Even after the Jeffery Simmons trade last week, there were rumblings that the Chicago Bears weren’t done on the trade market. Those like Ian Rapoport heavily implied that general manager Ryan Poles might have another move in mind. Bears fans had no problem speculating who the potential target would be. It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Chargers are terrible this year, sitting at 0-7. Khalil Mack is 35 years old and sitting in the last year of his deal. Bringing him home to Chicago felt like a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, circumstances have changed. Edge rusher no longer appears to be the most pressing concern on the Bears’ defense. Montez Sweat is back and had one of his best games in Seattle. Austin Booker is playing well, and even Daniel Hardy has stepped up over the past few weeks. Dayo Odeyingbo should be back after the bye week to further fortify the position. No, the real issue for Chicago lay in their secondary, particularly at cornerback. What once looked like a team strength has suddenly become a vulnerability.

Khalil Mack would be a luxury the Bears don’t need.

While he can still be an effective player at times, he isn’t the guy he was 5 years ago. What the Bears would be getting is a solid edge defender who can probably get you a handful of good rushes every week if you manage his snaps carefully. This is not to say he wouldn’t help. He absolutely would. The question is whether a 5th round pick is worth a part-time pass rusher. Not at this stage. The Bears might actually be better off going after his teammate, Donte Jackson. He was very good last season (49.6 passer rating allowed with 4 INTS) and was playing well this year before a hamstring injury.

Right now, Malik Muhammad is the only boundary cornerback the Bears have with a passer rating allowed under 100, and he was out against Seattle with a turf toe injury. Jaylon Johnson (129.4) and Tyrique Stevenson (139.4) have been tough to watch for long stretches this year. Johnson looks like a shell of his former self, and Stevenson has been battling hamstring issues on top of his typical consistency problems. The Bears need somebody reliable they can throw into the mix.

The Bears may have some interesting options.

Jackson is one of the options mentioned above. He brings plenty of experience. Some other names mentioned by various sources around the league include Amik Robertson, Tariq Woolen, and Nahshon Wright. Of course, Wright would be the easy connection after his surprise breakout season last year with 5 interceptions. New York has refused to play him since he signed them. So a trade wouldn’t be difficult. Woolen certainly fits the Dennis Allen profile at 6’4″ with the speed and athleticism to play man. Robertson is on the smaller side but can also play man and is having a good season for an otherwise bad Washington defense.

Much comes down to the asking price for those players. No doubt Poles would prefer a bargain deal that nets them a solid player for relatively cheap. He probably won’t go higher than the projected price for Khalil Mack, which is a 5th round pick. The Bears GM has said he has no intention of just throwing away picks. He has to be smart about this, which is why Mack is likely off the table.

Jeffery Simmons didn’t want to get traded by the Tennessee Titans. Despite the organization’s ongoing struggles, he’d built a home there. He wanted to make that team great. It is one of the reasons fans grew to adore him. However, the franchise knew it’d probably be a few years before they were back to competitive status. He’d be past his prime by then. So they made the difficult decision to deal him to the Chicago Bears for two 1st round picks. Simmons had no other choice but embrace the opportunity.

He sure didn’t waste time. In his first game against the defending champions, he collected 5 pressures, a sack, a pass defense, and 2 tackles for a loss. Seattle had a miserable time trying to block him all night. The rest of the Bears defense certainly appreciated it, as they held the Seahawks to just 17 points. Suddenly, Simmons found himself on a 6-2 team that is starting to look like a contender.

The only thing left was finding out what this team’s locker room was like. Head coach Ben Johnson gave him his first taste after the game. First, he presented the defensive tackle with a game ball, and then led the team through their now-famous Good, Better, Best chant. Simmons clearly has no idea what to expect, but watch Montez Sweat next to him. It’s solid gold.

Jeffery Simmons must feel he’s been transported to another dimension.

For most of his career, he’s played for head coaches that are more your traditional types, like Mike Vrabel and Robert Saleh. Tough, hard-nosed, and straightforward in their motivational approaches. So to experience Johnson’s unique ability to inspire the locker room with methods that would seem corny to most must’ve been bizarre. It was especially true watching Sweat, who Simmons played with in college, fully embracing it. That should’ve been the first indicator that things are serious in Chicago.

Contrary to popular belief, Jeffery Simmons has played on some good teams. He was on the 2019 Titans team that reached the AFC Championship Game, then won back-to-back division titles in 2020 and 2021. Unfortunately, they never managed to go all the way, often because they never had the offensive firepower to get over the hump. Ryan Tannehill was a solid quarterback, but he could never measure up to the AFC’s elite like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow.

