2025-26 NFL Season Thread

[champagne030]

36 minutes ago, Snopek said:

I do want to acknowledge the challenge of Caleb needing to learn a new (and much more complicated) offense.

I’m willing to give it more time. And I’m even willing to accept that it probably needed to get worse before it can get better in terms of undoing everything from last year (great job Poles!).

But holy s%*#, please show something we can point to. Blind faith can only go so far.

Absolutely not calling him a bust, BUT he does need to be “broken” (like a wild horse).  Caleb has relied on pure athleticism to this point and that will not work in the NFL.  Riley is a great offensive mind and didn’t get him on script.  Ben is a great offensive mind and he’s still not on script.  He has all the physical talent to be great.  The question is whether someone can harness it.

[Chisoxfn]

3 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

Moody would have hit that, Caleb has been dreadful in the red zone.  That has to change in the second half immediately 

At the same time - they aren’t even passing in the red zone. Too many penalties, too many mistakes - not good enough. They left a lot of points on field and got their asses handed to them. 

[Chisoxfn]

41 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

But you just named the other problem.  Poles doesn’t deserve to be around and yet we have to hope he can fix things.  I really don’t want to watch him botch another draft.

Poles is s%*#. 

[Kyyle23]

2 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

At the same time - they aren’t even passing in the red zone. Too many penalties, too many mistakes - not good enough. They left a lot of points on field and got their asses handed to them. 

I’m super disappointed right now but it’s game 7.  They have a lot of stuff that they need to fix procedurally, the penalties have been absolutely horrific and a lot of times really stupid like “how are you a professional doing that over and over?”

On to next week, Old Man Joe and Chase aren’t gonna be letting the Bears slide defensively, but man oh man is the Bengals defense bad 

[Chisoxfn]

Caleb needs to be better - the offense has to be better. Defense I’ll give a partial pass due to the db injured but Poles wasted picks everywhere. 

[Chisoxfn]

3 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

I’m super disappointed right now but it’s game 7.  They have a lot of stuff that they need to fix procedurally, the penalties have been absolutely horrific and a lot of times really stupid like “how are you a professional doing that over and over?”

On to next week, Old Man Joe and Chase aren’t gonna be letting the Bears slide defensively, but man oh man is the Bengals defense bad 

The problem is the Bears secondary against Joe with those wideouts is a bad combo. But god these penalties are so bad. Caleb just has to let loose - feels like he is playing too cautious. Just thinking too much. 

[Kyyle23]

Didn’t mention it early but tough end to the season for Skattebo.  That was gnarly

[kwolf]

Bears have largely beaten really bad teams so far this year, the Ravens were desperate, and the Bears secondary was banged up. Getting only 6 from those first two drives was an ominous sign. The run defense (other than a couple breakdowns against that fast backup back and a couple Hundley scrambles) I thought acquitted themselves OK. It is the only thing defensively I can say was at least decent, Henry was under 4 ypc, which is the measure I look at.

And while I believe time needs to be afforded to Williams he is always good for multiple poorly thrown balls. He had two bad misses on the 2nd drive of the game. The first miss he was bailed out by a penalty. THESE are the missed throws that are costing the Bears. If not for the penalty his 1st miss ends the drive, his 2nd miss kept the drive from moving thus forcing a field goal. He had a couple other misses later, but those two stood out. He did make some great plays though. I am not confident he's a franchise QB, but we have no choice but to see this through.

I love Odunze, but he failed to make a tough catch along the sidelines late after a great scramble by WIlliams. Again, the Bears fail to make the big plays in these type of games. Odunze is a special kid and great player, but I need to see him make those catches. I think in time he'll get there.

The calamity down in the redzone was bad and there was some questionable play calling as well. That first drive was a work of art and somehow the Bears screwed it up. Also, reviewing a Bears game is never complete without mentioning yet another big pile of penalties they treated us to. Just bad.

The Ravens are also the biggest bunch of drama queens in the NFL, constantly "being referrees" constantly emulated the penalty, they do this so damn much they even got a bullshit false start on Thuney called. So I guess it was good strategy then.  

Move on!!! The Bengals will score at will on this defense next week as I see no chance to control Chase and Higgins, but there is also no excuse the Bears offense shouldn't run all over them as well. Should be a high scoring affair. 

 

Edited October 26 by kwolf

[MexSoxFan#1]

43 minutes ago, chw42 said:

Caleb's gotten worse since the bye. It honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. He didn't get pressured a lot today and he made mistakes when he had time and a clean pocket. He had a wide open check down for a first down on the interception he threw. He's still making way too many mistakes and he's still too inaccurate on a good amount of throws. It takes time to learn a new system and everything, but he's clearly headed in the wrong direction. 

