Bear Witness With the most-recent NFL season officially in the books, I figured it would be a good time to review the 2025 Bears. Ben Johnson mentioned this many times in his press conferences, but this team truly was special. A collection of comeback victories, walk-offs, an onside kick, an NFC North Championship, a playoff berth, a win against GB in the Wild Card, and heartbreak in the Divisional. Shirts were ripped off to feed a city. True hatred for GB was rekindled. Cheese was grated. What a roller coaster ride. Overall, the Bears season was unquestionably a resounding success (remember that the Bears were expected to win 8 to 9 games). The 2025 Bears certainly weren’t the best team in the league, but man they were stressful, fun, and memorable all at the same time.
The Big Question
For me, the mark of a successful season was feeling good about the head coach + QB pairing. After watching Ben and Caleb grow throughout the season, I feel great about this duo going into the future.
Ben Johnson is a bit of a paradox. He’s quiet, yet fiery at the same time. He represents the young, smart, analytical offensive mind. But he’s also an old-school killer that loves taking souls with a dominant run game. Johnson is also a problem solver. The run game was awful to start the year, but became one of the best in the league after the bye. Additionally, the Bears consistently had significant improvements in their performance in the second half of games.
So what was the Bears offensive identity? Fundamentally, the Bears wanted to play from under center, run the football, and push the ball downfield in the intermediate middle of the field off play action. Johnson utilized Swift most effectively as an outside zone back and Monangai as the hammer. The passing game featured lots of play action and a heavy dose of dagger and crosser concepts to attack the middle of the field. It worked. The Bears were one of the most explosive offenses in the league.
A big part of the offense’s success was due to Caleb Williams. I wrote about him in a prior post, and my opinions haven’t changed much. He’s an otherworldly talent with his combination of athleticism, sack avoidance, creative abilities, and Howitzer-like arm. Williams’ accuracy has been heavily criticized. I think that’s fair, but Johnson was also asking Caleb to push the ball downfield, and there weren’t a ton of gimmies in the system. Williams also threw the ball away a ton, and the Bears suffered from drop issues for the entire year. With all that being said, there’s certainly room to improve in the accuracy department. Even factoring in throw aways and drops, I believe Williams still graded out poorly on accuracy metrics. For Caleb, there is no shortage of “best in the league” moments. It’s a matter of being a bit more consistent accuracy-wise. I already see Williams as close to a top 10 QB in the league. His ceiling easily remains an Allen/Mahomes/Jackson-level game breaker.
I think there’s a ton to be excited about for the Ben + Caleb pairing. Even with such a successful season, there was still a ton of meat left on the bone. I hope that with another offseason of development, this duo can take another step up next season.
The Rooks
The lil Bears on offense looked flat-out awesome. Loveland is a sure-handed matchup nightmare. Burden has a junkyard dawg mentality and simply looks different after the catch. Monangai brought a different level of physicality to the RB room. Trapilo looked solid at LT before his injury. This young core is one the main reasons I’m so bullish on the Bears offense. The defensive rookies were hampered with injuries. I guess we’ll see what happens with them in the future.
Offseason Moves
Looking ahead to 2026, there’s two main moves I think the Bears will/should make.
First, moving D.J. Moore makes a lot of sense to me. He’s getting close to 30 and has shown effort issues throughout his time in Chicago. Additionally, I feel good enough about the rest of the young pass catchers to move on from Moore. The one question I have is about Rome Odunze, who has flashed but still lacks consistent hands.
Second, it seems likely that Tremaine Edmunds won’t be part of the roster come September. The Bears are trying to make a trade happen, and it seems like Edmunds will get released at a minimum. I’m ok with this. Edmunds was fine, but given the price tag, I don’t think he’s necessarily been worth it. Plus, I believe he was more important in Eberflus’ defense, which prioritized Edmunds’ range and length. This move will also free up some money for the Bears.
Team Needs
I’d list the Bears needs as follows (you can probably debate the order):
- Dline
- S
- LT
- LB
- RB
The defensive line needs major improvements both on the interior and the edge. They simply couldn’t generate pressure with a four man rush. At safety, I’m unsure whether the Bears will bring back either Byard or Brisker. Byard was amazing this past season, and his play oozes with football IQ and ball-hawking abilities. However, he’s 32 and wouldn’t be a long-term solution either way. Brisker is a solid player as well. I think he’s at his best in the box. He’s dealt with some injury issues and I’m unsure the Bears will be willing to shell out the projected $11M per year that Spotrac is projecting. Left tackle is an interesting position. Given that Trapilo is dealing with a significant injury that may have a long-term impact, I think LT does become a significant need. It doesn’t seem like Braxton Jones or Theo Benedet will be long-term options. At linebacker, the Bears won’t have much proven talent outside of T.J. Edwards, assuming Edmunds is gone. Finally, at RB, I would like to upgrade over Swift. Although his 2025 season was definitely better than 2024, I attribute most of that to the revamped offensive line and not Swift. To some extent, I still think he lacks the physicality, contact balance, and tackle breaking ability that I want from a RB. With that being said, I think Swift does two things quite well: run outside zone and catch the ball.
Conclusion
Overall, the 2025 Bears season was quite the journey. It’s hard to not feel positive about the trajectory of the team, specifically on offense. Assuming a regression in the number of improbable victories, I think there’s a chance the 2026 Bears end up with a similar or worse record, but still end up being a better team than in 2025. The offseason will likely be defensive focused, and Poles has specifically mentioned upping the team speed. Ultimately, I think Bears fans have a reason to be excited for the 2026 season.