That is no longer the case with Caleb Williams on this roster.

The Bears have given him a chance to hope again.

Few things eat away at a player in the NFL faster than constantly losing. The past couple of years have been a miserable experience for Simmons. They were happening in his prime, too. He must’ve felt so helpless, putting together brilliant performances and having it not matter. That stops now. This team is good enough to take full advantage of the things he can do. Better still, they are a united locker room. Everybody is on the same page. The confidence is everywhere. Don’t be surprised if Simmons is getting into those chants a few weeks from now.

The Bears have a golden opportunity to build some momentum going into the bye week. A win next week against Tampa Bay would put them at 7-2. Then they have the New Orleans Saints after the bye. If they play up to their standards, this team could be 9-2 by the time they start hitting that second round of division games on Thanksgiving.

As football royalty goes, few rank higher in the kingdom than Peyton Manning. Not only was he the son of an NFL star, but he also became one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game. A huge part of that success comes from a superhuman thirst for knowledge. Nobody studied harder when it came to football than Manning. He was blessed with some great teachers along the way. So he understands what the good coaches tend to look like. The ones who truly know ball. Based on his reactions last night, Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson ranks among the best.

One moment from the huge win over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football stood out. Chicago was in the midst of a 17-play drive that spanned 80 yards. They were looking to punch it in for a score to go up 7-0. Sitting at the 4-yard line, Johnson called a run play to Roschon Johnson, who picked up 3 yards. Almost immediately, everybody starts reacting as if the Bears plan to run the same play via a no-huddle. Johnson signals it from the sideline. Caleb Williams is signaling it. The linemen are signaling it.

Seattle obviously picks up on the cues and are expecting run. Williams then fakes the handoff to Johnson, sprinting out to his right to find Luther Burden for a 1-yard touchdown pass. Manning couldn’t help but marvel at the flawless execution of such an elaborate fakeout.

This is what separates Ben Johnson from most people.

Being a great play caller requires one thing most people don’t talk about. Calling a single great play is something most coaches can do. The true challenge is in something called play sequencing. It’s like in chess. You can’t think about just the move you’re making. You must think 5 or 6 moves ahead, anticipating what the opponent is likely to do. String plays together that feed into each other. That was on full display. Johnson ran the ball on that play, knowing Seattle would likely look for it again, given how close it was to the goal line. So he decided to feed into those assumptions by sending all sorts of signals that it was coming.

All the while, he always planned to run a play action fake. The vital component to making it work was the sell job. If the Bears had just lined up like normal, Seattle likely would’ve been wary of a fake. They’re too well-coached not to be. However, Ben Johnson used that intelligence against them. He let them think they were keyed into what the Bears had planned with the hurry-up signals. It was a masterful stroke of psychological warfare that Manning had utilized himself on many occasions in his Hall of Fame career.

The Bears are finally where nobody thought they’d be.

For decades, Chicago was considered the purgatory of offensive football in the NFL. It was ugly, unimaginative, and completely stuck in the past. Nobody ever thought this franchise would learn how to become good on that side of the ball. The Bears would be forever doomed trying to find new ways to win championships with defense alone. Johnson changed everything from the moment he arrived. His dedication, discipline, and genius laid the foundation for what is now one of the league’s most feared offenses.

It doesn’t matter what type of defense you play. His system is meticulously designed to have answers for it. Add his incredible feel for the art on top of it? Pure bliss for football nerds like Manning. One can only imagine how he would’ve looked in this offense. It would’ve been unfair. If there is one person who probably isn’t surprised by Williams’ dramatic improvement, it’d be Manning.

The Seattle Seahawks dismantled Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs last week, allowing just three points. That felt like a statement that they were still the defending champions with the best defense in football. Most expected them to do the same on Monday night against the Chicago Bears. You can understand why. They were at home, where the crowd noise would be intense. They’d just traded for star guard Quenton Nelson and got two running backs back from injuries. It felt like their night. Instead, the evening belonged to Caleb Williams.

The young quarterback was on point all night long. He orchestrated the Bears’ offense to near perfection, completing 71% of his passes for 247 yards and a touchdown. It was the only time all season that Seattle has allowed 200 or more yards in a game. He probably would’ve had more touchdowns if he hadn’t kept handing the ball to D’Andre Swift, who had 3 on the night. That was another reminder of how unselfish he is as a player.

