CHICAGO (WGN) — The day has finally arrived. The Chicago Bears open up their season against the Minnesota Vikings for the entire country to see, and I have five (somewhat) bold takes on how their 2025 season will play out.
*Cracks knuckles*
Time to fire up the fryers, folks!
1. Caleb Williams cracks 4,000 yards passing AND 30 TD passes
If Jared Goff can throw for over 4,400 yards and 29+ TD passes each of the last three seasons under Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams can become the first Bears quarterback to hit the 4,000-yard mark AND the 30 TD pass plateau in franchise history.
“I have self-goals. Being the first 4,000-yard passer in Bears History. That’s a goal of mine. 70% completion that helps the team, keeps us on the field, puts us in better positions,” Williams said. “Other than that, just trying to go down and score the most points that we can with each drive that we have. That’s my self-goal. Other than that, you have to go win.
“That’s success for me. That’s success for the team. That’s all we wish for.”
To hit the 4,000-yard mark, the former Heisman Trophy winner needs to average a hair over 235 yards a game. Williams averaged just 208.3 in 2024. So, where can he find an extra 30-ish pass yards a game to achieve that milestone?
Without getting too far off into the weeds, if Williams can turn 20 of those league-high 68 sacks from last year into pass attempts, and he completes 65% of those passes (13) at 10.1 yards per completion (his season average in 2024), that’s another 131 yards toward his season total without factoring any of Johnson’s play-calling acumen into the equation.
If Williams can raise his completion percentage from 62.5% to 68% and maintain the same yards-per-completion rate, that would have added 32 more completions and another 323 yards.
With an additional 454 yards last season from those two avenues, Williams would have sat at 3,995 yards passing—157 yards better than Erik Kramer in 1995, who also set the franchise record for TD passes that year with 29.
If he hits the 70% benchmark Johnson set for him in training camp?
You get the picture.
Now, let’s say Williams can hit the same per-game averages as Goff in a Johnson offense. By the numbers, Goff averaged 267.5 yards passing per game from 2022-24.
At 267.5 yards per game, he would have the opportunity to hit 4,000 yards sometime near the end of Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns, or in Week 16 against the Green Bay Packers. In either instance, the game would be at Soldier Field.
Week 16. At Soldier Field. To make franchise history. Against the Packers?
That’s box office, ladies and gentlemen.
2. Rome Odunze finishes 2025 as Bears’ WR1
The connection between Williams and Rome Odunze was obvious from the get-go, and this is the season these two young stars get it going on a new level.
“We just connected early in our relationship in that dynamic. I got to see him in college, so I’ve seen those plays and I’ve got to watch on the sideline,” Odunze said of his chemistry with Williams. “[He] can make something happen from wherever on the field. So, I guess in the back of my mind, I know the play’s never over and I just try and find a spot that has some space, has some green grass, and we’ve obviously found it connected on a couple of those in season.
“So, I think that kind of just builds our chemistry out here on the practice field as well, and continuing [on] into this season. He makes plays back there, I just try and be an asset for him.”
Heading into training camp, I was curious who among the Bears’ wide receiver room would be the guy to separate himself in a talented position group.
With Johnson’s offensive ingenuity on full display and DJ Moore’s ability to make people miss with the ball in his hands, it’s easy to see Moore succeeding in a Deebo Samuels hybrid wide receiver/running back type of role—which may still end up being the case—but after their preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs, I walked away thinking, “Rome Odunze is that guy.”
Odunze’s tape against the Chiefs told no lies. He was the one wide receiver on Chicago’s first-team offense who consistently won his matchup. He created separation on his routes against one of the NFL’s upper-echelon defensive units, and he did it through a combination of footwork, athleticism and physicality.
“Rome has been great,” Williams said last week. “The consistent open communication that we have between each other, his growth, him as a player, his confidence, his belief in himself—that when the ball’s in the air—it’s his, has grown. I’m excited, and I trust him with full faith and full belief that if I throw the ball to him, it’ll be caught or at least, it’ll be incomplete.”
In my mind, his ceiling is becoming the smooth jazz variant of AJ Brown—a big, physical wide receiver who opposing defensive backs can’t jam at the line, and struggle to cover downfield due to his combination of speed and ability to high point the football.
Take that into account with the chemistry he and Williams have, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Odunze paced Bears wide receivers in yards and TD catches.
I’m thinking 85-plus catches for 1,250-plus yards and at least eight TD catches for the former Washington Husky.
3. D’Andre Swift has his best year as a pro
Speaking of players who are ripe to have a breakout year, count me as a big believer in D’Andre Swift.
