LANDOVER, Md. — If a 38-yard field goal by fill-in kicker Jake Moody on the final play Monday night has a fraction of the impact on this Chicago Bears’ season that a loss here on a Hail Mary did in 2024, interesting times could be ahead.
The Bears won their third straight game to improve to 3-2 and were victorious in walk-off fashion for the second straight game. Josh Blackwell blocked a field goal to secure a win at Las Vegas in Week 4 and Moody’s kick, his fourth field goal of the game, lifted the Bears to a 25-24 victory over the Washington Commanders in Week 6 at Northwest Stadium.
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Here are 10 thoughts after the run defense was better, a hint of a pass rush showed up, D’Andre Swift got running and the Bears continued to play the takeaway game.
1. Looking for proof that might even blow your mind as to Ben Johnson’s impact on the Bears to begin his tenure?
The Bears scored 21 points or more for the fifth consecutive game to open the season. That’s good, right? But it doesn’t strike you as something that’s unusual. That’s not exactly a grand figure, but doing it five consecutive times out means the team is going to be in the mix at least a few times, right?
This marks just the third time since the 1958 season the Bears have scored 21 or more points in each of their first five games. Read that back one more time.
Bears coach Ben Johnson writes on his play chart in the third quarter against the Commanders at Northwest Stadium Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
No discussion of one of the league’s cornerstone franchises is complete without a thorough review of longstanding offensive problems. The Bears scored 21-plus points through the first seven games in 1995 — 30 years ago — and also accomplished the feat over the first seven games of 1958.
This isn’t to draw any attention away from beating the Commanders on a drizzly night. We’ll get into many aspects of the victory, but stop for a second and consider they’re just sort of finding their way at this point. Johnson has talked about it taking time — an extended period — to find an identity and really settle in.
The offense has struggled to run the ball almost weekly before this game. D’Andre Swift had 108 yards on 14 carries and hauled in two passes, including a 55-yarder where he somehow evaded safety Quan Martin and cornerback Marshon Lattimore along the sideline for a touchdown. It won’t be fun film review for Martin and Lattimore, but that’s what the Bears really like about Swift: his ability in open space.
Penalties continued to plague the Bears; they had nine for 84 yards in the win. They’re averaging 8.6 penalties for 72.4 yards. Thre’s still stuff that’s got to be cleaned up, like wide receiver DJ Moore lining up offside on first-and-10 with the Bears on their own 9-yard line.
The Bears have been a hot mess in the red zone the last two games. The offense scored two touchdowns on seven red zone trips in wins over Washington and Las Vegas. If they had taken care of business in the red zone Monday night, the game would have been lopsided. Same with the thriller in Las Vegas.
Tight ends remain absent in the passing game. Cole Kmet has 18 targets with eight receptions for 116 yards. Colston Loveland has nine targets with five grabs for 54 yards. The organization has far too much invested in the position for it not to play a much more prominent role in the attack. But that should come in time.
The Bears have dealt with some adversity in the trenches. Theo Benedet, an undrafted free agent from a year ago, made his second consecutive start, this time at left tackle. Right tackle Darnell Wright played with a bulky custom brace on his right arm. More on both of those guys in a little bit and exactly what Wright is dealing with.
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However, the offense keeps finding ways to put up points.
“It was not our cleanest game,” Johnson said. “We made a number of mistakes and penalties were an issue. But once again, our team was resilient and they found a way to win.”
The Bears found the way to lose here last year — a game played 50 weeks ago. Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson got carried away jabbering with fans as the final play began. He was late getting over to a mass of jumping bodies on a Hail Mary from QB Jayden Daniels and wound up tipping the ball to the Commanders’ Noah Brown for the game-winning score.
It wasn’t all Stevenson’s fault. Ten defenders ought to be able to successfully defend a Hail Mary more than 90% of the time, right? But Stevenson made an all-time boneheaded move and he’s truly fortunate it didn’t cost him more.
“That’s the kind of player that gets a coach fired,” texted a former head coach on the night of last year’s game.
That was prescient, but the Bears had to get much deeper into what turned into a 10-game losing streak for Matt Eberflus to be fired. No, this wasn’t a revenge game of any type. Kmet actually laughed at the notion of such a thing.
“We didn’t talk about it as a team,” Johnson said. “What’s in the past is in the past. I wasn’t here. Probably half the team wasn’t here. So we’ve all moved past that. I know some guys spoke on it and gave their two cents. But beyond that, I mean, it wasn’t a big deal.”
I was never of the belief that the Fail Mary game sank the season. It blew a big hole in it, no doubt, and Eberflus botched the aftermath badly which did more damage. It’s not like this Week 6 win is going to catapult a new team to special things. It’s a week-to-week proposition in the NFL and the Bears are proving they can put up the points necessary to be close most weeks.
