“It’s the hope that kills you” — Sir Peter Ustinov … also Ted Lasso
If there’s one prevailing storyline early in this NFL season it’s that rumors of the Bears’ return were greatly exaggerated. If a narrow loss to the Vikings on Monday Night Football wasn’t enough to break fans in Chicago, what happened in Week 2 certainly was. A game that was supposed to signify turning the page and getting back on track quickly gave way to one of the most abysmal performances of this young season, with the Lions blowing the doors off the Bears en route to a 52-21 win.
There’s no shame to losing to a team as good as Detroit. There is shame in losing like that when this is a time to lock in and make a statement that you’re not the Bears of old. Much like their opening game against the Vikings nothing went right as soon as the offense moved off their opening script. Chicago’s eight-play, 74-yard TD drive on their first possession was the most sustained offensive success they had all afternoon, and while the Lions kept showing more of the same — the Bears did this.
- 3 plays, 8 yards — PUNT
- 6 plays, 32 yards — FUMBLE
- 4 plays, 9 yards — TURNOVER ON DOWNS
- 4 plays, -8 yards — INTERCEPTION
By the time the Bears scored again they were already in a hole, putting them squarely in desperation mode. They needed a superstar performance from Caleb Williams, and unfortunately once more the quarterback came up short. Williams was litigated for much of the week after the loss to Minnesota, and that simply isn’t going away any time soon. There were certainly bright moments from the QB, but also some of the most head-scratching plays imaginable — like when Williams “full vibes” mode on his interception, scrambling and throwing to a wide open field with no receiver close to the ball.
The worst possible scenario is becoming a reality: That Ben Johnson and Williams are simply too mismatched as a coach and QB to have success together. Having these two collaborate is akin to watching a famous classical conductor try to have a talented jazz pianist play Rachmaninoff’s second concerto. One is trying to orchestrate a considered and exacting plan, while the other isn’t comfortable until he goes off script and has the freedom to create for himself.
It’s simply not working. Williams doesn’t have the mechanics or timing to hit the beats of Johnson’s offense when it comes to putting the ball in stride to receivers in short-windows in order to gain yards through YAC. Instead it’s turning the majority of passing plays into checkdowns. If you remove the three 20+ yard passes to Rome Odunze the remainder of Williams’ game resulted in 4.4 yards-per-attempt on 27 passes. Something is very, very wrong on offense when Tyson Bagent can take the field and immediately look better in three passing attempts than Williams has for the majority of the game.
Bagent is not a great QB. He is not remotely on the same level as Caleb Williams. However, he fits the system much, much better because he can execute the simple things the team is looking for. It’s not entirely dissimilar to Jared Goff becoming Johnson’s protege in Detroit. You don’t need to be an out-of-this-world talent if you can simply run the Johnson system.
Up to this point we’ve focused on the offense, which is natural because that’s where the stars are. The defense the Bears showed on Sunday was as ugly as a bowling shirt on clearance in a Goodwill.
Jared Goff had the same number of incompletions against the Bears as he did touchdowns, at five a piece. The Lions threw passes to eight different receivers, with Amon-Ra St. Brown being functionally unstoppable, Jameson Williams catching big passes, and everyone else contributing. It was embarassing against a team that managed zero sacks, and only four QB hits all afternoon.
Chicago couldn’t stop the pass. They couldn’t stop the run. They couldn’t hold the line. Linebackers couldn’t handle their assignments. Then end result was Detroit racking up 511 yards of offense, while the Bears helped by beating themselves — giving up five penalties for 80 yards.
I don’t know where this team goes from here. The Vikings are Lions are solid teams, and there’s no shame losing to them — but losing like this to both of them isn’t acceptable to fans, and it damn sure isn’t acceptable to Ben Johnson. It’s too early to make a change at QB, and it would be a PR disaster for Chicago. I don’t know if Williams has the makeup to handle a benching well, and think there’s a very real chance he would regress even further and evaporate.
Now the Bears look ahead to a three week stand against the Cowboys, Raiders, and Commanders. Unless they can put things together this could very easily be an 0-5 start to the season. If that happens then there’s no other choice but looking at making a big change, and that could mean a new QB.