Swift is coming off a season where he had a career high in touches (295) and yards from scrimmage (1,345), but a career low in yards per carry (3.8).
The perfect remedy for those low efficiency numbers is bringing in an offensive-minded coach who is already familiar with his new bell cow running back.
“I’ve been pleased with Swift and everything he’s shown over the course of camp,” Johnson said at the end of August. “He’s got that ability to be a spark force, and I’ve known that for years about the guy. Particularly when we’re a little bit stale coming out of the gate, he wants to be that guy to get us back on track.
“I think that’s what the good running backs do in this league—their teammates will feed off of them. All it takes is one big play.”
Swift is the featured back of Chicago’s offense, and that was before injuries to Roschon Johnson and Kyle Monangai muddied opportunities for touches behind him heading into Week 1.
We all know Johnson loves to run a balanced offense that emphasizes the run game, and Swift figures to get the lion’s share of carries and targets out of the Bears’ backfield this season. If he can mirror the level of efficiency he had during his last season in Detroit with the amount of usage he had a year ago, he could put up prime Matt Forte-esque numbers in 2025.
Under Johnson in 2022, Swift averaged a career high in yards per carry (5.5) and yards per touch (6.3). If he were to get 290+ touches at 6.3 yards per touch by the end of this season, that would equate to over 1,800 yards from scrimmage. Even if Swift averaged 5.3 yards per touch, that would still be at least 1,537 yards from scrimmage, which would be another career-high for Swift and the most yards from scrimmage for a Chicago running back since Forte in 2014 (1,846).
“I approach every single day with the ‘prove it’ mentality,” Swift said at the end of August. “Trying to get better at something every single day with the way Coach [Eric Bieniemy] and Coach Ben [Johnson] and everybody else on the offensive staff is implementing everything, the details. I try to be real intentional about everything.”
4. Someone besides Jaylon Johnson makes the Pro Bowl on the Bears’ defense
Given who now heads Chicago’s defense, I believe the Bears will have at least two Pro Bowl representatives on the defensive side of the ball—Jaylon Johnson and a player to be named later.
Dennis Allen is a talented defensive coordinator, and as is the case with talented DCs across the NFL, they usually have one position group they are great at coaching. Robert Saleh is great at coaching linebackers. Vic Fangio is great at coaching defensive linemen.
Allen is great at coaching defensive backs. After a lengthy amount of time coaching DBs like Tyrann Mathieu, Marshon Lattimore and others with the New Orleans Saints, he has the requisite experience and expertise to find a way to maximize Chicago’s secondary, and that’s where the second Pro Bowl selection will come from.
Allen has already offered praise for players like Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon, both of whom have received praise from Allen and teammates alike.
“The big thing for me, I knew he’d be good close to the ball. I think the thing that’s been impressive to me is what he’s done away from the ball,” Allen said of Brisker during training camp. “Whether it be the deep middle, deep quarter, deep path–he has had a lot of range back there. He is making plays on the football.
“He’s had an outstanding camp and I’m excited about the opportunity to work with him. I think he’s primed to do some good things for us.”
Veteran defensive back and team captain Kevin Byard III sees a bright future for Gordon in an Allen-coached Bears’ defense.
“He’s one of the most athletic DBs that I have ever played with, for sure. He’s very versatile. He, basically, can play corner, nickel and safety,” Byard said. “I’m sure [Allen] is going to have some stuff for him, move him around a lot. It’s always good to have a guy like him back out there with the secondary.”
5. Luke Newman becomes a quality starting offensive lineman
I think my boldest take heading into this season is that Luke Newman will be the best offensive lineman in Chicago’s 2025 rookie class, and eventually become a quality starter in the NFL.
After Odunze imposed his will on Kansas City’s defensive backs, the next person who stood out to me against the Chiefs was Newman.
The sixth-round pick out of Michigan State was inserted into the Bears’ starting lineup and promptly held his own against a perennial All-Pro defensive tackle and future Hall of Famer in Chris Jones.
One rep in particular stood out. Just after the 9-minute mark in the second quarter, Newman was matched up one-on-one with Jones on third-and-5. Newman didn’t overtly win the matchup, but he held his own long enough to give Williams time to progress through his reads and make a throw (that ended up falling incomplete).
To be able to do that against a pro as talented and experienced as Jones on an island is no small feat, and shouldn’t go unnoticed.
It also shows that should one of Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman or Jonah Jackson along the interior of Chicago’s offensive line miss time due to injury—a common occurrence in the game of football—Newman will be ready to step in and give Johnson quality reps at either guard spot, or center in a pinch.