You were probably hoping Johnson would make an immediate impact on the offense. Who knew 21 or more points in the first five games of the season was such a tall task?
2. Of greater significance to Ben Johnson and his staff and what they are working to cultivate is what this game represented in the first third of the season.
Bears safety Elijah Hicks and teammates celebrate a 25-24 win over the Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
It was a chance to prove the team could handle some prosperity, just a little bit of it.
It’s something the organization has largely failed to do. When you’re chasing sustained success for what seems like forever, that probably figures. Over the previous four seasons, the Bears have won consecutive games on five occasions. It’s impossible to call winning two in a row a “two-game winning streak,” but in the last four years, the Bears strung together back-to-back wins five times.
How’d it go? Well, not good. They lost the third game — the one that would have represented a three-game “winning streak” four straight times before last year when, after victories over the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers, the Bears went to London and trounced the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Oh, what a flight back across the Atlantic Ocean and bye week that must have been. Whatever momentum the Bears thought they had cooking with a 4-2 record was lost right at Northwest Stadium on the Hail Mary play. Flush.
After blowing out the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3, surviving in Las Vegas the next week (isn’t that everyone’s goal?) and going through their early-season bye, here the Bears were with a chance to show they could handle some modest success.
There will be correctable moments in all three phases. But this is what good teams do — and the Bears are working to trend in that direction and do it with regularity. They find ways to win the games that aren’t pretty, have mistakes and are even downright ugly every now and then.
“Two road wins in a row and this is a tough place to play,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “They’ve got a good team. It was the most calm I felt our group has been the whole year. I thought we practiced really well. We were executing well. Our walk-throughs went really well and I think that translated into the game.
“There was never a panic out there and Caleb (Williams) did a great job with what I call huddle etiquette and getting the play calls in and getting guys lined up. I thought guys were really on top of everything and we had good communication across the board. When you have those types of things, you’re going to have a lot of good plays.”
Everyone talks about having a winning mindset, and working to find that mental edge can be the difference between success and failure on the few defining plays. In a one-point seesaw battle, that can come down to a single snap (the Bears ran 59 plays from scrimmage and Washington had 60), and the Bears made one more play.
Matt Eberflus’ coaching staff preached it. Before that, Matt Nagy’s staff hammered it home (the 2020 team actually won five games in a row early that season). That probably feels like a full career ago to Kmet, one of the few remaining players from that era.
But to actually believe it, you’ve eventually have to see it through and win in the clutch moments, especially in a game against a better opponent. The Commanders reached the NFC Championship Game back in January.
“It’s raining out, things aren’t necessarily going your direction, you gotta go find a way,” linebacker T.J. Edwards said. “I think that’s the thing we’re kind of implementing. We expect to win in those situations. We preach it all week and we had confidence in guys to execute when we needed a play. It was awesome.”
Bears fans dressed like Mike Ditka cheer on the team in the second quarter against the Commanders at Northwest Stadium Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
“Culture” is thrown around more than I like to hear, and it’s been misused at Halas Hall in recent years because the culture standings at the end of the year have mirrored the real standings. The Philadelphia Eagles held the Lombardi Trophy at the end of last season. They won the culture award too, by definition.
“We talk about culture very loosely sometimes,” strong safety Kevin Byard said. “But I really, truly believe that it is defined when adversity hits. These last two games, even in Vegas, we faced some adversity and we were able to win the game, and it took 60 minutes. Same thing here. We could have gotten down when we trailed by eight, but we were able to bounce back and we got a big stop — the fumble. The offense finished the game.”
It’s been complementary football and that makes the Bears — 3-2 and one of 10 teams in the NFC above .500 — a team worth paying attention to in the early stages for Johnson.
“I think it says a lot about our locker room right now,” Johnson said. “They’re not just believing. Now they’re starting to understand that, man, if this thing’s close in the fourth quarter, then someone’s going to step up and make a play for us. I think these wins sometimes can go a longer way for your program than those blowouts. So, it was good to see.”
3. If one thing was eating away at Ben Johnson a little during the bye week — and it probably didn’t take a multi-day self-scout into the team’s offense through the first four games — is the fact that the running game wasn’t up to expectations.
Bears running back D’Andre Swift runs the ball ahead of Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu in the first quarter on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Holes weren’t there very often. Little details on blocking assignments were just off. Timing wasn’t precise. On occasions when there was daylight for profit, ball carriers didn’t choose the right track.
