BALTIMORE — The takeaways dried up. The injuries piled up. The red zone and penalty woes continued.
In the big picture, none of those factors proved to be the biggest problem Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium. The confounding thing was that it was impossible to tell which quarterback was the one drafted with the No. 1 pick.
10 thoughts after the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Chicago Bears 30-16, ending a four-game winning streak for coach Ben Johnson’s first team.
Stay current with the latest Bears news by subscribing to the Chicago Tribune and sign up for our free Bears Insider newsletter.
1. The Ravens were without two-time MVP Lamar Jackson, ruled out for the third consecutive game with a hamstring injury, and in his place they promoted Tyler Huntley from the practice squad.
Huntley is a former undrafted free agent who helped rally the Ravens to a victory over the Bears in their previous meeting at Soldier Field in 2021. He was once a Pro Bowl addition — a worthy example of how far down the list that game occasionally has to go for alternates — and he spent August in the Cleveland Browns QB derby, if you can call it that, with Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, Kenny Pickett and Shedeur Sanders.
The Ravens scooped up Huntley after he was cut in Cleveland, and maybe they should have been playing him over No. 2 QB Cooper Rush all along because he was efficient, completing 17 of 22 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown. Huntley also ran eight times for 53 yards, and the Ravens (2-5) got a desperately needed victory with their postgame chances in peril.
The Ravens had stumbled with Rush in place of Jackson, and in a now-or-never scenario, they went to Huntley, who said he officially found out Saturday.
“It wasn’t too much of a surprise,” he said. “I am like, ‘Shoot, let’s do it.’”
It was Huntley’s 15th career start and just the sixth time he has been a winner. Since that win over the Bears four years ago, he had two stints with the Browns, one with the Miami Dolphins and this is his third tour of duty in Baltimore.
Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley makes a move on a run in the third quarter against the Bears on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
And when one of the game’s biggest plays needed to be made, Huntley delivered. The Ravens were ahead 23-16 and facing third-and-7 from their 48-yard line with 3:23 remaining after the Bears had used their second timeout.
Huntley had DeAndre Hopkins singled up on the back side of a 3-by-1 formation and put the throw on the money with Nahshon Wright in close coverage. The 14-yard gain kept the drive alive, and Baltimore iced it with Derrick Henry’s second touchdown.
Caleb Williams finished 25 of 38 for 285 yards with one interception. Some big plays were mixed in even before he made a desperation heave near the end of the game and DJ Moore converted a spectacular one-handed grab for a 42-yard gain.
Rome Odunze caught seven of 10 targets for 114 yards, and Williams, who hasn’t been very profitable in the screen game, hit a beauty to D’Andre Swift for 25 yards on third-and-6 early in the fourth quarter. After hesitating to run the last couple of games, Williams pulled the ball down for a 22-yard scramble in the second quarter.
“You see flashes of some explosive plays and some really good things happening, but the penalties (11 for 79 yards), to me, is what stands out first and foremost,” Johnson said. “We still have some of the pre-snap issues where there is occasional not getting lined up quite right. There is occasional not getting the motion quite right. That stuff adds up, and it hurts us.
“We get away with it occasionally, but it’s just not the way you win in this league. I really put it on the leaders in the locker room to get this ship going in the right direction in that regard. Us coaches, we have been pounding that drum now for a while and we haven’t gotten the results we wanted. So it is on the leaders on this team to get us right.”
Williams was called for intentional grounding twice, once just before halftime which forced the Bears to use their final timeout to avoid a 10-second runoff. Williams said he wasn’t on the same page as tight end Colston Loveland and that led to the flag. Cairo Santos’ 58-yard field-goal try on a fire drill was just short. That’s the drive that got jump-started by Williams’ long run.
“We had a chance there for points before half,” Johnson said. “We had a good opportunity to do that. The intentional grounding certainly didn’t help.”
