Bears Have More to Prove Despite Exciting Start to Season

Are the Chicago Bears good?

That is the key question -- and as much as we'd like an answer today, there's no way to truly know until the season plays out and the Bears face some other potentially playoff-bound teams. Including the entire rest of the NFC North.

To date, the Bears have not yet played a division rival. They've also played a depleted and inconsistent Los Angeles Rams team, an underachieving Indianapolis Colts squad, a mediocre-at-best Tennessee Titans team, and a very good Houston Texans bunch in addition to the Panthers and Jaguars.

The Bears lost to the Texans in Houston, needed a miracle comeback based on defense and special teams to beat the Titans, and looked discombobulated in a road loss to the Colts.

On the other hand, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams has shown growth each week. New additions to the offense such as D'Andre Swift, Keenan Allen, and rookie wide receiver Rome Odunze are starting to groove, and new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has adjusted his approach after the failure in Indy. Bears stalwarts like D.J. Moore and Cole Kmet are playing well, and the defense continues to show that it's among the best in the league, even as injuries deplete the secondary.

It's also worth noting that while Jacksonville has been struggling, the team has more talent than Carolina does, including star quarterback Trevor Lawrence. So a win over Jacksonville, especially in the unfamiliar environment of a London stadium usually used for soccer, does read a bit more impressive.

And this was no white-knuckler of a slugfest. This was the Bears overcoming a slow start to get the offense clicking. The Bears moved the ball well and had no trouble scoring points, and the defense helped the offense out with key turnovers.

Bears fans and players are feeling good after the 35-16 rout of the Jaguars. Certainly, the long flight from London back to Chicago is almost certainly a happy one. But the Bears' upcoming schedule is tough.

The good news for Chicago is that it starts with a bye. But then the Bears face a rejuvenated Washington Commanders team that is 4-2 and faces the Panthers next week. The Commanders have a rookie QB themselves, Jayden Daniels, and Daniels has looked good in the early going of his career.

From there the Bears travel to Arizona to face the Cardinals and host a struggling Patriots franchise the following week. Then it gets rough with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings at home, the Detroit Lions on the road, and then a trip to San Francisco to face the 49ers. From there it's at Minnesota, at home versus Detroit, at home against the Seattle Seahawks, and at Green Bay.

That's a meat grinder.

The Bears seem to have the talent, at least, to be in playoff contention. But can a youthful offense with a new coordinator and average offensive line be good enough to manage a savage schedule?

The Chicago Bears look good right now. The question that they need to answer is this: Will they look this good at December's end?

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