Ben Johnson believes the ground attack is a foundational aspect of his offense. Yes, he’s going to do whatever the game calls for in any given week to win. Drop back and chuck the ball 50 times? Fine. Hand it off 50 times? No problem. But his core offensive beliefs, even as the quarterback of a state championship team in North Carolina and a backup QB during college at North Carolina, starts with a rushing offense.
“I’ve got an affinity more so for the run game than what people might realize,” Johnson said before the season. “I spend more time and I dabble in that maybe more than I do the passing game. The passing game to me? I won’t even get into that. There’s nothing more beautiful to me than seeing 11 guys execute a wide zone play the way that we’re coaching it.”
Johnson alluded to the team’s run game struggles last week, and the work that was being done to keep chipping away at things. The Bears made D’Andre Swift a focal point of the offense on Monday night. He touched the ball on four of the first seven plays from scrimmage and turned in the kind of performance — 108 yards on 14 carries (7.7 average) — Johnson knew the offense could get out of the veteran he had previously in Detroit. Swift had 67 yards on two catches as well, racing 55 yards down the sideline for a touchdown when he deked Commanders free safety Quan Martin with a little stutter step that caused cornerback Marshon Lattimore to pull up in pursuit.
The Bears finished with 145 yards on 27 carries. Caleb Williams had a 1-yard touchdown around right end and Roschon Johnson finally got into the mix, moving the pile on a 6-yard run.
Maybe simplifying things a little bit leading up to the game was a key.
“This is probably the smallest menu we’ve had going into a week,” Johnson said. “And maybe that has something to do with us being able to execute a little bit better — a little less volume. We had just a few different ways we wanted to attack this team and they did a good job executing that.”
Swift had runs of 19, 15 and 14 yards as some explosive plays finally started to pop. His 15-yard carry on second-and-12 from Washington’s 33-yard line with 1:14 remaining put Jake Moody in position for the game-winning kick. There was a big alley to the right side and right tackle Darnell Wright was way downfield clearing space.
“O-line did a hell of a job,” Swift said. “Receivers did a good job on that play, I was able to find a little crease.”
To see things come together was gratifying because of the earlier issues in lapses across the board.
“It’s definitely been a point of emphasis and we’ve been talking about it kind of ad nauseam, honestly, over the past few weeks,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “We could see it. It was there on tape. It was close. Whether it was just, ‘Ah, man, we just kind of missed this one here.’ Or ‘the double team wasn’t great on this one.’ Or maybe ‘the back’s track wasn’t exactly where it needed to be on that one.’
“And so it was just like these little things and then along with a lot of penalties and getting backed up in the first four games, I thought we kind of did a better job of that today. That’s why the run game came to life. Had to have that. Especially with the elements.”
Johnson’s goal in swapping out left tackle Braxton Jones for Theo Benedet was to create a little spark in the run game. That worked and it helped to get Wright back after his right elbow injury kept him out of the Raiders game.
“Credit to Theo and I know Darnell is dealing with his arm deal,” Kmet said. “He’s a beast. Theo was great out there. We did a good job communicating. Maybe the few mistakes we had, we did them together. When you’re all wrong together, at least you’re going to get it blocked up. It was good stuff. That was a fun team win to be around.”
Where the ground game goes from here is anyone’s best guess. But it’s evidence that the Bears can be effective with Swift, the veteran who Johnson vouched for in the offseason.
“He was huge,” the coach said. “This is the best, the most efficient we’ve run the ball all year. Really felt an attitude with him. He did a great job of finding a little crease and stepping on the gas as we talked about, played a physical style. Not only that, I mean the 55-yard touchdown was really a game-changer for us. There was a time in the game where we needed a little spark. We’re kind of faltering just a little bit as a team and all it takes is one guy to make a big play like that and really ignite us.
“I think it’s really who I thought he was going to be going into the season. We’re looking for guys that can elevate the people around him and he did that here tonight.”
4. There were no small tasks for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen this week.
Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards shoves Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels out of bounds in the third quarter at Northwest Stadium Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears’ run defense had been abysmal, even in wins, and the Commanders entered the week with a diversified rushing attack that ranked No. 1 in the league, averaging 156.4 yards per game.
The Bears bottled that up. Impressive rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt managed only 61 yards on 17 attempts (3.6 average) and Montez Sweat forced a fumble that linebacker T.J. Edwards fell on, one of three takeaways for a defense that now ranks second in the league with 12, just two behind the Jaguars.
Merritt-Croskey had one explosive run — an 11-yarder — and that was the key. Breakaway runs killed the Bears during the first four games and exploited weaknesses at all three levels of defense. Quarterback Jayden Daniels was elusive with his knee injury healing, accounting for 52 yards on 10 carries, but the defense limited the Commanders to 124 yards on 31 rushes (4.0 average). It was a decisive win for a unit that badly needed one.