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams gets hit by Ravens defensive tackle Travis Jones in the fourth quarter on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears started hot and dominated early. They ran 22 offensive plays in the first quarter to three for the Ravens but led only 6-0. They were turned back on first-and-goal from the 6. Kyle Monangai was stacked up for a 2-yard loss and Williams was sacked, the only one he took.
The next drive stalled out just shy of the red zone and led to another field goal. It remains an ongoing issue, but the Bears did get off to a quick start and executed early. After that, it was a mess.
The defense got a needed stop midway through the fourth quarter, and the Ravens chose to punt with a 16-13 lead and facing fourth-and-5 on the Bears 39. On second down, Williams was late across the middle — and it looked like behind — to Odunze.
“First quarter or earlier in the game, they threw two crossing routes and I had them completed on me,” cornerback Nate Wiggins said. “That time, I read it. I said, ‘You’re not going to get it again.’”
Wiggins’ interception gave the Ravens the ball on the Bears 9 and set up Huntley’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Kolar. The Bears couldn’t get closer than seven the rest of the way.
“I could have led him farther out in front,” Williams said. “(Wiggins) made a great break on the play. It’s just unfortunate where we were on the field and the situation.”
After the hot start, the Bears struggled to establish momentum. Williams talked about trying to stay on track, and he made some nice plays on third down, where the Bears were a respectable 6 of 13. He had a 27-yard pass to Odunze on third-and-6 at the end of the third quarter.
It was do-or-die time for the Ravens, who were coming off their bye week. Pressure has been mounting on coach John Harbaugh, who has had two losing seasons in 18 years. Imagine what that must be like. But the Ravens were really bad to open this season and ravaged by injuries.
They had allowed a league-high 32.3 points per game entering Sunday. Even the Houston Texans and their mess of an offense came into Baltimore and hung 44 points on the Ravens. So there was a chance for the Bears to put up a big game, and once again — with no takeaways by the defense to create extra possessions or premium field position — that didn’t happen.
It’s all 11 on the field and it’s not all on Williams. It’s also inadvisable to evaluate the quarterback in the vacuum of one Sunday. But this was his 24th start, and the play between him and Huntley didn’t seem all that different, did it?
The Bears keep hammering the idea that everything will be cleared up when (if?) they knock out the penalties. Those don’t account for a consistently subpar completion percentage. They’re not the sole reason for issues in the red zone. Not every game will feature three or four takeaways, and the Bears offense has to play at a significantly higher level.
“I don’t think (Williams) is in a funk,” Swift said. “We all have to be better, not just him.”
No one will argue that point, but the last thing the Bears want to do is face the reality that on their trip to Baltimore, it was difficult to distinguish between Williams and a journeyman QB.
2. You can make a strong case that the game plans and the scripts that Ben Johnson has produced have been sharp almost every week.
Bears coach Ben Johnson looks on from the sideline in the first quarter against the Ravens on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears have been good offensively for much of the season at the outset of games. Crisp drives that move the ball. They got started on Sunday with a 13-play possession, mixing in play-action passes by Caleb Williams with runs by D’Andre Swift.
More play action throws and a 15-yard run by Kyle Monangai powered the second possession. Both drives led to field goals by Cairo Santos.
Related Articles
Caleb Williams’ interception was costly, but Chicago Bears also lament earlier missed chances and mistakes
Tyler Huntley and ‘hungry’ Baltimore Ravens team wear down Chicago Bears: ‘Really, really good, prideful team’
Week 8 recap: Caleb Williams’ late INT sinks Chicago Bears as 30-16 loss in Baltimore ends 4-game win streak
Chicago Bears roster news: Cornerback Kyler Gordon placed on injured reserve and will miss at least 4 games
Column: Kevin Byard — off to one of the best starts of his career — ‘exemplifies all of it’ for Chicago Bears
On the first two possessions of every game — 14 total series — the Bears are averaging 2.78 points per drive. That’s pretty good. On the remaining 62 series (subtracting out two end-of-game drives where they kneeled the ball down), the Bears are averaging 2.08 points per drive.
