The first two games of the 2025 season are in the books, and the Chicago Bears find themselves in the unenviable position of having to stare down an 0-2 record when they look at the league standings on Monday morning. To make matters even worse, both losses have come at the hands of NFC North foes, putting Da Bears even further behind Da Eight-Ball than your run of the mill 0-2 team.
Now, we can all acknowledge and agree that today’s outcome was not ideal, but I want us to take a collective deep breath and try to exhale all of this negativity that we’re feeling right now. Consider me your post-game shaman, and consider this a very necessary cleansing after a disgusting 52-21 loss to the Detroit Lions in which Jaylon Johnson and TJ Edwards both exited with injuries. We all need it, so just play along with me.
Seriously, do it.
(Deep Breath In)
(And a Deep Breath Out)
Very good. Take as many deep breaths as necessary before continuing reading.
Now that we’ve all put ourselves into a much healthier headspace, why don’t we attempt to find a few silver linings we can feel good about before entering a week where every ESPN or Fox Sports segment is going to sound something like, What the hell is wrong with the Chicago Bears?!? Is Ben Johnson a terrible head coach? Is Caleb Williams just Bryce Young with better PR?
Seriously, it’s going to be insufferable and we’ll need to deal with it all week long, so again, let’s hunt for some silver linings.
The Bears lost today to the Lions, which isn’t quite as depressing as losing to the Vikings or the Packers, right? And hey, there wasn’t even any heartbreak today. It was just a straight-forward, no doubt about it, punched in the mouth loss to a team that is better than the Chicago Bears. No shame in that.
Aaron Rodgers lost today, and he looked particularly washed in the effort. We can smile about that, can’t we? Schadenfreude still applies to Rodgers even though he’s not a member of the Green Bay Packers.
The Dallas Cowboys, Chicago’s Week 3 opponent, looked incredibly vulnerable in their overtime win versus Russell Wilson and the New York Giants this afternoon. That provides us some hope for a more favorable result next weekend, and as Andy Dufresne once told us — well, he told Red — hope is a good thing.
And hey, speaking of hope… how about an actual silver lining we should be thinking about as Week 2 comes to a close?
The Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze Connection is Clicking
There was a moment late in the 1st half, after Caleb Williams had connected with Rome Odunze for their second score of the game, where it felt like the Bears might be able to go punch for punch with the Lions. Trailing by only 7 points and getting the ball first to start the 2nd half, you could’ve talked me into believing that Odunze was about to have a star-making performance and Ben Johnson was going to get an upset win over his former team.
Of course, the Lions rallied and scored with two ticks left on the clock in the 2nd quarter, and that, for all intents and purposes, ended the game. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze pairing looked every bit as good as Bears fans hoped it would from the time Ryan Poles pulled the trigger on both of those picks within 90 minutes of each other.
For the game, Odunze finished with 7 receptions for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns, and all of that production came when the game was theoretically still in reach. There was nothing cheap about Odunze’s catches, and to get the ball in the hands of the second-year wideout, Caleb Williams needed to deliver a couple of really nice balls.
The end of game numbers for Caleb aren’t great — 19-for-30, 207 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, 27 yards rushing — but call me an optimist, because it felt to me like there was more good than bad this afternoon.
Even more encouraging was how the Bears offense operated on a handful of drives, particularly in the 1st half. There was a rhyme and reason for everything that the Bears were doing — save for back to back QB sneaks that led to a turnover on downs early on — and that’s a rarity in Chicago.
I haven’t lost faith in Ben Johnson, even after choking away a winnable game against Minnesota last Monday, and getting outclassed by his good friend Dan Campbell today. I know that I’m in the minority there, but little things that have seemingly never been part of the Bears offense before Johnson’s arrival — like the creative ways he uses receivers in the backfield to create mismatches and misdirection looks — feel like positive takeaways from this game.
This was never going to be a hit the ground running kind of season, even if we spent the entire offseason wishing it into existence. And yeah, even now when it’s become crystal clear that microwaving the Bears into a contender wasn’t in the cards, it still hurts. But this isn’t a Matt Nagy situation, or a Matt Eberflus situation, or a Marc Trestman situation.
It’s also not a Justin Fields or Mitchell Trubisky situation, and it damn sure isn’t a Kevin White situation. I have faith in Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze, and even if there’s not much else to be encouraged by right now, having any little bit of hope is a good thing.
Searching For Silver Linings After Bears Drop to 0-2