Week 4: Bears vs Raiders Sunday at 3:25 on CBS

[jersey cubs fan]

What a difference a weak opponent makes. Chicago’s offense torched the lowly Cowboys but what was more impressive was a makeshift defense effectively muting a quality offense. Holding them to 14 may have ruined my Bears and over parlay, but I’m not even mad.

 

The Bears are 1.5 point favorites against a bad opponent in Pete Caroll’s Vegas squad. They squeaked out an early win over Drake Maye’s Patriots but have lost by double digits in two consecutive weeks and have averaged just 17.7 points per game, easily in the bottom 10. The Bears are at 25.3, in the top 10. If Chicago can keep them under 24 they could even their record. 

[Old Style]

The march to 15-2 rolls on. 

[BigbadB]

I certainly feel better. But, I'm also tempering expectations. Caleb will have to throw the ball a lot all season long, because this defense looks really bad.

[gflore34]

18 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

I certainly feel better. But, I'm also tempering expectations. Caleb will have to throw the ball a lot all season long, because this defense looks really bad.

Defense will improve, don't know if they'll be able to manage average or slightly below.  Might be helpful if Gordon and Edwards come back, not counting on that though.

[bddavidson]

Yesterday was fun, and while trying to stay in the moment and enjoy it, it makes the MIN comeback that much more annoying.  3-1 heading into the bye in a potential tie for NFC North 1st place almost allows you to excuse the DET blowup.

[CubinNY]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:11 AM, BigbadB said:

I certainly feel better. But, I'm also tempering expectations. Caleb will have to throw the ball a lot all season long, because this defense looks really bad.

The best defense is one that doesn't play a lot. The Bears need to control the LOS and eat up the clock. Caleb needs to do the small things well and continue to build. I think the Bears will win this game, but past Bears trauma has me (and probably many of us) worried. After this week, things get harder. 

[mul21]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:11 AM, BigbadB said:

I certainly feel better. But, I'm also tempering expectations. Caleb will have to throw the ball a lot all season long, because this defense looks really bad.

I also think the defense will get better.  Dennis Allen didn't get where he did by accident.  He'll figure some things out and make the defense passable assuming the injuries don't continue to stack up.  I also think that we haven't seen a play caller like Ben before.  11 straight running plays and many of them looked very different from each other and also kept the chains moving.

[gflore34]

8 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I also think the defense will get better.  Dennis Allen didn't get where he did by accident.  He'll figure some things out and make the defense passable assuming the injuries don't continue to stack up.  I also think that we haven't seen a play caller like Ben before.  11 straight running plays and many of them looked very different from each other and also kept the chains moving.

There's no doubt about this coaching staff being something we've not seen in a long time as Bears' fans.  In that it's competent.  OL will continue to improve, as will Caleb, come November/December, offensively, the Bears are going to be good, really good, with a good QB.  With this happening an average to slightly below average performance from the defense may be enough pull off some upsets.

Edited September 23, 2025 by gflore34

[Old Style]

Huge fan of Dennis Allen. He was a starting safety for A&M when I started there. Alongside him at CB was a guy by the name of Aaron Glenn. That defense was salty. 

[UMFan83]

On 9/22/2025 at 9:17 AM, jersey cubs fan said:

What a difference a weak opponent makes. Chicago’s offense torched the lowly Cowboys but what was more impressive was a makeshift defense effectively muting a quality offense. Holding them to 14 may have ruined my Bears and over parlay, but I’m not even mad.

I'm interested in whether the Bears defense was actually decent on Sunday.  The Cowboys outgained them for the game ending up with 396 total yards.  The Bears got 4 turnovers - after drives of 53 yards, 91 yards, 35 yards and 30 yards.  But at the same time much of the 4th was garbage time (the first 3 TOs listed above were in the 4th) and the Bears did a decent job in the middle quarters of slowing them down.  And obviously you can't dismiss the 4 turnovers as pure luck.

[PosterToBeNamedLater]

58 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I'm interested in whether the Bears defense was actually decent on Sunday.  The Cowboys outgained them for the game ending up with 396 total yards.  The Bears got 4 turnovers - after drives of 53 yards, 91 yards, 35 yards and 30 yards.  But at the same time much of the 4th was garbage time (the first 3 TOs listed above were in the 4th) and the Bears did a decent job in the middle quarters of slowing them down.  And obviously you can't dismiss the 4 turnovers as pure luck.

Yeah, and I'm kindof surprised the Cowboys didn't run more.  It seemed like they would get minimum 5-7 yards with Williams and then they just stopped doing it.  Not even when they were down big, but before that, too.  I didn't understand why they didn't just keep feeding him the ball.  

That said, I do think Dennis Allen was an upgrade over Eberflus (he just might not have good enough players).  Its kindof great that we could massively upgrade head coach with one of the best offensive playcallers, and even though we are replacing a defensive head coach, we upgraded at defensive coordinator as well.  Just another one of the reasons I hated the Eberflus hire from the moment it happened.  He wasn't even coordinator that ever had a dominant defense and he still somehow was our head coach.  

[We Got The Whole 9]

Anyone still shocked Burden hauled that bomb in? We are so used to looking back at missed opportunities like that as we lament a loss. Our guys almost never hail in those long bombs.

[Hot Sauce]

Just here for the cwood218 posts when Jeanty puts up his first 100+ game.

[cwood218]

1 hour ago, Hot Sauce said:

Just here for the cwood218 posts when Jeanty puts up his first 100+ game.

Why wait ...

One good game this season, ( I wouldn't be surprised if he had a couple this year ) will not change the fact that it was a bad pick. A flat out bad use of draft capital. His O-line sucks and it only highlights how overly dependent running backs are on the front five. It's really not that hard to understand. 

