Final Score: Bears 47 Bengals 42
The Bears departed out of Cincinnati with a victory in one of the craziest games of the NFL season this past Sunday. With nearly 90 points put on the board on top of over 1,000 yards of total offense, watching this game consisted of a seemingly endless bout of lead changes and subpar defensive play. Once the Bears finally pulled away, leading 41-27 with just over 2 minutes remaining, the Bengals managed to score, recover an onside kick, and score again. All of their work was for naught, however, thanks to the heroics of Caleb Williams and Colston Loveland on the rookie tight end’s insane 58-yard TD catch to put the Bears up for good.
The memorable win bumped Chicago’s record up to 5-3, which places the Bears at 2nd in the NFC North-tied with the Detroit Lions. The offense put up an insane performance, but the defense mightily struggled to slow down Bengals wide receivers Ja’marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Regardless of the outlook for the rest of the season, this win will be remembered by Bears fans for years to come, hopefully as the tipping point of Loveland’s long career and Ben Johnson’s reign in Chicago.
Bright Spots
Offensive Line Was Unbelievable in Run Game
The offensive line was phenomenal in the run game this Sunday. Rookie running back Kyle Monangai, in his first game as the first-string starter, was able to absolutely feast due to this.
The PFF grades this week were unheard of for a Bears squad. Right tackle Darnell Wright finished 1st in the NFL in PFF grade among offensive lineman, meaning that he had the best game out of around 160 players across the league. Right guard Jonah Jackson didn’t finish far behind at 4th overall, nor did center Drew Dalman at 18th. Meanwhile, left guard Joe Thuney also got in on the action by finishing as the 1st ranked player in PFF pass block grade. This unit has officially “gelled” and they proved that in a massive way in Cincinnati.
Caleb Performed Very Well Against Weak Defense
After a couple of weaker performances, Caleb Williams did more than what he needed to do against a poor Bengals defense. Though you wouldn’t guess it from the media discord surrounding him, PFF ranked Williams as the 2nd-best QB in the league this week. Caleb threw for 280 yards, 3 touchdowns, committed zero turnovers, and was also a major weapon on the ground (53 rushing yards) and even caught a touchdown pass. He was everywhere on Sunday.
Although Colston Loveland deserves all the praise he is receiving from his unbelievable run-after-the-catch on his last-minute touchdown, people need to appreciate the impressiveness of Caleb Williams’ throw on the play. It was his best of the night- which is saying something in a performance that featured a perfect over-the-shoulder toss to DJ Moore and several highlight reel throw-on-the-runs. The decisiveness of the pass combined with the insane zip he put on it right into the middle of 4-5 Bengals defenders all made for an elite-level throw, regardless of the situation. Caleb has a knack for locking in when clock starts getting low, and he showed that in Week 9.
Ben Johnson Theatrics
A major development that came out of Week 9’s improbable victory was Ben Johnson’s increased use of trick plays. Coming out of Detroit, trick plays were something that Bears fans have been expecting too see out of the new playcaller and patiently waiting for this season. Against a bottom-tier defense, I think Johnson felt that this week was one that presented an opportunity to get some real reps in on his fun stuff. On the three trick plays that I counted, TE Cole Kmet, WR DJ Moore, and backup QB Tyson Bagent all threw passes. Caleb Williams caught two passes, one of them for a touchdown, the other for a 20-yard gain. The creativity is off the charts for Johnson and I can’t wait to see what he draws up in the future.
Glaring Issues
Defense Hit a Low Point
Facing injuries to CBs Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon and tasked with stopping the red-hot veteran QB Joe Flacco and his tandem of star wide receivers, the banged-up Chicago secondary didn’t hold up. Flacco threw for 4 TDs and 470 yards, the most in a single game in his 18-year career. Returned from a brief injury stint, CB Tyrique Stevenson was awful, finishing dead last among cornerbacks in PFF coverage grade (96th out of 96). The Bears did get back on their turnover grind, but Dennis Allen still needs to be searching for answers on how to improve his defense’s pass defense in the coming weeks.
Special Teams Were a Problem
A recurring issue from the early stages of the season resurfaced this week against the Bengals. Special teams struggled in all forms. After allowing a killer opening kickoff touchdown return, the kick unit also failed to recover Evan McPherson’s onside kick late in the 4th quarter. Both of these were monumenetal errors that could have cost the Bears the game.
In addition, kicker Cairo Santos left a 47-yard field goal attempt short in the waning seconds of the first half after an impressive effort out of Caleb Williams and the offense to get into range. Santos is accurate, but his leg is simply too weak for the NFL in 2025. It is only a matter of time before the Bears make the switch back to Jake Moody.
Standout Performers
Austin Booker
In his first game of the season after missing the first eight weeks due to injury, Austin Booker immediately made his presense known. Booker finished 5th in the NFL among defensie lineman in PFF pass rush grade, a welcoming development to a unit that has had a poor season rushing the passer. His day was highlighted by his strip sack that gave the ball to the offense with great field position.
Kyle Monangai
With starting RB D’Andre Swift out, it was the rookie’s time to step up. He did more than that, putting up a whopping 176 rushing yards (the most in the NFL this week) on 26 carries, averaging 6.8 yards per carry. The fact that Johnson felt comfortable enough to put the ball in his hands 26 times (plus the catches he had) is a testament to the success that he was having and the trust that Monangai has already instilled in his head coach. How will carries be split when Swift returns?
Colston Loveland
Rookie tight end Colston Loveland’s early season numbers haven’t looked how a lot of Bears fans had imagined. This changed this week in Loveland’s big time performance in Cincy. The first round pick put up 2 touchdowns and 118 yards on 6 receptions, including the game-winning 58-yard touchdown. The touchdown grabs were the first of his career and hopefully the igniters of an exciting second half of his rookie season.
Darnell Wright
As I touched on earlier, Darnell Wright graded out fantastically this week. In addition to finishing with the highest PFF grade among offensive lineman in Week 9, Wright also earned the best grade in the run blocking category, specifically. Not only was his run blocking grade of 95.5 good for best in the NFL this week, it was the 2nd-highest weekly grade all season long (only behind Penei Sewell’s Week 3 grade)- extremely impressive.
Key Drive of the Game
Apart from the final drive, I think that the Bears’ first possession coming out of halftime this week was one of the best of the entire season. Chicago shot out of the locker room with a 12 play, 77-yard touchdown drive. After accessing his gameplan at halftime, Ben Johnson hammered the Kyle Monangai button, with the rookie posting 22 rushing yards and 22 receiving yards in the drive. At one point, there were three straight 11+ yard plays. The other rookie, Colston Loveland, capped off the drive with the first touchdown of his career. It was just a nice, clean possession that I’m sure Ben Johnson will highlight to his team before next week.