The discrepancy might not look huge, but there’s a glaring difference in offensive efficiency after the first two series when Johnson is likely beyond the scripted set of plays he hoped to get to early, plays the offense emphasized in practice each week.
There are a ton of issues in play here. The penalties, which we’ll get to in a little bit. Problems in the red zone, where Williams has been less accurate with tighter windows. The Bears dominated the first quarter when they held the ball for 12 minutes, 41 seconds, and they didn’t really get going again on offense until a possession that began with 3:35 remaining in the third quarter.
“Penalties and being able to score in the red zone,” Williams said when asked what is most urgent for the offense right now. “We get into those moments, and we are either not scoring and converting in those moments, and we know that we can. We could have been up 14 in those first two drives that we had. That would have created a bunch of momentum for us.
“That’s how it’s been a good amount of the year, especially in these past two games. We’ve been in the red zone a bunch, and (we’re) not necessarily being able to punch it in, in the high red (zone). Those are the two main things we have to fix. The guys jumping offsides will get fixed. We will get that fixed and be able to move on from those. We just have to execute the plays from there.”
A Ravens defense that has been steamrolled this season got its footing and was able to prevent touchdowns and then steady itself.
“Man, got a lot of respect for Ben Johnson and the way he calls plays,” Ravens middle linebacker Roquan Smith said. “Those first 15, his first 15 (plays) are good. Those are plays that he’s game planned and when they’re doing that, of course they’re going to be attacking (the defense). Hats off to them. But then hats off to us for being able to settle back in and realize how they were able to attack us.”
It’s still a learning process, but the Bears are nearly at the midpoint of the season and the NFL doesn’t slow down for anyone. They’ve got to be able to answer back more quickly on offense as the game reaches the second quarter and in the third quarter and, yes, they have to be more productive when they get inside the opponent’s 30-yard line and closer to the goal line.
The plans each week find creative ways to attack the opponent. The Bears have to be able to parlay that success into more points.
3. Seven games in, it’s getting hard to say the Bears are dealing with a small sample size when it comes to penalties.
Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson watches the video board in the final seconds of a 52-21 loss to the Lions at Ford Field on Sept. 14, 2025, in Detroit. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
The yellow flags just keep coming and coming.
They had 11 penalties for 79 yards — and it wasn’t the yardage as much as it was the untimely nature of the infractions. It would be one thing to say the Bears have one player who’s really contributing to the issue. In 2004, believe it or not, wide receiver David Terrell had 12 penalties called against him. One was declined. He was called for offensive pass interference four times and illegal block above the waist on three occasions.
The Bears couldn’t single out one player who was contributing to an issue. In this game, it started to spread, too. Special teams has played relatively clean ball for coordinator Richard Hightower and there were three penalties here that were problematic.
The most costly of the three went against linebacker D’Marco Jackson, who was flagged for illegal formation on a punt midway through the second quarter. This was after the first of Caleb Williams’ two intentional grounding penalties put the Bears in a fourth-and-23 from their own 40-yard line. Tory Taylor ripped a beauty of a punt that Jonathan Owens downed at the 1-yard line. A 59-yard punt to the 1 is a thing of perfection, right? The penalty on Jackson forced the Bears to re-punt from their 35 and the second attempt went out of bounds at the Ravens’ 22-yard line. That 21-yard difference was huge on what turned into a field goal drive for Baltimore.
Cornerback Nick McCloud was called for pass interference on third-and-3 from the Baltimore 29-yard line. He got way too handsy against wide receiver Zay Flowers. It moved the chains on another field goal drive.
“I was just being a little too physical with him at the line,” McCloud said. “Just gotta be better. I didn’t feel like I needed to (grab him to prevent a big gain). I have to be better though.”
Penalties have been tied to a lack of production in the red zone. There were two more false starts — one by tight end Colston Loveland in the red zone and another by Joe Thuney when the Bears were on their own 4-yard line. The Bears lead the NFL with 14 false starts.
“Can’t have those,” Loveland said. “I had one myself today. Can’t have that. That’s two (games) in a row. Things like that I have to clean up.”
