Despite a historic 59-point offensive explosion, Stephen A. Smith remains skeptical of Chicago’s porous secondary. Discover why early injuries and Week 1 rust make his panic premature.
The Chicago Bears showed just how scary their offense can be in Week 1.
The Bears dropped 59 points on the Carolina Panthers in a 59-37 win on the road. It was a statement about how good this Bears offense can really be. Ben Johnson wasn't satisfied after that dominant performance.
Johnson wants to have the highest-scoring offense and compete for a Super Bowl.
It seems that Stephen A. Smith wasn't satisfied either. Smith was more worried about the Bears' defense. On the offense? He has no questions.
The defense is where Smith had issues on a recent edition of ESPN's "First Take."
"I have no question about this offense," Smith said. "I believe in this offense. I believe that with Swift, with Monangai, I expect this offense to be explosive. My issue is with Chicago's defense. Looking at Bryce Young, 361 yards and four touchdowns? That's how I'm looking at this. When we question the Chicago Bears, okay? We have no questions about their offense. We expect their offense to be big time. The Chicago Bears, in terms of how far they're gonna go, in an NFC, where's there Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, LA and San Francisco, alright? If the Chicago Bears are going to go anywhere, you got to get something from their defense."
There could be some legit cause for concern if this were how the Bears played later in the season, but this was a Week 1 game.
The Bears will still have to iron a few things out. At the same time, this is the first meaningful game that the Bears have played all year.
We got through the offseason and preseason. This is the first time that the team has played its best players against another NFL team's best players.
I would agree with Smith if this is how the Bears had played in a crucial game in the second half of the season with playoff positioning on the line.
This is literally Week 1 of the 2026 season. The Bears have 16 more games to fix their issues within the team.
We also have to realize that the secondary is without one of its key players. Coby Bryant is out for the next few months with his knee injury that he sustained during training camp.
Even the player that the Bears brought in to replace Bryant was out with an injury. Xavier Woods was listed as questionable with a groin injury on Friday and later downgraded to out.
This means that the Bears had to start Cam Lewis at the other safety spot. Lewis has played in 77 games with 15 starts over his NFL career.
If this issue persists with the Bears, I will feel like there is cause for concern.
This is Week 1, let's all take a collective breath and realize that the team has plenty of more football ahead of it.
It's true that defense wins championships, but we all know the Bears typically play their best football in December anyway.
