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Bear Digest

Bears Are Who We Thought They Were — A Team Lacking Any Defense

Analysis: A season-opening 59-37 win over Carolina proved without doubt the lack of personnel moves and injuries have left Chicago without a way to stop teams.
Gene Chamberlain|
Running back Jonathon Brooks gets behind Jaylon Johnson for a reception in the second quarter Sunday in Charlotte.
Running back Jonathon Brooks gets behind Jaylon Johnson for a reception in the second quarter Sunday in Charlotte. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Confidence in media these days is about as great as it is in politicians.

This goes for sports media, as well. Analysts and second-guessers take a verbal beating regularly from the doubting public. Just look on social media any second of the day.

Guess what? The Bears of 2026 are exactly who we told you they were. Chalk that one up for the people watching practices at camp and OTAs and preseason games, the same people who doubted GM Ryan Poles had done enough to address their defensive problems.

It was very apparent to anyone who watched anything done since last season that the Bears lacked a pass rush, and when Coby Bryant and Kyler Gordon went out with injuries, nothing much had been done to replace them. What you get is a 59-37 victory against a weak defense but what happens when they play a team capable of covering and tackling?

Bears players said Johnson always says he wants to score a lot of points, maybe lead the NFL in scoring. They'll need to do it to make up for a defense with cornerbacks who line up 10 yards off the line at the snap like Tyrique Stevenson did in the second quarter to Carolina's Jalen Coker but still managed to get beat for a 51-yard touchdown.

They'll need to do it when their lockdown cornerback, Jaylon Johnson, got beat for two long gainers in the first half, once by a running back. The Bears seemed to have problems sticking with receivers once Bryce Young broke the pocket. The defense only sees this type of quarterback every play of practice.

The Bears scored the third-most points they've ever had in a regular-season game and most since their famed 1980 61-7 drubbing of Green Bay, and they had two 100-yard rushers, but they still had a rough time for three quarters because they couldn't make key stops or get consistent pass rush pressure. And this was expected.

Caleb Williams came to training camp saying he lost 10 to 15 pounds. It's good because he'll be needed to run around a lot like he did Sunday in scoring two TDs if they're going to need to keep scoring to stay ahead of opponents. A 21-7 lead was nothing for Carolina to overcome and the Panthers did it without much effort at all. They had trouble running at the outset, so they simply turned to the pass and it took rookie slot cornerback Malik Muhammad before the Bears had an answer before halftime.

The Bears will need to pile up the points to make up for entirely stupid and needless gambles on the part of their genius coach, Ben Johnson. The fourth-and-1 gamble from their own 21 with 10:35 left until halftime was straight out of the Matt Eberflus playbook. The Bears did that in the opener against Green Bay in 2023 from their own 40 on the season's first drive and Justin Fields got stuffed, leading to a Packers TD and an abysmal Bears start to the year.

They'll also need to score to make up for kicker Cairo Santos missing the kicking zone on more than one occasion.

Fortunately for the Bears, they do have the offensive side talent to overcome some of these defensive flaws and Johnson coaches offense well enough, that is when he isn't taking terribly unnecessary gambles to put up plenty of points.

In the end, such football leads to exciting Sundays with thrills and spills, plenty of scoring and disheartening TDs allowed. Maybe they'll get a few takeaways like Sunday when Jaylon Johnson came up with a well-timed strip of the ball to let them blow open the game. That type of football usually leads to a record around .500, give or take a win based on the NFL's silly extended17-game schedule.

Buckle up, there are 16 more games with great scoring, failed gambles and TDs allowed yet to come.

And when it happens, remember who told you so.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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