Bears tight end Colston Loveland warms up to face the Ravens on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Williams overcame Loveland’s false start with a 7-yard completion to Rome Odunze on third-and-6 before that possession turned into a field goal.
“I think definitely the majority of the problem is us shooting ourselves in the foot, missing execution on the play,” Odunze said. “I don’t think there’s ever been any instance where we have not had a penalty or not executed a play properly where we haven’t scored touchdowns in the red zone, so we’ve got to get back to that.”
It sounds simple and is turning into something that is much more complicated for the Bears. They are now averaging 9.1 penalties per game. Entering Week 8, the league average was 7.1. So, it’s not as out of whack as you might think, but the Bears have had eight or more penalties in six of their seven games.
It’s curious that Ben Johnson says the coaches have been hammering the point home — with no success — and now it’s up to the leaders on the roster to help fix this problem. We’ll have to see if anything changes because it’s not a situation where the Bears can say they fell victim to an overly officious crew. Every crew they draw is throwing flags on them. Until it’s remedied, all the talk of what ails the Bears is just going to be that — talk.
4. The good news, following the Bears’ move Saturday when they placed Kyler Gordon on injured reserve with groin and calf injuries, is that he is expected to return.
Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon takes a video with a fan at the end of Family Fest at Soldier Field on Aug. 3, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
The bad news and reality is that the defense will be forced to play at least another three games without Gordon, who already missed the first four games of the season recovering from a hamstring injury suffered in early August.
More stuff is breaking down for Gordon, who was working his way back to playing action before the season opener after missing his first practice on Aug. 7. The hamstring injury was aggravated on the weekend before the Monday night Week 1 meeting with Minnesota. Gordon came back to play in Week 6 and this past week he reappeared on the injury report, this time with calf and groin issues listed.
It’s all connected and when one soft tissue area is not 100% it can lead to more injuries.
“We are hoping it is going to be of the short-term variety,” Ben Johnson said. “So we should be able to get him back. Yes, it is another soft-tissue injury that we are dealing with.”
Soft-tissue injuries have plagued Gordon in his time with the Bears. Before this season, it was mostly limited to injuries that cost him time in the offseason program or training camp. He missed two games last season with a hamstring injury. A broken hand cost him four games in 2023. A concussion sidelined him for two games in 2022 and then he missed the season finale that year as a rookie when he was ruled out with a groin injury/illness.
Obviously, the Bears are going to have to work with Gordon to find a way to get him right because when he’s on the field, he is a difference-maker for their defense.
With a shoulder injury sidelining Tyrique Stevenson and Jaylon Johnson on injured reserve while rehabilitating from surgery to repair a groin injury, the Bears were down their top three cornerbacks. You can make a case that they were without their top four, as Terell Smith was lost in the preseason to a torn patellar tendon in his knee.
“We didn’t even pay attention to that if I’m being honest,” Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers said. “We didn’t know this whole week whether they were playing or not. We did what we did.”
The Ravens, of course, were without two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“So we’re even, right?” Flowers said before laughing.
No one is going to feel sorry for the Bears this week as they prepare to face the dangerous duo of Ja’Marr Chase (70 receptions, 720 yards, 5 touchdowns) and Tee Higgins (25 receptions, 360 yards, 4 touchdowns) in Cincinnati. Remember, it was just two years ago that Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco, then in Cleveland, bombed the Bears in the fourth quarter with 212 yards — and he’s still capable.
The Bears adjusted by having Nick McCloud start on the outside with Nahshon Wright. In nickel situations, McCloud went inside and Jaylon Jones played on the outside.
“Going into the game, I had full confidence in those guys,” free safety Kevin Byard said. “We didn’t do enough but if those guys have got to go back out there (next week), I’ve got full trust in them again. We’ll get the stuff we need corrected from film.”
Because the Bears didn’t place Stevenson on injured reserve, they’re saying it’s a short-term injury. As far as Johnson, as best I know, the plan remains for him to return to the field this season. I don’t believe a timeline for that has been established.