Edited September 24, 2025 by cwood218

[BigSlick]

Hope the Bears can take care of business and get back to .500. Despite the fact I don’t think super highly of the Raiders roster, this Bears squad is really a work in progress and are going on the road. 
 

It’d be super nice for Johnson and Williams to reach .500, get a little heat off their backs, get breathing room to let the developmental process continue. Hopefully the team can hover around .500 and be a competitive team through most of the season because honestly at this point what I want is for people to just give them time. The breathless denunciations and proclamations after two games was too much - let this process play out. See where things are at by the end of season.

There are a lot of good things in motion, alongside things that are potentially worrying. Deep breaths. 

[Soul]

17 hours ago, CubinNY said:

The best defense is one that doesn't play a lot. The Bears need to control the LOS and eat up the clock. Caleb needs to do the small things well and continue to build. I think the Bears will win this game, but past Bears trauma has me (and probably many of us) worried. After this week, things get harder. 

It’s funny how the outlook changes with a solid win where both sides of the ball look good, and some key changes in the outlook of other teams.  Next several games:

LV, WAS, NO, BAL, CIN, NYG

Im gonna regret saying this but if the Bears turn last weekend into the beginning of a growth curve, there are some winnable games coming up.  

 

[Brian707]

4-2 in the next 6 is possible.  The Cincy game looks winnable now

[gflore34]

3 hours ago, BigSlick said:

Hope the Bears can take care of business and get back to .500. Despite the fact I don’t think super highly of the Raiders roster, this Bears squad is really a work in progress and are going on the road. 
 

It’d be super nice for Johnson and Williams to reach .500, get a little heat off their backs, get breathing room to let the developmental process continue. Hopefully the team can hover around .500 and be a competitive team through most of the season because honestly at this point what I want is for people to just give them time. The breathless denunciations and proclamations after two games was too much - let this process play out. See where things are at by the end of season.

There are a lot of good things in motion, alongside things that are potentially worrying. Deep breaths. 

I thought Caleb would be cooking by November, Ben Johnson said he expects the offense to be humming by December.  I think they're headed in the right direction, Caleb' looking to play on time, on schedule.  Caleb on schedule is lethal and will prove to be far and away the best QB of 2024' class.

Edited September 24, 2025 by gflore34

[Soul]

2 hours ago, Brian707 said:

4-2 in the next 6 is possible.  The Cincy game looks winnable now

And I feel like it would be a success if they just went 3-3, given what we thought after that Detroit disaster.  After this stretch of games it really does get hard though.

[gflore34]

18 minutes ago, Soul said:

And I feel like it would be a success if they just went 3-3, given what we thought after that Detroit disaster.  After this stretch of games it really does get hard though.

Before the season I thought they'd win 7-10 games, with the injuries on defense, believe we're looking at 6-9.  If Caleb and the offense are cooking, the November/December games against probable playoff bubble teams, the Steelers, Vikings and 49ers, will be fun.  I think we'd all take a drastically improved offense, with Caleb arriving and a few playoff bubble bursting upsets as the result for 2025.  Defense is easier to fix in an off season.

Edited September 24, 2025 by gflore34

[jersey cubs fan]

2 hours ago, Soul said:

It’s funny how the outlook changes with a solid win where both sides of the ball look good, and some key changes in the outlook of other teams.  Next several games:

LV, WAS, NO, BAL, CIN, NYG

Im gonna regret saying this but if the Bears turn last weekend into the beginning of a growth curve, there are some winnable games coming up.  

 

At first I thought you were listing winnable games, not just the actual order coming up. Yeah, all but Baltimore is winnable there. The best QB they will face the rest of the season, followed up by Hurts in November. There’s no room for error in that stretch though. Because they are going to lose most of their final 8 games. 3 wins in that late stretch would be almost miraculous. 

[Brian707]

Not a surprise

[Tryptamine]

21 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

I'm interested in whether the Bears defense was actually decent on Sunday.  The Cowboys outgained them for the game ending up with 396 total yards.  The Bears got 4 turnovers - after drives of 53 yards, 91 yards, 35 yards and 30 yards.  But at the same time much of the 4th was garbage time (the first 3 TOs listed above were in the 4th) and the Bears did a decent job in the middle quarters of slowing them down.  And obviously you can't dismiss the 4 turnovers as pure luck.

Honestly they weren't good and the results were way better than the actual play. They had two interceptions in the end zone. They had one drive end in Bear territory because a WR suddenly forgot how to catch and batted it toward a Bear defender. They also allowed 6.1 YPC, They weren't Detroit bad, but they weren't anywhere near as good at the 14 points would indicate.

[Soul]

9 hours ago, Tryptamine said:

Honestly they weren't good and the results were way better than the actual play. They had two interceptions in the end zone. They had one drive end in Bear territory because a WR suddenly forgot how to catch and batted it toward a Bear defender. They also allowed 6.1 YPC, They weren't Detroit bad, but they weren't anywhere near as good at the 14 points would indicate.

In fairness they did spend a good portion of the 4th Q in prevent.  But I agree they weren’t as good as the scoreboard showed.  Timely turnovers.

[Hot Sauce]

18 hours ago, cwood218 said:

Why wait ...

One good game this season, ( I wouldn't be surprised if he had a couple this year ) will not change the fact that it was a bad pick. A flat out bad use of draft capital. His O-line sucks and it only highlights how overly dependent running backs are on the front five. It's really not that hard to understand. 

Calling any 2025 pick a bad pick three games into their careers is waaaaay premature.

You're oversimplifying a process that isn't by any measure simple. Most of the 1st round will end up busting or (to borrow a baseball term) become replacement level players, including those you would classify as being a "good use" of draft capital.