Getting Edwards back from a hamstring injury that forced him to miss the first 3 1/2 games and having nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon debut after missing four games with a hamstring injury helped.
“That is definitely something (Allen) was hammering and not just him but Coach (Ben) Johnson and us as a unit,” defensive tackle Gervon Dexter said. “We knew what we were putting on tape wasn’t what we wanted. We knew we had to fix it.”
What sparked the sudden improvement?
“Shedding blocks, striking blocks, getting off blocks, getting a man down,” Dexter said. “Stuff we were putting on tape, we didn’t like. We had to do something about it.”
The Commanders presented a unique challenge because Daniels is dangerous with the ball and Washington can be tricky with offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. They like to get the defense flowing one way and — boom — they are on the other side of the field.
“They do a ton,” Edwards said. “They try to move your eyes and get you off balance a bit. I felt like all week the plan was pretty good. Just being steady and getting set, getting ready to go. They try to hit you with tempo and kind of hurry you up and get you moving. It was a big game to be on our keys and I felt like D.A. based the game plan on that.
“I feel like we played together this week and figured out a way to fix it. It wasn’t perfect. That’s kind of how it’s going to be.”
Bears defensive end Montez Sweat (98) forces a fumble by Commanders running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt in the first quarter Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Byard echoed Edwards’ remarks and said the key was not falling for the traps the Commanders wanted to set.
“It was understanding what type of run game it was going to be,” he said. “There was a lot of gap scheme and especially with the quarterback being able to run, a lot of it was just putting your eyes in the right place and then guys getting off blocks and making plays. We did a really good job. Obviously, the quarterback had some scrambles and that affected the run and the run average. For the most part, we stuffed the run when we needed to.”
That had to be rewarding for Allen, who was pretty blunt in assessing the run defense last week but steadfast in his belief things were going to turn.
5. Talk about a whirlwind introduction to teammates he doesn’t know already.
Bears kicker Jake Moody is lifted by his teammates as he celebrates his game-winning field goal to defeat the Commanders on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Hi, I’m Jake Moody.
The practice squad kicker, signed just before Week 2 game in Detroit, became the hero when he nailed a 38-yard kick as time expired, his fourth field goal of the game. While Moody has been around the Bears for a month, it’s not like everyone got to know him. The specialists have their own deal most of the time in practice and sometimes are working in anonymity on other fields while the offense and defense do their thing.
“I introduced myself to him on the sideline,” running back D’Andre Swift said. “First time I spoke to him. He did a great job. I don’t know when he found out what his role was gonna be today, but just coming in, resilient, man. Just proud. I’m happy to have him on the team too.”
It turned out to be a touch-and-go situation with veteran kicker Cairo Santos. Santos was listed as a full participant in practice all last week, but the Bears designated him as questionable for the game because of the right quad injury suffered in the second half at Las Vegas. The injury flared up a little bit, according to a source, so the team elevated Moody from the practice squad at the 3 p.m. deadline Monday.
Moody knew Monday morning he would be playing and that helped him mentally prepare. Santos was on the trip too and offered advice that the newcomer said was valuable.
Moody made field goals from 47 and 48 yards to stake the Bears to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. He hit again from 41 yards in the fourth quarter and then had a 48-yard try at the start of the fourth quarter blocked. Commanders’ Daron Payne got some penetration in the middle of the line on a kick that might have been a little low.
“We’ll watch it on tape and assess what happened,” Moody said. “But you always gotta think about the next kick, not think about the previous kick. And I knew our guys would come through.”
The next kick came with three seconds remaining, and the 38-yarder was perfect.
I had a joint chat with long snapper Scott Daly and holder Tory Taylor about preparing for the possibility of a kicker change during the week and executing with the game on the line. It was an unusual but illuminating look into their world.
Daly: “It was one of those things where we prepped for every scenario and we’ve been working with Jake for three weeks now. It wasn’t anything foreign. He’s a pro. We felt good going into the game with him. We came in the locker room and we were told, ‘Jake’s going.’ Jake is super low-maintenance. He’s been in the league for a while.”
Taylor: “I feel real lucky, or as you Americans would say, blessed. Cairo and Jake are not high maintenance because you’ve got some people that are (jerks). If it’s half a degree left or right it’s, ‘What was that?’ That does make a difference.”
Did Moody prefer the ball to be tilted in a slightly different manner than Santos?
Taylor: “No. It’s the same operation.”
Did the block weigh on them at all?
Daly: “We can’t blink or anything like that. Things like that are going to happen and it’s not going to be perfect every time.”