Suffice to say, it’s going to be a while until the secondary looks like the Bears imagined it as they prepared for the season. That’s something to keep an eye on as they look to return to their ballhawking ways.
5. I don’t think there’s any question that this game meant a little more to Roquan Smith.
Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith is congratulated after tackling Bears wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus after a reception in the third quarter at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Oct. 26, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
But as he returned to a 1-5 team from a hamstring injury, Smith really couldn’t spend any time reflecting on how his career began as a first-round draft pick of the Bears before the team made the decision to resolve a contract impasse by trading him.
Smith, who had a game-high 12 tackles with seven solos, is a fiery leader for his teammates and he was the one who broke down the huddle after the Ravens completed pregame warmups. That’s not surprising given he handles that responsibility regularly.
So, did he let his feelings for the Bears play a role this week or did he kind of shut those thoughts out?
“Honestly, maybe if it was like a couple months after I got traded or maybe even a year (it would have been a factor),” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’m comfortable with who I am as a person and who I am as a player, and I know what I bring to the table. So, it’s just more so about me echoing that in each and every snap through my play, and not really worrying about the outside noise.
“What really matters is me going to work each and every day, preparing for each and every team like it’s my last game, because it very well could be. I’ve just had that approach throughout (my career) and if you keep that approach as a player, good things are going to happen. You just play relentlessly, and that’s what it was about. It was just really great though to see a lot of people over in Chicago. (There were) a lot of faces that I got to see who I care about and this game is about relationships. So, it was just awesome to see those people after the game and have talks with them (in) pregame and things of that nature, because relationships will go long after this ball stuff is over with.”
Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith chases Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III in the third quarter on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty here. Are the Bears better now than they were in the middle of the 2022 season when Smith was traded?
“I think it’s a better team overall, yes,” Smith said. “As a competitor and being in it, I thought I had a shot to win each and every week, regardless of what our record was (with the Bears) or anything like that. Every week, I thought we were going to win, even though we were the underdogs most every week. That was my mindset.
“So, it’s kind of crazy for me to think how bad of a team it was when I left and seeing what kind of team this is — and obviously haven’t finished the job here. But looking at this and looking back at that, I was like, ‘Oh, there’s levels to it.’ When you’re in it, it’s like, ‘We can do this!’ That was my mindset.”
6. Folks around the league expect the NFL will deliver a hefty fine and punishment to the Ravens for their injury report switcheroo Saturday.
Injured Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson celebrates the win Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
The Ravens listed Lamar Jackson as a full participant on Friday’s final injury report and declared him questionable for the game.
“Full practice today,” coach Jim Harbaugh told Baltimore media. “So that was good, and we’ll see where we’re at going forward.”
Saturday morning, the Ravens declared Jackson out and changed his Friday practice status from full to limited. Ruling out a questionable player the day before the game is not unusual. Changing a player’s practice status from full to limited — a day later — is highly unusual.
It’s possible there are other instances of this happening but none I’m aware of. I’ve seen teams edit their injury reports within a few hours of releasing them. Teams can have a rough draft of the report before practice and then need to tweak it afterward before sending it out. Honest mistakes happen.
In this case, the Ravens changed the practice status of their marquee player a day later — and after Harbaugh described him as “full” twice in speaking with reporters.
According to a league source, the NFL reviews any change to a player’s status on the injury report and is expected to look into Jackson’s status change from Friday.
It all started Saturday morning when Ian Rapoport, employed by NFL Media, reported that Jackson was the scout team quarterback in practice. Next, the Ravens downgraded Jackson from questionable to out, and Saturday afternoon they clarified their actions with a statement:
Lamar Jackson was present for and participated fully in our entire Friday practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Bears. Upon further evaluation today and after conferring with the league office, because Lamar didn’t take starter reps in practice, we updated our report to reflect his practice participation.
