The Chicago Bears have reached the first-quarter mark of the regular season. There’s plenty the 2-2 team showed us in four games.

They had a collapsing loss, a blowout loss, a blowout win and a nailbiting win.

Here’s what we learned about the Bears through the first quarter of the regular season.

Caleb Williams’ growth 

The Bears hired Ben Johnson to turn Caleb Williams into the quarterback the team wanted when they drafted him No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

So far, Williams has been a playmaker for the Bears. He’s been one of the better quarterbacks in the league, but there’s still ways to go before he becomes one of the top-10 best passers in the NFL.

Williams is tied for fourth in the league with eight touchdown passes. That’s more than Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts. Williams also led a drive to take the lead against the Raiders last Sunday.

“He just has a knack of finding an open guy,” Johnson said. “He has a knack of extending the play when needed. It’s almost like that little bit of pressure you put on him, he thrives in, and he really excels. That’s been consistent ever since we came into this building.”

The growth has to stay steady. It’s not going to be linear, and he’ll most likely have a game with some struggles in the future. Williams still wants to be more accurate, as he ranks 25th in the league with a 62.3 completion percentage.

But, Williams can feel the growth through the first quarter of the season.

“You want to be able to visualize those things,” Williams said. “Be able to feel the momentum of what’s going on, but not let those things get in the way of what you actually have done and what you have to do to keep going in the right direction.”

The running game, Part I

One of the biggest concerns for the Bears lies in the run defense. They rank last in yards allowed, opposing yards per carry average and opposing average yards per game.

It’s a work in progress, but the Bears need to improve if they want to make some noise in the NFC North. They’ve already faced off against Jahmyr Gibbs against Detroit, but Josh Jacobs still looms twice with the Packers.

“We’re not shedding blocks to the degree we’d like to yet, or at least as consistently as we’d like to yet,” Johnson said. “We’re not making tackles in space as well as we’re capable of. We did enough live tackling over the course of training camp that I thought we’d be a little further along in that regard in the first four games.”

The answer to the running game might not require personnel changes. The Bears need more from their defensive line, which was without Grady Jarrett against the Raiders, but the Bears could get a lift from the return of nickel cornerback Kyle Gordon. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said he had plans for the nickel cornerback, and it remains to be seen how he utilizes him.

TJ Edwards could also be back, which would deepen the Bears’ linebacker corps. His status as a veteran, consistent tackler and coverage linebacker could help give the run defense a bump.

That’s good, because the Bears need it.

The running game, Part II

This is the other side of that equation, literally. The Bears’ own running game needs some assistance, and quickly. 

So far in 2025, the Bears are averaging 102.3 rush yards per game. That ranks 24th in the NFL. They also have averaged 3.8 yards per carry. That ranks 25th in the league.

Johnson said on Monday that it goes beyond running back D’Andre Swift, and that other parts of the running back room, to improve in the run game.

“I think he’s a guy that continues to run the ball very hard, even though the yards per carry aren’t where any of us wanted to be right now,” Johnson said. “He’s as frustrated as anybody right now. He’s very prideful in what he can do and what he brings to the table. I don’t feel like everybody on offense yet is pulling their weight and that’s myself included.”

The Bears could integrate Kyle Monongai into the offensive game plan. They could also stand to get Roschon Johnson back into the offensive game plan. However, that remains to be seen as he currently has zero rushing statistics this year but does play on special teams.

There might be some changes after the bye week, which is something expected all across the board.

Left tackle debate

What remains to be seen coming out of the week off is what happens at left tackle.

The Bears benched Braxton Jones against the Raiders, and moved Theo Benedet into his spot while Ozzy Trapillo took over at right tackle with Darnell Wright injured.

Wright is expected to be back after the bye week. So, what happens now? The Bears most likely spent this week trying to figure that out. It all comes down to what was working. 

“We need to look at all four games so far as a whole and we’ll get a good feel here over the next few days where we’re at schematically,” Johnson said. “What are we doing well? What aren’t we doing well? I think we’ll really have a good grasp of what we need to do going forward. It’s too early for me to tell you be honest with you.” 

Taking this week to take some inventory should also help the Bears figure out what’s happening next on the line. It’s really unknown how different that could be.

Could Wright move to left tackle to slot Trapilo in at right tackle? Does Benedet play left tackle? What combination could they use?

Johnson said the Bears want to go through a process to figure that out. It depends how long they want that process to be.

“I feel like we’ve got to go through this process and just figure out what’s best for us and our team going forward here,” Johnson said. “I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys in that room. We’ve got some talented individuals, and I really believe in the coaching staff in that room as well that we’re only scratching the surface of what we’re capable of.”