Taylor: “I’m going to have (bad) punts and Scott is maybe going to snap bad balls. That all happens. We do a good job of going through our process and our routine. No one gives a (damn) how you feel. (General manager Ryan) Poles and (special teams coordinator Richard) Hightower and coach (Ben) Johnson aren’t going, ‘Oh, I wonder if these boys are feeling OK?’ No, this better go through the (darn) uprights. You know what I mean?”
Daly: “You gotta keep going. We have so many reps throughout the year. It’s not going to be perfect every time. You have to keep going. Keep swinging.”
Now, Moody can meet some more of his teammates that he’s only seen in the locker room or on the practice field.
“It’s a big team,” he said. “You’re not going to get a chance to meet everybody right away. I’m glad to be on the team. I’m glad to be part of this. I can’t wait to formally meet everybody else at some point.”
6. The knee-jerk reaction when the Bears added Jake Moody to the practice squad on Sept. 13 was that the team wanted to add competition for kicker Cairo Santos.
Bears kickers Cairo Santos, left, and Jake Moody prepare for the game against the Commanders on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Santos missed a 50-yard attempt in the Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and didn’t get a kickoff through the end zone for a touchback at the end of the game. But one missed kick and a kickoff that was 3 yards shy of the required distance doesn’t put a veteran with Santos’ resume — he’s the most accurate kicker in franchise history — on notice.
The Bears saw a cheap stock that might turn into a nice investment in Moody, who they had strong grades on when he came out of Michigan in 2023 before he became a third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers.
Santos rebounded with an excellent game on kickoffs to neutralize Cowboys return man Kavonte Turpin in Week 3 and has made all five field goals since Week 1. He has a fully guaranteed $3.1 million contract this season.
Santos, who turns 34 next month, is signed for two more seasons at $3.1 million each year, but the guaranteed money in the contract is complete after this season. His roster standing becomes a year-to-year proposition and there are numerous examples of kickers performing at a high level into their late 30s. For now, the Bears get to see if Moody is worth considering with what amounts to a long-term evaluation in a buy-low proposition. Certainly, his performance Monday night was a big positive.
How does Moody go about rebounding from a rocky start to his career with the 49ers? His reset started with honing in on a fundamental change to his approach that he first explored back in February.
He is making the transition from being a “three-step” kicker in his approach to the ball to using two steps in a bid to become more accurate and more consistent. Moody went to Bonita Springs, Fla., in March to work with kicking coach Brandon Kornblue and he really started to dial in on the change over a month.
“Just kind of testing it out, experimenting with it and asking (Kornblue) what he thought,” Moody said. “It got to the point where I felt like it was more consistent with my approach, eliminating an entire other step. It kind of made everything a more compact and a little bit more precise. So, I guess March was when I made the final decision to stick with it. Been doing it ever since.”
A two-step approach makes Moody a little quicker to the ball, which is always a bonus.
“I felt like my old steps, I was kind of far away,” he said. “I kind of had to start my approach as the snapper was beginning his snap, whereas now, I get to sit back there and wait until the holder almost catches the ball. Being able to see the ball get down and not having to cover as much ground, it’s a little bit better.
“I’d say the majority of (NFL kickers) are three-step but most of them have a very short (third step). Some even just pick it up and put it down. It’s not three strides. Mine was borderline like an actual stride. It was getting to the point that it was pretty long.”
Shortening the approach is something Jamie Kohl, a noted kicking instructor who previously worked as a consultant for the Bears when Chris Tabor was the special teams coordinator, had recommended to Moody.
Bears kicker Jake Moody kicks a game-winning field goal as time runs out against the Commanders at Northwest Stadium Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Kohl has worked with Moody a handful of times but not recently. Kohl really liked Moody in the pre-draft process before the bold move by the 49ers to select him in the third round, the highest-drafted kicker since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made the mistake of choosing Roberto Aguayo in the 2016’s second round.
“Jake was someone I felt was someone that could play well at a place like Chicago because of the leg strength,” Kohl said. “And he showed that at Michigan. Obviously, leg strength is only one of the factors that makes an overall product.”
I asked Kohl what advice he offers kickers who are trying to get back on track, which Moody certainly fell into after San Francisco waived him following a poor showing in Week 1 and replaced him with former Bear Eddy Pineiro.
“What I always try to do with guys who have played long enough and have been established as really good players is to look back at where they’ve been when they’ve had success,” Kohl said. “And I don’t know if Jake would fall into this category because his career has been short, but when you’ve had success or even looking back to your college years, technically what were you doing? Mentally what were you doing?
“From a weekly and monthly routine and kind of a macro look, what were you doing when you were hitting your best, most consistent ball? Basically, you were kicking in the unconscious state, you know what I mean? You were just letting your body go. Then what I’ve tried to do is to get guys back to similar events to create something as close as possible to where they were at that point.