Teams are required to accurately reflect player participation in practice. If a player normally rotates in with the first unit in practice and rotates in on a given day, he’s a full participant. If a player normally takes all of the starting quarterback reps, such as Jackson, and takes none of them, he should be listed as limited.
It’s not necessarily a big deal for the Bears, who would have been foolish not to prepare for the return of Jackson, a two-time league MVP. It’s a massive deal when considering the lack of public transparency.
A betting line that had the Ravens favored by 6½ points throughout the week climbed to the key number of 7 on Friday with the news Jackson was a full participant. By Saturday evening, it had dropped to Ravens by 2½ and even lower depending on the shop.
That’s a bad look for the Ravens and an equally bad look for the NFL, especially in light of the NBA gambling bombshell that dropped last week with a coach and player accused of wrongdoing in a news conference led by FBI director Kash Patel.
Sports betting is a booming business in the US. The FBI’s NBA probe is putting it in the spotlight.
Transparent injury reports are necessary to eliminate the possibility of insider information being disseminated to gamblers. It’s why injury reports are now part of college football with sports betting legalized across much of the country.
The Ravens are generally considered a buttoned-up operation, and one high-ranking source with another team admitted to surprise that this kind of issue would permeate the organization. After the game, Harbaugh seemed to point the blame at his medical and PR staffs.
“I don’t know those particular (injury report) rules,” he said. “In their defense, (Jackson) practiced a full practice. I think they felt like, because he did the same number of reps (as he usually does), it was a full practice.
“But when you dig in and you read the rule, at the end of the day, it wasn’t right. So that’s what it was. That’s why, as soon as we found out, we changed it.”
So whom did Harbaugh mean when he said, “In their defense”?
“That’s in the training room and the PR (staff) on the other side,” he said. “It’s not on the football side. (It was on the) medical side. But it’s an honest mistake. I can tell you this: Nobody is trying to hide anything. There’s no advantage to be gained with that.”
Ben Johnson said the Bears prepared for Jackson, and “then when we found out that he wasn’t playing, we get ready for the next guy.”
It’s somewhat reminiscent of gamesmanship the Minnesota Vikings and Bears had at the end of the 2010 and start of the 2011 seasons.
The Bears played a Week 15 road game in 2010 at TCF Bank Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus. That Saturday, the Vikings declared quarterback Brett Favre out for the Monday night game. Monday morning, they upgraded the future Hall of Famer to questionable, saying his sprained right shoulder felt better after he woke up.
”If a player’s medical status changes during the course of the week, the club must update his playing status accordingly prior to the game,” then-NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. ”That is what the Vikings did when Brett’s status changed today.”
Favre started what turned out to be the final game of his career. He was knocked out of the game on a crushing hit from defensive end Corey Wootton, and the Bears won 40-14.
Bears defensive end Corey Wootton sacks Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in the second quarter Dec. 20, 2010, at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. (Brian Cassella/ Chicago Tribune)
The story carried over to the next season when the Vikings came to Soldier Field for a Week 6 game. Defensive end Julius Peppers had sprained the MCL in his left knee the week before, and the Bears listed him as doubtful on the final injury report at a time when players with that designation almost always sat out. Peppers started and had two sacks and three tackles for a loss in a 39-10 Bears victory.
If you think the Bears were sending a message to the Vikings when they made Peppers doubtful and then he played, you would be correct. Given that Jackson plays a more significant position, and considering the Ravens either manipulated his Friday practice status or made a gross error — it’s one or the other — it strikes much differently.
”We don’t allow people to play games with the injury list,” Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters at TCF Bank Stadium before the Favre game in 2010.
We ought to know soon if the NFL determines the Ravens played a high-stakes game that clearly had major repercussions on sports gambling, something the league partners in.
7. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett returned to action for the first time since Week 3 and arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
Bears defensive tackle Grady Jarrett (50) celebrates after making a play in the second quarter against the Ravens on Oct. 26, 2025, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Jarrett, signed to a $42.75 million, three-year contract in free agency with $27.25 million fully guaranteed, was on the field for 36 snaps, according to my unofficial tally. Jarrett was credited with three tackles and it looked like he probably deserved a half-sack on a play where he collapsed the pocket immediately by riding left guard Andrew Vorhees straight back into the pocket. Gervon Dexter Sr. was given credit for the play. He had another really nice rush later in the game.
