The Chicago Bears told us exactly who they think they are late last week when they traded for all-pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from the Tennessee Titans.
The Bears gave up first-round draft picks in 2027 and 2028 for a 29-year-old defender. They may believe that due to their successes on the field those will be late first-round picks, but it’s still a big price for a player who is not exactly young in NFL terms.
That suggested the Bears believe they are all-in. They were 5-2 when they made that trade and they thought they could upgrade a defense that actually started this season pretty well but had room for improvement.
On Monday night the Bears backed up that big trade and maybe sent another message to the rest of the NFL and the viewing public as they went into Seattle and recorded an emphatic 34-17 win over the hometown Seahawks, and Simmons made an impact immediately. He led the team with six tackles, had a sack, two tackles were for a loss and he batted down a pass.
This Bears team more importantly looks complete now. They’re led by a head coach who is imaginative, aggressive and has just enough crazy in him to keep this team on the edge in Ben Johnson.
Caleb Williams was excellent again in Seattle and he is elevating his game to an MVP level. It’s never going to be easy going up against that Seahawks defense and not everything is going to be in structure.
If you move Caleb Williams off his spot he’s going to be more than happy. So he had to work for his yardage on Monday night and it didn’t look spectacular in terms of the box score – 247 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions – but it’s what he did to keep this team energised, to keep them moving and his connection with his passing game targets continues to be at a high level and he has good weapons.
Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland and then Luther Burden has come on as a young wide receiver. Khalif Raymond always seems to come up with a big play when needed. The running game is there as well.
We’re waiting for Kyle Monangai to come back from injury but D’Andre Swift had three touchdowns in Seattle, so this is a team that looks like they have all of the pieces in place now and they have belief.
If they didn’t have belief they wouldn’t be going out and making that trade for Simmons, and I think that’s the other thing: this move sends a wave of confidence, excitement and energy through that Bears locker room.
They played that way on Monday in the toughest of environments and so now at 6-2 the Bears approach the midway point of this season in great shape, looking like they have every area of their team addressed and looking like they are very well led.
All of that is the tangible stuff but the intangibles are also important. These Bears feel really good about themselves, and feel good about where they are heading in the second half of the season.
They made progress last year in terms of making the playoffs and moving through the first round. This feels like a classic follow-up year where you can go deeper and put together a definite run and that’s why those passionate fans in the Windy City are dreaming of a Super Bowl for the first time since and a Super Bowl win for the first time since the 1985 season.
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