina Panthers. This is not a team to be underestimated. It made the playoffs last season and nearly upended the Los Angeles Rams in the wild card round. While far from consistent, the team has a reputation for being pesky. Much of that is thanks to the offensive prowess of head coach Dave Canales, one of the better play-callers in the NFL, dating back to his brief stint as a coordinator in Tampa Bay, where Baker Mayfield flirted with MVP honors.

Yet amidst the madness of the past few months, most people didn’t notice a change in Carolina. One that, in hindsight, should’ve been considered seismic for the Panthers organization. Canales elected to surrender play-calling duties moving forward, handing them to 34-year-old offensive coordinator Brad Idzik.

“Idzik is new to playcalling, but he’s not new to Young. The coordinator, now in his third year with the title, will take control of those playcalling duties after inheriting the job from coach Dave Canales this offseason. And with a new voice in the quarterback’s helmet on game days, the hope is that Young — with a lucrative contract extension at stake — will flourish during the biggest season of his NFL career and the Panthers will make another postseason run.”

One cannot understate how bizarre this decision is. Canales has gotten more out of that Carolina roster than many realize, despite the team’s underwhelming rankings. Suddenly handing that responsibility off to a completely untried assistant feels needlessly reckless.

History says the Chicago Bears will benefit from this.

Idzik could end up becoming a true gem at the job. However, recent history isn’t on his side. There have been several instances in the past few years where a head coach who called plays successfully decided to hand it off to an assistant. The decisions were made for one of two reasons. Either the offense was stuck in a rut and needed a jolt. Or the head coach felt he needed to take some responsibilities off his plate so he could focus on the entire team. It sounds logical, but the results rarely turn out well.

Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl as a play caller. However, he chose to give the sheet to offensive coordinator Press Taylor in 2023. The offense dropped from 3rd to 8th with quarterback Jalen Hurts throwing a career-high 15 interceptions. Mike McCarthy gave it up after the 2014 season despite the Green Bay Packers reaching the NFC Championship and being #1 in points scored. They dropped to 15th in 2015 with Tom Clements calling the shots. Kevin Stefanski tried it twice in Cleveland in 2024 and 2025. The offense got worse both times.

There are already signs that Carolina may regret the decision.

The offense didn’t look overly sharp in the preseason. Maybe that’s just the usual rust. However, one must not forget that this unit was wildly inconsistent even with Canales calling plays, and he’s really good. What might happen if you give that responsibility to a rookie? Not the results you’re hoping for, most of the time. Granted, the Bears’ defense is an unknown quantity. Much of its personnel was overhauled, and two of their key defensive backs, Coby Bryant and Kyler Gordon, will not play.

Still, Dennis Allen is well-regarded as one of the better defensive coordinators in the league. He understands how to put stress on offenses through disguised coverages and exotic blitzes. Is Idzik ready for all that? He better be. Otherwise, the Panthers may have just handed the Chicago Bears an unnecessary advantage in this game. Canales will certainly be questioned if things falter early.