“Got (Vorhees) on skates,” Jarrett said. “The second one was a nice outside move. Definitely wanted to win today. I was happy to be back out there.”
It was good for the Bears to get him back because he was one of the high-profile additions in the offseason, a player signed because of the juice he can bring to the locker room and his ability to collapse the interior of the pocket on passing downs.
Jarrett tried playing through the injury. He was on the field for 46 snaps (82.1%) in the season opener and got 35 (59.3%) and then 43 (58.1%) in the next two games when he was clearly hobbled. Even on one good leg, he had three quarterback hits through the first two games, displaying the kind of disruptive ability the Bears want to tap into.
He tried gutting it out, but the decision was made that he’d have a better chance of returning to full strength with some time off — he missed the last three games and had the bye week to rehabilitate from the scope.
“Every game I have played, I have been injured this year,” Jarrett said. “I have just been hurt in every game. I am excited to get back right and put my best foot forward and I can’t wait for whenever that opportunity comes.”
The 32-year-old isn’t there yet. One of the reasons he was attractive to the Bears for his 11th season is that, with the exception of a torn ACL in his right knee that limited him to eight games with the Atlanta Falcons in 2023, he’s been very durable. Jarrett missed one game as a rookie in 2015 and two in 2018. That’s been it other than the ACL injury, which he said isn’t a factor with his current situation.
“No,” Jarrett clarified. “ACL is awesome. Awesome cruciate ligament.”
Bears defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and his teammates take the field for a game against the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Oct. 26, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Jarrett wasn’t interested in talking about his history and the fact that he’d appeared in 155 games entering this week. He wants to be more than a rah-rah guy from the sideline and knows to be a true leader, you have to be in the middle of the action.
“That’s my plan, to continue to answer the bell,” he said. “It’s just been a delayed start. I am excited to go out there.”
How the rotation in the middle plays out in the coming weeks will be interesting and will likely hinge on the strategy for the opposing offense each week. Andrew Billings’ playing time has gone up since Jarrett went out. Billings was on the field for 37.6% of the snaps through the first three games. That figure climbed to 55.5% in the last three games and his presence — with the real exception of the Week 4 win at Las Vegas when the run defense was poor across the board — has aided a resurgence by the front.
In the big picture, the Bears want Jarrett on the field for passing downs and when the game is close during the second half. They should probably be cautious with his playing time anyway. One veteran scout, after the Bears signed him in free agency, suggested the Falcons overused Jarrett last season after his quick return from the ACL repair. Monitoring his playing time in the second half of the season is a good idea. A fresh and healthier Jarrett should have an impact.
8. It could be that DeAndre Hopkins, 33, got away with one of the moves that are sometimes afforded players with 994 career receptions.
Ravens’ Deandre Hopkins looks on before the Week 8 game against the Bears at M&T Bank Stadium on Oct. 26, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
He only caught one ball during the game — for 14 yards — but as I alluded to above, it was at a huge moment in the game. Hopkins was on the back side of a 3×1 formation with cornerback Nahshon Wright across from him on third-and-7 from the Ravens’ 48-yard line with 3:23 remaining. Baltimore led 23-16 and with a stop, the Bears had a chance to tie the game.
“I anticipated that route he was going to run, knowing exactly where the ball was going to be as well,” Wright said.
Wait a minute. The guy had been ignored for the entire game by Tyler Huntley and you were convinced the ball was coming your way?
“I knew it,” Wright said. “Just from film study. That specific formation. That look. Short side of the field. I just kind of knew it. So, I played it pretty well.”
Wright played sticky coverage and when Hopkins reached the line to gain, he got a hold of Wright’s facemask with his left hand, pulled, turned around and he was wide open. It was a 14-yard gain.