Yet perhaps what stood out the most from this game was Williams’ leadership. Cameras caught numerous moments of it on the sideline. Williams was barking all night long, firing his guys up. His crowning moment came in the 1st quarter after leading a 17-play drive for a touchdown. He was seen on the sideline saying something clear as day.

“I don’t give a f**k who they are!”

Caleb Williams has found his big boy voice. That matters.

Nobody ever questioned his talent. People knew Williams had an insane array of abilities, from mobility to arm strength and accuracy. What they didn’t know was whether the young man could master the two most crucial arts of quarterbacking: precision and leadership. Playing from the pocket and distributing the football on time and in rhythm was not something he did much of last season. While he did have moments of leadership, he still looked like the young kid trying to find his way in a grown man’s league.

Not anymore. For the past three weeks, it’s been evident that Caleb Williams is in total control. He hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 2 and is completing more than 70% of his passes. The Bears have scored 31, 30, and 34 points in those games. It is a well-oiled machine, and he is the driver. If that weren’t enough, this success seems to have given him more self-confidence than ever. He’s gone from a young buck trying not to step on toes to the unquestioned leader everyone wants to follow.

More than anything, Williams isn’t afraid.

That matters more than you can possibly know. Too many Bears quarterbacks operated with a humble attitude and didn’t want to risk giving opponents bulletin board material with their words. Williams doesn’t care. The opponents won’t like him regardless of what he does. He might as well let it be known that he will not operate out of fear of anybody. He’s here to win, and he expects the same from this team. The Bears haven’t really had someone like that since Jim McMahon in the 1980s, and he wasn’t nearly as talented.

People haven’t seen a #1 pick truly live up to the hype in a long time, probably not since Andrew Luck. There is no getting around the truth anymore. Williams is that guy. He is meeting the expectations and possibly even exceeding them. This is a brave new world for Bears fans, and they should enjoy the ride. They’ve waited more than long enough to get on board.

The Chicago Bears tried to trade for DeForest Buckner earlier this week to help at defensive tackle. They didn’t like the asking price, according to reports. He eventually went for a 4th round pick to San Francisco. General manager Ryan Poles decided enough was enough. He called old friend Mike Borgonzi in Tennessee and made him an offer for star Jeffery Simmons he couldn’t refuse: two 1st round picks and a 4th round pick. It stunned the NFL world. Giving up that much for a player who, while definitely great, was 29 years old felt like a risk.

Poles didn’t care. He knew his team was close to being Super Bowl-ready. All they needed was a lynchpin on defense to bring everything together. Simmons is the best defensive tackle in the NFL. The price was worth it if he kept playing the way he has all season. On Monday Night Football in front of a national audience, people were eager to see what he’d bring to the table. They witnessed what may be one of the best team debuts by a traded player in NFL history.

• 6 tackles
• 1 sack
• 1 QB hit
• 2 tackles for a loss
• 1 pass defended

The Bears may have gotten Jeffery Simmons for cheap.

Remember, the price they paid for him was done without Tennessee ever really making it known that he was available. If other teams had been aware of this fact, they almost certainly would’ve jumped into the bidding. It is possible the Titans could’ve gotten more. Instead, Poles wisely entered the negotiations with an immense offer that Borgonzi understandably couldn’t turn down. His team is going nowhere and badly needs resources to begin retooling the roster. Simmons will likely be past his prime by the time they’re competitive again. It was a smart decision for all parties.

You can already tell that Jeffery Simmons has transformed this defense. With him in the middle, others along the defensive line immediately benefited. Montez Sweat had a sack and 3 quarterback hits. He would’ve had two more sacks if not for penalties on the secondary. Austin Booker had a tipped pass that was intercepted. All of it stemmed from Seattle struggling to contain Simmons. That is entirely the reason the Bears traded for him, and they’d do so a thousand times again if asked.

This team is as complete as it’s been in decades.

There has never been a time in recent memory when the Bears had pieces from top to bottom like now. They have the head coach, the quarterback, weapons, and now a defense with a true star at its center. This roster is finally well-balanced. Dominating the defending Super Bowl champions in their own building was as big a statement as anybody has seen this year. There is no getting around the truth. This team can play with anybody and can beat anybody. The only lingering concern was whether the defense could carry its weight.

Not anymore.

Simmons changes the entire equation. He is one of the few true force multipliers in the NFL. He makes everyone around him better because he can play the game with equal parts dominance and intelligence. It isn’t just about blocking him. You have to account for all the little tricks he pulls on top of that. Tricks that can’t possibly be predicted. It is a nightmare to deal with.