by Anthony Licata
During the offseason, Bears head coach Ben Johnson said in an interview, “Our goal is to win the Super Bowl. I want more than that. I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos. I know how many points per game they scored, and I want to surpass them. I want shutouts. I want blowouts.” They were far from a shutout in week 1, but it was definitely a blowout.
The Bears opened the 2026 season at the Carolina Panthers last Sunday, winning 59-37 behind an offense that fired on all cylinders. Caleb Williams went 21-29 for 269 yards with 2 TDs and ran for 65 yards and 2 TDs, D’Andre Swift ran 18 times for 124 yards with 3 TDs, and Kyle Monangai ran 10 times for 100 yards with a TD.
The Bears’ defense was a mixed bag, though. Bryce Young carved up the Chicago secondary, going 23-37 for 361 yards with 3 TDs, and Chubba Hubbard carried the ball 10 times for 49 yards and a TD. The Panthers did turn the ball over three times, including Malik Muhammad’s first career INT, but the overall feeling is that the defense was a serious weakness.
The issues on the defensive line really stood out to me. They pressured Bryce Young 22 times on 43 drop backs and managed only 2 sacks, one each for Montez Sweat and Kentavius Street. The Bears currently rank 21st in rushing yards allowed and 30th in passing yards allowed going into week 2.
To me, week 1 gave us a good feeling of what this Bears team is going to do this season. This Sunday is their home opener against a division rival, the Minnesota Vikings, and I can see the Bears having another blowout win by at least 20 points. Last week, Carson Wentz stepped in when Kyler Murray went down with an injury and played fairly well against a Packers’ defense that’s without Micah Parsons. Regardless of how the Bears’ defense played against the Panthers, I don’t think Wentz will have the same luck in Chicago. My prediction is a 42-17 Bears victory.