“I think Jake probably would be well served in trying to look back over the course of his career when he was kicking well and what was he doing in five or six areas and trying to recreate that environment. To me, those would be some key things without even getting into the nitty gritty of fundamental differences he may or may not have changed.”
Jake Moody will kick for Chicago Bears tonight after Cairo Santos’ thigh injury flared up
Kohl went through a similar process with Daniel Carlson after the second week of the 2018 season. Carlson, a rookie in Minnesota, had a nightmarish performance in an overtime game at Lambeau Field and was cut the next day. That week, Carlson packed up and drove to Des Moines to work with Kohl for about a month. Carlson wound up getting a second chance that season with the Raiders and has been a mainstay since.
“For Daniel, there are a couple things we did just to shorten him up,” Kohl said. “He was, at that time, super long and I think that was affecting his performance a little bit. The big thing was he had weeks to work on it and then it was just like, ‘OK, now it’s like riding a bike again,’ and he was back to the Auburn days when he was dominant.
“He was on a short leash in Minnesota after a tough preseason. Everyone knew it. Daniel was kind of riding a struggle city bus there and then had a couple weeks to kind of reboot and whether it was a technique thing or just a mental change of scenery along with maybe a couple things we did to help, it all came together. He was super talented.”
Mentally, Moody says he’s already in a good place in his new surroundings.
“Coming to a new place, I think that is kind of enough of a reset in itself just meeting new people, having a new snapper, holder and coach,” he said. “I already feel completely reset. This is my new team, my new spot. I’ve kind of moved on from anything that happened in San Francisco. It’s nice to be back in the Midwest.”
Now, after kicking the Bears to victory, he probably feels even more acclimated.
“I’ve been working with performance coaches and doing a lot of self-reflection and stuff,” he said. “Always just believing in myself, not thinking about the previous kicks or anything like that. Just always focused on the next kick. Keep a nice, neutral thought process for every kick.”
He’s talked several times with former Bears kicker Robbie Gould, the guy he actually replaced in San Francisco. They are represented by the same agent. Gould has offered pointers on performing at Soldier Field, where the wind conditions can make it difficult on kickers. It’s something that Santos has mastered.
“I remember looking up the stats when I (joined the team as an advisor) and saying, ‘What did I sign up for?’” Kohl said. “It’s so hard to kick there and Cairo saved our biscuits there when Eddy (Pineiro) was injured (before the 2020 season). Cairo made 40 (field goals) in a row for the Bears. Did you ever think that would happen?”
One thing to keep in mind now with Moody, especially after he was 4-for-5 on kicks, is that when he reverts back to the Bears practice squad, he’s technically a free agent and could leave for another team at any time. Will another team look at Moody as a kicker that is back on track now?
7. With a large, custom brace on his arm, right tackle Darnell Wright returned to action 22 days after tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Bears offensive tackle Darnell Wright heads to the locker room after a 25-24 win over the Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
It’s an injury that would send a pitcher or quarterback to the doctor for Tommy John surgery. After receiving second and third opinions, according to a source, the belief is Wright will not require surgery. The plan, at least right now, is to allow the UCL to scar over.
Wright was injured in the first half of the Week 3 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Theo Benedet replaced him for 12 snaps, and when Wright returned later in the game, he had a bit of a rough go. With the brace, which he is expected to wear for the remainder of the season, the hope is his power and strength won’t be diminished.
“It is what it is,” Wright said after the game. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
But is his right arm weakened with the injury and the brace? “It’s not as strong,” he said. “It hurts. You just play through it.”
Ben Johnson has raved about Wright’s athleticism, and he probably has been the best run blocker on the line through the early portion of the season. It should catch your attention when the coach refers to Wright as a “unicorn,” as Johnson did last month.
“He’s got some rare traits that you don’t see all the time around this league,” Johnson said. “He can be effective in both the running game and in pass protection. He’s a guy that we count on. We’re trying to do some different things with him, move him around, get him in space or have him pull a little bit, things that maybe he hasn’t done a whole lot of in the past.
“When you have a player of that caliber, that has talent like him, you do try to feature him on your offense.”
As is the case for all first-round picks in their third season, it’s a pivotal year for Wright, whom the Bears chose with the 10th pick in 2023.
The Bears have to make a call after the season on the fifth-year option in his contract. The deadline is usually in May, shortly after the draft.
In 2020, the collective bargaining agreement established four tiers for the salary in the fifth-year option. The top tier requires the player to be selected (not added as an alternate) to multiple Pro Bowls in his first three seasons. The second tier is for players chosen for one Pro Bowl, and Wright currently slots into the third tier because he was over 75% in playing time in his first two seasons.