Let’s take a spin around the rest of the NFL to see the other winners and losers from the week.
Daniel Jones is having his Sam Darnold moment. Through two weeks the Colts’ QB has been playing as efficiently as any quarterback in the NFL and has taken the Colts to a 2-0 record against teams we assumed would be solid in 2025. Obviously we know know the Dolphins are a dumpster fire, but the Broncos are a high-tier team with an elite defense that should have dismantled Jones.
Instead he threw for over 300 yards, threw for a TD, and ran in another one — without an interception. Obviously it helps when you have a running back like Jonathan Taylor who can absolutely go off, but Jones is still a big factor in this team’s success right now. The key has been his ability to spread the ball around the field without locking in on a single receiver. On Sunday he completed passes to seven different receivers, which ensured that there was no obvious player the defense could zone in on.
Is this sustainable long-term? Probably not. Realistically this could very well be a one-year-wonder performance from Jones, similar to what Sam Darnold achieved a year ago. That said, more bizarre things have happened in the NFL and perhaps the former Top 10 pick can have a Baker Mayfield like turnaround to his career.
Jaguars fans are helping themselves to copium from an all-you-can-eat buffet. Yes, the pass interference call on Travis Hunter helped decide the game and it was a garbage call — but win or lose it fundamentally doesn’t change the fact that things still aren’t clicking for Trevor Lawrence.
At this point every single excuse has been made for the former No. 1 overall pick and he’s still the same guy he’s been for his entire NFL career. He’ll make some good plays, he’ll make some bad ones, but there is absolutely nothing special or clutch about Lawrence as a quarterback.
The Bengals defense is atrocious. Joe Burrow was injured, so Jake Browning was under center for Cincinnati. Everything was aligned for a big game, and Lawrence still threw two critical interceptions and didn’t do enough with the ball in his hands. It’s just not working, and no matter how many changes the Jaguars make it’s still not working. Ignoring your head coach when you make a bad play isn’t the answer.
The vibes are bad in Jacksonville, and they should be bad.
Winner: Drake Maye and the Patriots
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Drake Maye is on the right trajectory to become an elite NFL quarterback. Maye was my favorite quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he’s quickly emerging as an amazing talent. On Sunday he was the picture of efficiency, completing 19-of-23 passes for 230 yards, a touchdown and another on the ground.
The Patriots still lack top-tier weapons, particularly in the passing game — and lean a little too heavily on their running backs to generate positive yardage. Despite this they’re soaring on offense and put away the Dolphins, whom nothing is going right for. In two games Maye is completing 71 percent of his passes, thrown for over 500 yards, with four total touchdowns and just one turnover.
It’s now Drake Maye’s team in New England, fully. He’s bought in, Mike Vrabel trusts him, and the team is putting in solid performances. It’s only a matter of time before they take another step.
It’s not often you get to be a winner of the week after losing 41-17, but here we are. This was always going to be an ugly season in Cleveland while they try to solve their quarterback situation, but they likely didn’t expect the Jaguars to be quite this bad.
They are now quickly hurtling towards having two Top 10 picks in the NFL Draft in 2026, which would allow this team to completely reinvent itself in the post-Deshaun Watson era. It’s a major boon for them, and every week where they and the Jaguars fail brings them closer to the reality.
Well, that crashed back to earth fairly quickly. Rodgers went from being a standout star in Week 1 of the season to the biggest reason the Steelers lost to the Seahawks in Week 2. That should have been a parallel game both both teams, equally talented and both with a chance to win — and in the end Pittsburgh never stood a chance because of the interceptions that Rodgers threw when the game really mattered.
With 4:17 left in the third quarter Rodgers kicked off the collapse with an end zone interception. While it didn’t directly turn the game, from that moment forward the wind was gone from the offense’s sails. The Seahawks would go on to score 17 points, while Pittsburgh managed just a single field goal.
This was a far cry from Rodgers’ dominance in Week 1.
Loser: All of us who stayed up to watch Sunday Night Football
Congrats to the Falcons, but that game sucked. There was so much good football on Sunday afternoon, and then we got that. So much for waiting all day for Sunday night.
