Video below encapsulates Ben vs. Flores battle perfectly.
It’s a rare treat to have this important of a test in W2, with real implications in what’s expected to be a strong NFCN once again.
Vikings D will be very tough, yet Caleb has looked better under pressure & blitzing in last several games. If Caleb & OL can hold their own vs. front 4-8 (8!), there’s ample opportunity to gain chunk yards vs MIN secondary. Bears run game with how well they are executing should be pretty productive. Not 291 yds, but at least 150.
For me, though, the deciding factor may be battle no one is talking about … Kevin O’Connell vs. Dennis Allen.
KOC is a gifted playcaller in his own right & has shown he can win with Carson Wentz.
And Wentz is QB who JJettas has best numbers with. Vikings OL which was up & down last season looked pretty solid in Pass Pro W1. We know MIN weapons are very good. MIN also has a solid run game, even if CHI kept it in check both games in 2025.
Dennis Allen will have his hands full.
Bears pass rush leaves a lot to be desired. And while this training camp they really doubled down on fundamentals, shook up DT starters plus added young promising depth, & DA moving pieces around more, there is a runway to proficient synergy as a group to see if DA can get more out of them than a year ago. Last week showed they aren’t far down that road yet, unfortunately. Run defense with LBs was also leaky.
Sweat still doesn’t have a great bookend on other side, so his impact is lessened because OLs can double team. Grady is healthy & looked better last week. But that alone won’t be enough. They critically need everyone on DL to elevate play to get pressure on QB outside of blitzing. It’s imperative because CHI coverage got carved up badly vs CAR.
DAs scheme relies heavily on good coverage, his preference much more man vs zone than rest of league, and he leaned into it more last week. Trouble is Jaylon Johnson had an uncharacteristic horrible game & Stevenson doesn’t have top end speed to be competitive at catch point on deep routes. He is good in man, but needs to be more disruptive off the line & early in routes than last week. Both got cooked, and that’s bad news if MIN WRs do same. MOF is also soft with Kyler Gordon & Bryant on IR. Slot WR & TEs can eat.
A few things that give me hope for CHI:
1️⃣ Bears D was terrible in W1 & W2 last season, part of why they started 0-2. But it did improve.
2025 wasn’t pretty, Bears D gave up a lot of yards, but tend to rally & get some big 3 & outs, and are stingier on 3rd down conversions & in Red Zone, performing higher than their defensive rank. (2nd down completions is where offenses hurt them most last season).
We saw the same last week.
2️⃣ Why? DA makes very good defensive adjustments at halftime. This was evident all last year & again in W1. When Bears either pulled away in 2nd half or came from behind late to win, the defense was much stingier to enable that.
3️⃣ Laser focus on takeaway skill & production (God bless you, Al Harris) remains strong & productive. Bears D had 1 INT + 1 FF/FR + 1 ST FR last week.
4️⃣ There is low hanging fruit to improve tackling. Bears uncharacteristically had 2nd worst missed tackle rate last week. They were middle of pack in 2025. That was hammered hard in practice this week & should see a cleaner game Sunday
5️⃣ Rookies Thieneman (S) + Malik Muhammad (CB) had good outings W1. Better than I expected. That’s great news, as this defense needs them to conquer a steep learning curve & quickly contribute in banged-up secondary. Their speed, football instincts & playmaking have added benefit of serving as erasers to others’ misses & better contain damage on explosives, in addition to doing their primary assignments. Bears didn’t have that a year ago
So the key question is can Bears D get going right from jump of Q1 in W2 vs. taking a few games to find their footing? If so, it’ll make KOC & Wentz’s job much harder.
For the first time since Week 7 of the 2022 season, we do not have a single player with an out, doubtful or questionable designation on our injury report