Despite a record-breaking sophomore campaign, Chicago’s star quarterback must reach elite efficiency to mask the problems of this Bears team.
After the magical season that the Chicago Bears had, the team still had major flaws.
Caleb Williams, on the other hand, had a great year. He threw for 3,942 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He broke Erik Kramer's single-season passing yards record.
With a consistent coaching staff and an offensive-minded head coach in Ben Johnson, he flourished in his second NFL season. However, Williams may need to have an even better season in year three, given where recent trends with the Bears are headed.
Robert Mays of "The Athletic Football Show" agrees. He believes that Williams and the offense will need to be elite this season if they are to get past the Bears' shortcomings.
For the defense in the turnover margin," Mays said. "The offensive line health is probably coming. There are going to be areas for this team that they are not as lucky or as fortunate as they were a year ago. The only way to overcome that stuff and be really dangerous is if you are truly the best couple of offenses in the NFL, and if that is going to happen, he needs to be a better player this year. A notably better player this year than he was last year."
Despite all the great plays Williams made last season, he led the NFL in throwaways. He justified it by stating that he knew Johnson favored going for it on fourth downs.
Wasting a third down like that isn't winning football.
Then, his performance in the playoffs was less than ideal. Williams threw for 618 passing yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.
The team will need a better performance from him in the postseason, especially with how unsustainable certain areas were.
For starters, there was the turnover margin. The Bears led the NFL with 33 takeaways during the regular season.
It will be very hard for the Bears to replicate that kind of success again in 2026. Then, you have how inconsistent the team was in other areas on defense.
While it was great to lead the NFL in takeaways, Chicago ranked sixth in rushing yards allowed (134.5), 11th in passing yards allowed (239.2) and 10th in points allowed per game (24.4).
You also have the little to no attention paid to the lack of a Bears' pass rush from last season. The Bears didn't add any edge rushers in free agency or the 2026 NFL Draft.
The only defensive lineman that the Bears selected in the draft was Jordan Van Den Berg out of Georgia Tech, and he's a defensive tackle.
If the injuries in the secondary continue, then the Bears will be in even more trouble. There isn't very much quality depth behind Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson.
If either of those guys go down, the secondary may suffer again.
On offense, one of the main concerns is with the offensive line, much like last year. Mays raises valid concerns about the health of the offensive line.
We saw multiple injuries last year.
Braxton Jones went down with a knee injury, and then Theo Benedet sustained a quad injury, which paved the way for rookie Ozzy Trapilo to win the job. Then, Trapilo suffered a patellar injury in the postseason and will be out for most of this year.
There's no guarantee the Bears' offensive line will get lucky with injuries again.
If Williams can elevate his play this season, he can make up for these shortcomings. Hopefully, the Bears won't need him to, but it's starting to look that way.
