Bear Digest

Rankings Dip for Bears Fails to Take Into Account Their Defense

The Bears took a steep drop as a result of one loss on the road, to a playoff team and not much respect was paid to a defense that kept them in the game.

Gene Chamberlain

C.J. Stroud eludes the Bears pass rush during Sunday night's 19-13 Houston victory.
C.J. Stroud eludes the Bears pass rush during Sunday night's 19-13 Houston victory. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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Power rankings all dropped the Bears and the floor fell out on them in some cases, as they collapsed six to eight spots.

Dropping them so far isn't entirely realistic, although it is a reflection of their offense and where Caleb Williams stands within the offense at this point.

But Marcus Mosher of The 33rd Team had probably the most insightful comment made in all the power rankings this week as he looked at the Houston game and saw what might be going on much of this first half of the season.

"Chicago's defense will keep them in a lot of games this year, and it did a good job of handling C.J. Stroud," Mosher wrote. "It was a tough loss, but not one to be overly discouraged about moving forward."

So many of these power rankings base too much on offense. Montez Sweat, Jaylon Johnson and the defense can keep the Bears in it until Williams begins to show progress, but they need more on offense than just Williams. They need a running game with him.

The Steelers are 2-0 with great defense and no passing offense at all at this point. It's possible to do it.

The Bears really just had the misfortune of running up against Houston, a potential Super Bowl team, in Week 2 and in the home opener for the Texans.

However, if they are going to three-and-out it all day long on offense, their defense eventually is going to wear down, as well. They need to develop the running game complement.

Here's where the Bears ranked in this week's power rankings, and the wide-ranging gap between their best and worst spots only grew larger at 10. This says no one knows what to make of them.

SI.com: 20th

The Bears fell one spot and Conor Orr maintained faith in Caleb Williams despite pointing out a flaw in his passing delivery because of the pressure he faced Sunday. "I still think his movement skills are next-level and it's a matter of time before Williams puts it all together," Orr wrote.

NFL.com: 21st

Eric Edholm made Bears fans feel better by pointing out how Jordan Love had looked shaky early last year before he closed with a rush.

"Hang in there, Bears fans. Sunday night had to be a tough watch, but Williams kept fighting while taking an absolute clobbering," Edholm wrote.

CBS Sports: 16th

Pete Prisco maintained faith in the Bears, or possibly thought other teams looked worse. Or he has faith in their defense. They dropped only two spots and remain in the top half of the league.

"Caleb Williams has just been OK. He shows flashes, but not enough consistency," Prisco wrote.

The 33rd Team: 23rd

A drop from 20th and it appears Mosher's confidence is waning, but moreso in the offensive line.

"The Chicago Bears hung with the Texans for most of that contest, but the offensive line didn’t give Caleb Williams any shot at success. Williams had a few terrible throws, but he was under siege the entire game with no reprieve."

ESPN: 26th

ESPN went into panic mode and dropped the Bears to their worst position in all of the various rankings. The crash was eight full spots from 18th. Apparently they need to speak with Mosher about how defense can keep a team afloat.

USA Today: 24th

A drop of four spots in Nate Davis' rankings and still hope is seen in Williams' production.

"Bumpy a start as it's been, rookie QB Caleb Williams still doesn't have to average even 250 yards per game to become the franchise's first 4,000-yard passer..." Davis wrote.

NBC/Pro Football Talk: 20th

Mike Florio with the comical approach, but one more people should have expected before the season. He definitely went overboard with his own initial ranking based on the first game, because they dropped seven spots here to 20th but never should have been ranked 13th based on one win without offense.

"OK, so maybe they won't make it to the Super Bowl this year," Florio, the wise guy, wrote.

Yahoo Sports: 21st

Frank Schwab had a similar big drop from 15th to 21st.

"The Bears were seven quarters and nine minutes into their season and had less than 300 yards of offense," Schwab wrote.

What Frank doesn't seem to realize is that's an actual good start to a Bears season offensively.

Vinny Iyer did not drop them too far after having them overranked in the beginning. He pointed to the positive.

"They should feel good about their start with a favorable slate coming up over the next month.," Iyer wrote.

Fox Sports: 20th

David Helman called this situation "a tale as old as time." Wasn't that the Beauty and the Beast?
"We were so caught up in the skill players Caleb Williams would have to work with, a lot of us forgot to ask if the offensive line could hold up well enough to make it all work," he wrote.
That's not quite a tale as old as time here in Chicago. The tale as old as time in Chicago is simply the defense is carrying around an offense that arrived DOA. They've been telling that one here since the end of the Mike Ditka era.

Twitter: BearsOnSI


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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.