Over The Cap estimates the fifth-year salary for Wright in 2027 will be $19.949 million. That figure would be the average of the third- to 20th-highest-paid offensive linemen in the league over the previous five seasons. Wright’s four-year rookie contract is worth $20,968,267 and is fully guaranteed.
When the NFL first instituted the fifth-year option for first-round picks in 2011, the Year 5 salary was not guaranteed. That changed in the CBA beginning with the 2020 draft class. Right now, you’d have to say things are trending toward the Bears executing the option year in Wright’s contract.
Bears offensive tackle Darnell Wright blocks Commanders outside linebacker Von Miller in the third quarter on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears have a short list of first-round picks who have had their fifth-year option picked up: offensive lineman Kyle Long, edge rusher Leonard Floyd and linebacker Roquan Smith. That’s reflective of both the team’s struggles in the draft and the fact it was without first-round choices in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
None of those three moves paid big dividends. Serious injuries limited Long to 30 games after his first three seasons. Floyd never got to the fifth-year option as the Bears released him in 2020, getting out from under what would have been a $13.2 million salary in that fifth season. Smith played in 25 games after his first three seasons and was traded when the team couldn’t reach agreement with him on a long-term deal.
If it turns out Wright requires a procedure to address the elbow after the season, the Bears would have a good amount of time to evaluate the situation before the deadline. A best-case scenario for all parties might wind up being a multiyear deal, but there’s no deadline to push that kind of move.
For now, Wright will have to prove he can play well with the brace on his arm to bolster his bargaining power.
Wright played well — the Bears were able to move the ball on the ground — and he’s going to put the elbow issue out of his mind as much as possible.
“We’ll worry about that later,” he said.
Sounds like a guy committed to the long haul.
8. University of British Columbia coach Blake Nill was searching for something to say after Theo Benedet went undrafted in 2024.
Bears offensive lineman Theo Benedet blocks for quarterback Caleb Williams against the Commanders in the first quarter on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
The Detroit Lions had selected Benedet’s teammate Giovanni Manu in the fourth round, so surely they figured Benedet — a two-time winner of the J.P. Metras Trophy, given to the most outstanding lineman in Canadian college football — would be picked. It was a trying moment for both Benedet and Nill, who was just as disappointed.
“Theo and I were having a talk and I was trying to do my best to put his mind at ease a little bit that he was still going to have his chance,” Nill said. “It was very tough on him. This is the truth — and I had no inside information, but I’ve had a few kids play in the NFL — and I said, ‘Within two years we’re going to be talking about you as a starter.’
“I wasn’t looking at a crystal ball. I’ve been coaching 34 years and I was just using my intuition, what I know about Theo, his physical skills, his talent and what he was all around. Then I applied it to the guys I’ve had previously.”
So when Benedet got word he was starting at right tackle for the Bears in Week 4 in Las Vegas, the first call he made was to Nill.
“Everyone feels like they’ve earned it, like I had done enough (to be drafted),” Benedet said. “He said it right then, ‘Within two years, I know you will be starting.’ I said, ‘Coach, you were the first one to say it.’”
Benedet moved over to left tackle Monday night against the Commanders, replacing Braxton Jones in the lineup. The Bears will have to evaluate the tape, but pass protection was pretty solid throughout the game and the run production was just what the staff was seeking.
Offensive line coach Dan Roushar has consistently praised Benedet for being a quick study. He has been able to make adjustments and learn from his mistakes the first time. That’s how he went from being the fourth and final man in the left tackle conversation during training camp to being the one selected to replace Jones.
Bears offensive lineman Theo Benedet (79) and the offensive line work to protect quarterback Caleb Williams (18) in the third quarter against the Commanders at Northwest Stadium Oct. 13, 2025, in Landover, Maryland. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
One thing that stands out about this entire situation is that a new coaching staff that had zero ties to Benedet gave a practice squad rookie from a year ago a real shot at practicing and then playing his way into a role. While this sounds like common sense, this most assuredly is not how it always works.
How it will look if Benedet gets an extended look at left tackle remains to be seen. He doesn’t have ideal arm length. Teams generally hope for left tackles to have at least 34-inch arms, and Benedet’s are just under 32½.
But the Bears like his play style and attitude, and it would be a mistake to put any kind of ceiling on him. Is he a stop-gap measure or, with a long runway remaining this season, can he play his way into a conversation regarding the future? No one can say with certainty.
He has shown to be gritty and determined in the run game, and from the sounds of things the lineup change had more to do with inconsistencies rushing the ball than anything else. The Bears figure they can help out Benedet in pass protection when needed. They were doing the same for Jones. Benedet has a little nasty streak to him, too, and that probably appealed to Ben Johnson.