Honestly, we have to be cursed at this point. If Caleb doesn't pan out, we might as well just try to sign a mid tier QB FA as we will never draft a franchise QB, ever.

[almagest]

Caleb ended up with ~67% accuracy, 285 yards. If you told me that was his line before the game I'd have assumed they won.

He made two costly mistakes - the interception (which was also a good play by the DB), and missing that pass over the middle. Otherwise he was a bit shaky but probably good enough to win. 

The big underlying problem was the defense couldn't get off the field. The Bears had the ball for 12:41 in the first quarter, Ravens for 2:19. The Ravens beat the Bears in time of possession from the second quarter on 28:11 to 16:49. The Ravens had the ball almost TWELVE MINUTES longer. That's almost a full quarter. I'm not sure how the offense is supposed to get any momentum going with that huge of a disparity for 3/4 of the game, and it absolutely magnified the mistakes on offense.

The secondary isn't going to be healthy for next week so it'll likely be more of the same. Hopefully the Bears can rebound and put some points up on a legit bad defense (not a fake bad one like the Ravens before they got healthy this week).

[Chisoxfn]

22 minutes ago, almagest said:

Caleb ended up with ~67% accuracy, 285 yards. If you told me that was his line before the game I'd have assumed they won.

He made two costly mistakes - the interception (which was also a good play by the DB), and missing that pass over the middle. Otherwise he was a bit shaky but probably good enough to win. 

The big underlying problem was the defense couldn't get off the field. The Bears had the ball for 12:41 in the first quarter, Ravens for 2:19. The Ravens beat the Bears in time of possession from the second quarter on 28:11 to 16:49. The Ravens had the ball almost TWELVE MINUTES longer. That's almost a full quarter. I'm not sure how the offense is supposed to get any momentum going with that huge of a disparity for 3/4 of the game, and it absolutely magnified the mistakes on offense.

The secondary isn't going to be healthy for next week so it'll likely be more of the same. Hopefully the Bears can rebound and put some points up on a legit bad defense (not a fake bad one like the Ravens before they got healthy this week).

It comes down to not getting TDs in red zone. Been a problem for 3-4 weeks and it’s the penalties, execution, maybe play calling a bit and Caleb struggling when the field gets tight - but it isn’t anyone thing, but a bunch. Had Bears finished first two drives I bet this is a very different football game. 

[almagest]

11 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

It comes down to not getting TDs in red zone. Been a problem for 3-4 weeks and it’s the penalties, execution, maybe play calling a bit and Caleb struggling when the field gets tight - but it isn’t anyone thing, but a bunch. Had Bears finished first two drives I bet this is a very different football game. 

Maybe. I know it's all hypothetical, but even if they scored 2 touchdowns and Caleb didn't throw that interception they still lose. The Ravens seemed to figure out how to attack our defense after the first quarter and there was nothing the Bears could do about it. I think that happens even if they're down 14-0 because it'd still be early and Harbaugh is a smart coach.

[Lip Man 1]

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2025/10/26/bears-doomed-by-problems-coach-ben-johnson-was-hired-to-solve-as-they-lose-30-16-to-ravens

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2025/10/26/chicago-bears-brutal-baltimore-ravens-nfl-lamar-jackson-caleb-williams-ben-johnson

Edited October 27 by Lip Man 1

[Stinky Stanky]

5 hours ago, champagne030 said:

Absolutely not calling him a bust, BUT he does need to be “broken” (like a wild horse).  Caleb has relied on pure athleticism to this point and that will not work in the NFL.  Riley is a great offensive mind and didn’t get him on script.  Ben is a great offensive mind and he’s still not on script.  He has all the physical talent to be great.  The question is whether someone can harness it.

You’re glossing over instincts. Fields had physical talent too but lacked instincts. Caleb hasn’t shown them yet. 

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, Stinky Stanky said:

You’re glossing over instincts. Fields had physical talent too but lacked instincts. Caleb hasn’t shown them yet. 

True, he may acquire that with enough time and experience but right now he is definitely a work in progress.

We'll see over time if he learns from his mistakes and doesn't keep making them. Again right now the jury is out on that concept as well. 

They still have on paper, winnable games coming up before they get hit with more divisional games, we'll see what happens and if they can take advantage of them. 

[kwolf]

Bears have winnable games, but also a bunch of losable ones. The only one I think the Bears should be significant favorites in is the Giants game. I wouldn't favor them at Cincy next week. The Bengals have a terrible defense, but Chase and Higgins may run roughshod over our secondary and with no pass rush against the Statue of Flacco he'll have time to find those guys. 

