Finding DJ Moore anywhere in Bears offense becomes an ordeal

DJ Moore might as well be invisible in the Bears’ offense lately, whether or not you think quarterback Caleb Williams should have realized he was coming open about 10 yards away and right in front of him on the game-ending interception to Sunday's loss.

Even coach Ben Johnson admits the lack of catches by Johnson against Green Bay is something the Bears must address. Moore caught one pass for minus-4 yards and had only three targets on a day when top Bears receiver Rome Odunze was out with a foot injury.

"I don’t know if there was anything with DJ," Johnson said. "I thought he ran some pretty good routes over the course of the day and we just couldn’t give him the ball. Which, that was not the intent.

"I thought going into the game we might have had more for him than any other player in the offense. Was a little surprised at the end when I saw the stat sheet for one catch like he had."

Poor DJ Moore. They throw the ball 30-40 times a game but he gets nothing.
— Colton (@Colton_Clay) December 7, 2025

The game started out with Moore early on looking open on a deeper pass that Williams threw wildly off target. It set the tone and Moore has now caught nine passes for 94 yards in the last five games as the team's highest-paid offensive player.

Williams missed the mark badly early, before coming out on fire in the second half. Johnson seems to think his own play calling needs to change a bit in th future to accommodate his passer for better accuracy.

Has anyone seen where DJ Moore has gone?

He's been faded out of the offense and is being treated like just a guy.

DJ Moore should be the Amon-Ra St. Brown of this offense.

If Ben Johnson wasn't going to actually use the guy the Bears should have traded him for draft capital.
— Will Brooks (@ILLxWillBrooks) December 8, 2025

"Something that I’ve kind of talked about over the last few weeks with Caleb is, man, how can I best serve him to get him in a rhythm early in games to where we can have some strong starts to the first half" Johnson said. "When you’re asking your first completion to be an 18-yard dagger route, that’s not always the easiest thing, particularly in those elements on the road like that.

"Something that he’s certainly capable of doing. He makes that throw all the time in practice and yet we weren’t able to do it there yesterday that early in the game."

DJ Moore is the Bears' highest paid offensive player

4 of his last 5 games:

1 catch for -4 yards
2 catches for 17 yards
1 catch for 18 yards
0 catches for 0 yards

it's just not good enough https://t.co/agpnryOoz2 pic.twitter.com/0Ui5fC3vW0
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) December 8, 2025

Williams heated up after a 32-yard passing effort in the first half, completing 13-of-21 for 154 yards with a pair of TDs in the second half. But that process didn't include Moore.

Johnson thinks the poor start on Sunday had another very familiar contributing factor. That would be penalty flags.

Darnell Wright's holding on third-and-5 killed the first drive. The second drive was an opportunity from Green Bay's 36 after C.J. Gardner-Johnson's interception, but Colston Loveland's false start helped thwart that chance.

Not going to be convinced otherwise by #Bears fans, but Ben Johnson’s utilization of DJ Moore is nothing short of atrocious.

You would think a true offensive genius would find ways to have a perennial 1,000 yard receiver get open on routes other than screens and end arounds.
— 🗽Sam (@PolesIsNotHim) December 8, 2025

"When you play good teams on the road every little thing matter," Johnson said. "All the details matter. We start off on offense with two penalties in the first two drives and we don’t overcome them, and so every little things matters.

"We just didn’t start well enough. I think to your point, yeah, we’ve got to play and you’ve got to utilize all 60 minutes of your brand of football and we dug ourselves into a hole and it certainly wasn’t where we want to start that game."

The penalties were a problem through the first half of the season.

They're the last thing the Bears need to see popping up as a problem at a time when they're trying to make a last push for the playoffs, and particularly early in games when they're having trouble locating their highest-paid offensive player in the passing attack.

Hard to imagine the Bears offense reaching peak performance without DJ Moore (their highest paid offensive player) more involved. pic.twitter.com/22H3oeNGht
— Judson Richards (@JudsonRichrds) December 8, 2025