One thing Benedet has going for him — maybe what gives him the most hope — is he has yet to reach a point where he stopped ascending quickly.
He was a gangly kid at Handsworth Secondary School in North Vancouver when Nill showed up to recruit a teammate, wide receiver Keelan White, now a member of the CFL’s Ottawa Redblacks. Nill wondered who the enthusiastic, tall, skinny kid was and quickly started recruiting Benedet.
Benedet’s career took off from there, and now everyone is wondering where it tracks from here.
“Huge credit to Coach Nill,” Benedet said. “He was the first one to say, ‘You’re going to be an O-lineman. Put your hand in the dirt.’ He kind of had that vision for me.”
And then the vision to say the undrafted free agent would be starting in Year 2.
9. Defensive end Austin Booker and running back Travis Homer remained on injured reserve after being full participants in practice all last week.
Bears defensive end Austin Booker walks off the field after losing against the Colts 21-16 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sept. 22, 2024.(Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
It wasn’t overly surprising considering the amount of time they’ve missed. Both expressed optimism last week, but the Bears had only one practice in full pads — that’s the most allowed in the collective bargaining agreement — so it’s probably a situation where the team wants to give them a little more time on the grass to get back into football shape before they’re activated.
Booker has been sidelined with a knee injury and Homer is returning from a calf muscle injury. The hope is Booker can add a spark to the pass rush with production and possibly by creating situations where Dennis Allen can line him up outside and slide defensive ends Montez Sweat or Dayo Odeyingbo inside.
It’s unrealistic to believe Booker can unlock the Bears pass rush by himself, but he had a good training camp and impressive preseason in which he totaled four sacks in what amounted to 1½ games.
“There is some talent, some twitch, some power in his rush and his long arm and his ability to get to the quarterback,” defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett said. “We’ll be excited when he’s ready to go.
“You saw the guy get better as a player, as a pass rusher, all of the above (before the injury). You see the improvement there. We’ll be excited.”
Even when Booker wasn’t getting home to the quarterback as a rookie last season, the high motor he plays with was evident. He’s only 22 and didn’t enter the league with a ton of college experience — he played in only 18 games between stints at Minnesota and Kansas. But he looked during the preseason like he had taken a step forward in his development.
“It’s refining and then having something that’s in the toolbox,” Garrett said. “Most great rushers, they don’t have a ton of different moves, but they’ve got a go-to that nobody can block.”
It will be a short week of practice, but maybe it will be enough for the Bears to promote Booker and possibly Homer before Sunday’s meeting with the New Orleans Saints at Soldier Field.
10. The Bears sent out a release as the team left to fly home that wide receiver DJ Moore would remain in the area for “precautionary medical attention.”
Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore makes a catch against the Washington Commanders in the first quarter on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Moore spent time in the blue injury tent early in the game. But he played a lot of snaps, including seven consecutive plays in the final series before Caleb Williams positioned the ball for the game-winning kick. Moore had 60 snaps, including ones nullified by penalties, by my unofficial tally from a press box seat with a difficult angle. Coach Ben Johnson is expected to update Moore’s status on Tuesday afternoon.
10a. Caleb Williams finished 17 of 29 for 252 yards and one touchdown and no turnovers. Since the start of last season, he has 16 starts with no interceptions tying him with Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts for the second-most in the league behind Justin Herbert (17).
In the event you are wondering, Williams has 1,179 yards through five games. That puts him on pace for 4,009 yards.
10b. A few defensive numbers: Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had a game-high 13 tackles, his third consecutive outing with double-digits … defensive tackle Gervon Dexter had 1 1/2 sacks.
10c. An interesting nugget. Sack numbers have dipped across the league. Through the first five weeks, there were 4.49 sacks per game. That’s a decent clip below the rate of 5.15 in the same span to begin the 2024 season.
“I do think the ball is coming out fairly quick a lot,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio told Philadelphia media. “I think the sack numbers, when you eliminate the big games that some teams have, are down overall in the last few years.”
This doesn’t excuse what has been a lackluster pass rush for the Bears. It will be interesting to track if the trend continues over the remainder of the season.
10d. After two appearances on “Monday Night Football” and two games in the late afternoon slot in their first five games, the Bears are scheduled to play their next six games at noon. The only prime time game remaining is Week 17 at San Francisco as NBC’s Sunday night game on Dec. 28. The Week 16 home game against Green Bay and the Week 18 finale at Soldier Field against Detroit are both TBA for start times.
10e. The Bears opened as a six-point favorite over the New Orleans Saints at Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas for Sunday’s game at Soldier Field.