Edited October 27 by kwolf

[LittleHurtCG]

9 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

True, he may acquire that with enough time and experience but right now he is definitely a work in progress.

We'll see over time if he learns from his mistakes and doesn't keep making them. Again right now the jury is out on that concept as well. 

They still have on paper, winnable games coming up before they get hit with more divisional games, we'll see what happens and if they can take advantage of them. 

Should dudes that are drafted 1.1 still be such a work in progress 1.5 seasons into their professional career? I get the sentiment when taking about a 3rd or 4th rounder, but that isn't the case here. 

[southsider2k5]

2 minutes ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Should dudes that are drafted 1.1 still be such a work in progress 1.5 seasons into their professional career? I get the sentiment when taking about a 3rd or 4th rounder, but that isn't the case here. 

The problem is last season was wasted with a terrible staff.

[Snopek]

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

The problem is last season was wasted with a terrible staff.

Yep. I would even argue that last season was worse than just wasted time because I think there’s a lot of undoing that Ben has had to do just to get Caleb back to square one.

[bmags]

39 minutes ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Should dudes that are drafted 1.1 still be such a work in progress 1.5 seasons into their professional career? I get the sentiment when taking about a 3rd or 4th rounder, but that isn't the case here. 

I think 5 years ago people may have had that attitude but now that sam darnold and baker mayfield and daniel jones are playing like top 5 QBs I think people need to chill on that assumption a bit.

That said, I'm not happy with how Caleb is playing, and especially how he can't seem to get the cadence right and get all of these penalties called.

[southsider2k5]

35 minutes ago, Snopek said:

Yep. I would even argue that last season was worse than just wasted time because I think there’s a lot of undoing that Ben has had to do just to get Caleb back to square one.

We went from DIY offense to Offense 501

[Tony]

48 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

We went from DIY offense to Offense 501

People can have different opinions on Caleb, and understandably so, given his non-consistent performances thus far in his short NFL career. But what can't be debated is the Bears will take the rest of this year, and all of next season to see what they have in him. It's just how it works. Going into Year 4, they're going to have to decide on the 5th year option before Year 4 starts, and that's when a decision needs to be made. And if he stays healthy, they'll have more than enough information to make an informed decision. 

And as others have mentioned with Jones, Baker, Darnold, if the Bears move on and Caleb finds success elsewhere...then it's a failure on the Bears part but at the end of the day, they need to find the QB that can thrive in Ben's offense. And this all goes back to the Bears insistence on always having the timelines fucked up, having a lame duck coach be in the room when you draft a QB in the first round, then firing him the next year...then eventually firing the GM, and having that GM inherit a coach and QB they didn't draft....and having the cycle just continue. 

[southsider2k5]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

People can have different opinions on Caleb, and understandably so, given his non-consistent performances thus far in his short NFL career. But what can't be debated is the Bears will take the rest of this year, and all of next season to see what they have in him. It's just how it works. Going into Year 4, they're going to have to decide on the 5th year option before Year 4 starts, and that's when a decision needs to be made. And if he stays healthy, they'll have more than enough information to make an informed decision. 

And as others have mentioned with Jones, Baker, Darnold, if the Bears move on and Caleb finds success elsewhere...then it's a failure on the Bears part but at the end of the day, they need to find the QB that can thrive in Ben's offense. And this all goes back to the Bears insistence on always having the timelines fucked up, having a lame duck coach be in the room when you draft a QB in the first round, then firing him the next year...then eventually firing the GM, and having that GM inherit a coach and QB they didn't draft....and having the cycle just continue. 

It's almost like you should clean house, right Jerry?

Oh.

[chitown87]

It’s shocking how consistently bad our special teams is - particularly on kickoff coverage.
 

We scored a big touchdown in the second half yesterday to get back in the game, and immediately allowed the return out to almost midfield. 
 

The defense forced a punt on that drive, but the resulting awful field position helped lead to the interception inside our own ten yard line. 
 

Duvernet did have one unusually nice return, but also put the ball on the ground and was fortunate to recover it. Overall it feels like special teams is consistently putting us at a disadvantage. 

[Kyyle23]

3 hours ago, chitown87 said:

It’s shocking how consistently bad our special teams is - particularly on kickoff coverage.
 

We scored a big touchdown in the second half yesterday to get back in the game, and immediately allowed the return out to almost midfield. 
 

The defense forced a punt on that drive, but the resulting awful field position helped lead to the interception inside our own ten yard line. 
 

Duvernet did have one unusually nice return, but also put the ball on the ground and was fortunate to recover it. Overall it feels like special teams is consistently putting us at a disadvantage. 

I’m pretty sure Blackwell is the player that fumbled then recovered it