(1) Can the Bears eliminate their drive-killing penalties? Case in point: Sunday against the Rams. The Bears had several drives derailed, and positive plays wiped off the books, by penalties from players who are meant to be the stars of this offense, namely Darnell Wright and Cole Kmet. You can forgive the backups coming in with limited practice time. You can’t forgive Kmet not understanding snap counts.
(2) Can the Bears stop the run like they used to? The Bears are 11th in yards allowed and 10th in points allowed. Those are sparkling rankings considering how little help they’ve gotten from the other side of the ball. But if this is going to be a top five unit, they will need be better than 17th against the run. (They were first in 2023.)
(3) Can this receiving corps assert itself? DJ Moore, Rome Odunze and Keenan Allen were supposed to be the strength of this roster. They have not been. Even when Caleb Williams has had clean pockets, there’s been nothing available to him down the field. Whether that’s the players, or the scheme, it has to change for this offense to take significant leaps the remainder of the season.
(4) Can the Bears get to the bye at 4-2? Again, early season is about accumulating wins, and the next two opponents are a combined 1-7. The Bears would be fine at 3-3 at their break, but 4-2 would set the stage for what many of expected from the 2024 campaign: a playoff push.