Prior to the beginning of the season if you told a Bears fan their team would be 3-1 to start out the year and Caleb Williams would miss two of those games, I am sure they would’ve laughed in your face. There arguably hasn’t been a more hyped quarterback in Bears history throughout an offseason than the one of Williams this year, and for good reason. Caleb did not get the start he would have preferred, however, as he unfortunately went down in week two with a hamstring injury. Luckily for him and Bears fans, it is not something that should cost him extended time as he was not placed on IR.
Outside of the Caleb injury, I am not sure you could ask for a better start to the year. Ben Johnson is a maniac in the best sense, Dennis Allen is getting the most out of a unit we all thought would struggle heavily, and the Bears look to be in the driver’s seat of the NFC North. Let’s grade the units through the first quarter of the 2026 season.
Offense A
Ben Johnson gave the league bulletin board material before the season even started with his comments on wanting the highest scoring offense ever. Why not though? We live in an age of social media where everyone is scared to say things because there is a risk it comes back to haunt you. It’s somewhat refreshing to see a coach not shy away from the pressure.
The Bears lead the NFL in yards per game (429) and rush yards per game (196). They are really putting teams away in the second half of games. In fact, if you erased all of their rushing yards in the first half of games, the Bears would still rank 12th in the league in rushing. They are ninth in points per game (28) and sixth in third-down conversion percentage (47%).
As mentioned earlier, they are doing this without their franchise quarterback. Many of the pass catchers have not even gotten going due to the success of the run game thus far. Rome Odunze leads the team with just 233 yards receiving on 14 receptions.
The bread and butter of this team is clearly the rushing attack, and the Bears have two guys in the top 10 yards with Kyle Monangai at seven (324) and D’Andre Swift at eight (311). The return of Williams with the ground game already established should have defenses petrified. Outside of a dud against Minnesota (Brian Flores should be in prison), the Bears offense has been humming.
Defense B+
Essentially everyone that has paid any attention to NFL football as of late assumed the Bears defense would be putrid this season. Ryan Poles continues to neglect the defensive line in the draft, Coby Bryant went down in training camp and will miss most, if not all, of the regular season, and we just now finally have seen Kyler Gordon back on the practice field.
Giving up 37 points to the Panthers in week one only reaffirmed the doubts of the defense. Dennis Allen should be given his flowers though following that game. Since then, the unit has played stellar ball. The Bears rank third in yards per game (282.3), fourth in points per game (16.3), ninth in sacks (10), and 11th in takeaways (6). They are not taking the ball away at the same clip as a year ago but are also playing much better overall across the board. The offseason jokes of a “motivated Dayo” are actually looking true as he looks like a completely new player this season leading the team in sacks thus far with three.
The Bears have played some below average quarterbacks with the likes of Carson Wentz, Jalen Hurts, and Geno Smith in the last three weeks, but nothing should be taken away from this unit as they are performing much better than expected.
Special Teams B-
Should the Bears trade Tory Taylor for a Chicago hot dog? He has the second least number of punts (8) in the league, only behind Bryan Hanger of the Cowboys who has seven. His 50.3-yard average, however, is good for sixth-best in the league. Taylor is still a weapon to flip the field when necessary but just happens to play under a guy who goes for it on 4th down seemingly every drive. Taylor did not see the field against the Jets outside of holding for a couple of extra points and three field goals by Cairo Santos.
Santos is 7/8 on field goals this year with the lone miss being blocked against the Vikings. We all know his leg is limited as his long this year is just 50 yards, but he is very accurate and kicking at Solider Field is not for everyone. Similar to Taylor, though, the Bears offense and Ben Johnson do not give him the most opportunities for field goals.
Zavion Thomas has been underwhelming thus far at kick returns and Khalif Raymond has been fine returning punts. Ideally, you would like to see more out of Thomas as he was a third-round draft pick, but it’s still early and hopefully he will break out soon.
Coaching A+
You, reading this right now, could likely suit up at quarterback for the Bears next Sunday and throw for 200 yards and a couple of touchdowns. That is what it looks like right now with this offense under Ben Johnson. Case Keenum picked apart the Eagles in Week 3 with a stat line of 24/34, 247 yards and two touchdowns. Guys were running wide open everywhere and if they weren’t than Keenum was throwing them open. The run game actually had one of their least productive days that week also only rushing for 128 yards.
Tyson Bagent just went 25/34 for 268 yards and one interception against a solid Jets defense. Once again, Johnson was scheming guys open everywhere on top of the run game being dominant. He is showing that it does not matter who is behind center, the Chicago Bears are going to have a schematic advantage on any given Sunday.
Dennis Allen deserves just as much praise on the defensive side of the ball. As mentioned above, this unit was not viewed as one to be taken seriously. The Bears rank second behind only Minnesota and that psycho Brian Flores in opposing third-down conversion percentage (24%). Allen is putting his unit in the best spots to get off the field to get the ball back to the offense. He is getting the most out of his young players as well highlighted by the play of two rookies on the back end – Dillon Thieneman and Malik Muhammad.
Richard Hightower is also quietly having a solid season outside of one blocked field goal against the Vikings. The Bears rank third in kickoff return average only surrendering 22.8 yards per return. They do, however, rank dead last in kickoff return average at just 21.2 yards. We definitely need to see more on returns with Zavion Thomas, but there are much bigger concerns on a team than kickoff returns, and Thomas should get better with time.
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