The Chicago Bears were boat raced in Detroit on Sunday, 52-21. Chicago's abysmal performance against the Lions moved their record to 0-2 this season. While starting 0-2 was always a possibility given the difficulty of the NFC North, the way the Bears lost is the real concern.
Many Bears fans thought that with Ben Johnson now at the helm, the embarrassing ways in which Chicago loses games would stop. However, if the first two weeks have shown Bears fans anything, it may take a while for Johnson to fix that.
With that being said, here are three Bears who are most to blame for Chicago's poor start.
1. Montez Sweat, DE
Chicago acquired Montez Sweat from the Washington Commanders at the trade deadline of the 2023 season. Four days after acquiring him, he signed a four-year $98 million contract extension. He then went on to record six sacks, six quarterback hits, 23 QB hurries, and 37 QB pressures during the remainder of the 2023 season.
Sweat's production in half a year had the Bears' front office and fans alike excited for his future with the team. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old pass rusher didn't live up to expectations in 2024. Last year, Sweat recorded 5.5 sacks, six quarterback hits, 37 QB hurries, and 49 QB pressures, according to PFF.
Despite solid production, it's not at a game-changing level that someone would expect for a player with his contract. Although Sweat was dealing with nagging injuries in 2024, it's not an excuse for his lack of game-changing production.
Be that as it may, hopes were high that things would change under new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. Through two weeks, that has not been the case. Sweat has yet to record a sack in the first two games and has just two quarterback hurries and two quarterback pressures.
That is unacceptable for a player that the Bears are paying that much money. If he is unable to correct his course, Bears fans may be done with him by midseason.
2. Cairo Santos, K
Veteran kicker Cairo Santos has not had the best start to his year. In Week 1, the 33-year-old made two crucial mistakes. His first mistake was missing a 50-yard field goal at the start of the fourth quarter. Santos's miss was the turning point in the game that helped the Minnesota Vikings come back and win.
Right before the two-minute warning, he was unable to kick the ball out of the back of the end zone. As a result, the Vikings were able to return the kick, which made it impossible for Chicago to get another possession. Though coaching could have helped with the second mistake, Bears fans were still pretty upset with Santos.
To make matters worse for the veteran, he began Week 2 with another blunder. On the opening kickoff, Santos was penalized for an illegal kick out of bounds. This gave Detroit the ball at the 40-yard line, which resulted in the Lions scoring an opening drive touchdown.
Santos's poor play is already unacceptable, but his status as a captain on the team makes it even worse. Prior to Sunday's game, Chicago signed Jake Moody to the practice squad. Even though Moody has also had accuracy issues early in his career, some Bears fans may want to see what he can do in place of Santos.
Whether it's Moody or another kicker, if Santos keeps making these mistakes, he may be out of Chicago soon, even with a $15.6 million contract.
3. Ben Johnson
Depending on which Bears fan you ask, there might still be two different answers on how much blame Ben Johnson deserves. Some fans may believe he needs time to build an identity for the team and aren't blaming him for early losses. Even with all the talent Chicago has, it was never going to be easy as a first-time head coach to immediately make a notorious losing franchise a winner.
Even so, others are holding Johnson's feet to the fire already. There aren't many logical arguments to make for why fans shouldn't be holding the new head coach's feet to the fire. After blowing a Week 1 game in the fourth quarter, Johnson didn't seem to have the team ready for his return to Detroit.
The Lions scored touchdowns on four of their seven first-half drives. While defense isn't Johnson's main focus, the performance of the entire team falls on his shoulders. Therefore, when the defense allows 52 points, it's a bad look for Johnson.
Offensively, Johnson once again failed to establish a ground game. In spite of rookie Kyle Monangai carrying the ball seven times, none of his carries were consequential to the game. All his carries but one occurred in the fourth quarter when the Bears had no chance of winning.
Going forward, Johnson needs to find a way to get the seventh-round running back involved earlier in the game. If he can't, the Bears' rushing attack will continue to struggle.
Though Bears fans still need to have faith in Johnson, if he's unable to show something soon, people could start to quickly turn against him.