Bears Offense May Need a Reality Check After Summer of Hype

It's not hard to see why the Chicago Bears have been one of the most hyped teams this offseason. Coming off of their first NFC North division title since 2018 and a triumphant Wild Card victory over the Green Bay Packers, their arrow appears to be pointing nearly straight up, especially on offense.

However, with their regular season opener less than two weeks away, it's worth wondering whether there's a little too much hype for this offense. Dan Parr, a Senior Editor for NFL Media, picked the Bears to be No. 3 in his Top 10 NFL offenses in 2026, which is more than reasonable. But this comes on the heels of a bold prediction for the Bears offense to make NFL history by recording a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,000-yard rusher, and a whopping three 1,000-yard pass catchers.

Sure, the Bears are entering Year 2 of the dynamic duo of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, and reports from training camp tell us that Caleb Williams' command of Ben Johnson's offense has only grown. But this is still a young offense that needs to first prove that it can be consistently successful before we can talk about setting NFL records, even if their own head coach has said much the same.

Ben Johnson has brought heightened scrutiny on his unit, for better or for worse

Ben Johnson made waves last month when he declared his intention to break the 2013 Broncos' NFL scoring record. To be clear, that would require the Bears to average 35.8 points per game one year after only reaching 25.9 points per game. Growing their points per game average by nearly 10 in one season would itself be a monumental task, especially since they already grew by 7.7 points per game from 2024 to 2025.

I'm not here to say that setting a new NFL scoring record would be impossible. On the contrary, I think it's very much within reach if all goes well for the Bears in 2026. But how often does everything go well? Even in a season that proved successful beyond anyone's reasonable expectations in 2025, the Bears still suffered a good deal of bad luck when it came to injuries to defensive starters.

The Bears could use a heat check early in the season

Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams calls a play against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Pride goes before destruction, as it says in the Good Book. The players and coaches will of course say that they don't listen to outside noise and that they're only focused on what they can control. However, they're only human, and they can't shut the outside noise out entirely. They're hearing the same things that the rest of us are, and that can easily seep into their egos.

With that in mind, it might be a good thing if the Bears received a bit of a heat check when the regular season starts. A little bit of a struggle just to remind them that they're still in the 'prove it' stage of building a dynasty, if indeed they do build the dynasty that Ben Johnson said he wanted to build last year.

I'm not necessarily saying that the Bears need to be humbled, or that a Week 1 loss or ugly win would be what's best for the Bears. They may even prove my apprehensions wrong and post a dominant, 50-point win en route to breaking records. But it wouldn't hurt for the team to find a happy medium between arrogance and humility, at least until they've proven that they have the right to be arrogant.

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