“He kind of snagged my facemask down, yeah,” said Wright, who lobbied for a facemask call with officials after the play. “He pulled my facemask down and the next thing you know, he’s got the ball. It was just a great play by him. He kind of got away with a veteran move.”
Sign up for our Bears Insider newsletter
I asked Hopkins about Huntley calling his number in crunch time.
“I have been doing that for a while, man,” he said. “Tight situations like that and coming up with those kinds of catches.”
Did he get Wright’s facemask?
“I was focused on the ball,” Hopkins replied. “I knew where the ball was. Shout out to (Huntley) for giving me a chance.”
9. Cairo Santos connected on field goals from 32, 39 and 47 yards in his return from a right thigh injury that kept him out of the previous two games.
Bears punter Tory Taylor and kicker Cairo Santos (8) celebrate after a field goal by Santos in the first quarter of a game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Oct. 26, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
His 56-yard attempt on the final play of the second quarter was just short. It came as the field goal team rushed onto the field with the clock running and the Bears unable to stop it.
“We know if it is a clock running, and we are short of the line of gain, that we will need to get our hurricane unit out there, our field goal team out there, really quick,” Ben Johnson said. “I thought the execution of all that was nice but that is a really long field goal. It’s a low percentage deal.”
It will be interesting to see what happens with Jake Moody, who remains on the team’s practice squad. The Bears are obviously happy to keep him and he did a nice job filling in, making eight of nine field goals, including a game-winner at Washington. His only miss was a blocked kick that was probably a little low.
If another team has a kicking issue, has Moody done enough to rehabilitate his resume after a rocky go of things in San Francisco? Keep in mind that when teams sign a player off another team’s practice squad, they have to guarantee him three weeks’ salary.
“I am grateful for the opportunities I have gotten so far,” Moody said. “The scenarios that I’ve had, I am kind of taking it one day at a time. I don’t know if I would have called it a best-case scenario.
“I definitely could have hit (the one that was blocked) higher. I take the blame on that one. I have been working on trajectory, getting the ball off quick.”
Bears kickers Jake Moody, left, and Cairo Santos, prepare for the game against the Commanders on Oct. 13, 2025, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
What does he think about the possibility of being signed away by another organization?
“Kind of like I said, you have to take it day-by-day,” Moody said. “You don’t want to plan for the future because you’re not really sure how it’s going to go. I come in every day and prepare as if I am going to play. If Cairo is going to play, great. If not, also great because I am prepared for it. If somebody else comes calling, you just never know. I just have to stay ready for whatever.”
Often, when teams have an in-season need for a kicker, they will call a few and have a tryout. Moody can’t participate in any tryouts as long as he’s on the Bears practice squad, where he collects a modest check. That’s a balance he’s got to consider. What is best for him in his bid to win one of 32 jobs? For now, kicking regularly at Bears practice, even if Santos is handling the bulk of the work, might be best.
10. When the Bears announced during the third quarter of the Week 7 game with New Orleans that Tyrique Stevenson was out with a shoulder injury, I recalled his medical status entering the draft.
Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson speaks with the media following Bears minicamp at Halas Hall on June 4, 2025, in Lake Forest. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Stevenson underwent surgery on his right shoulder for a labral repair in November 2021 after being injured playing for Miami. The AC joint and collarbone were also involved in the surgery, according to the pre-draft medical report by another team, and he had a lengthy, nine-month rehabilitation process.
I do not know if Stevenson, whom Ben Johnson has labeled somewhere between “week to week” and “day to day” in his recovery, is currently dealing with a right or left shoulder injury. Here’s the good news: According to the medical report that was shared with me, the team that produced it did not fear there was a lingering issue moving forward with Stevenson’s right shoulder.
That should eliminate the concern that Stevenson was playing with a shoulder issue that made him susceptible to larger concerns. That doesn’t make life any easier for the Bears for the time he does miss on defense, but it’s positive news nonetheless.
10a. Austin Booker is expected to finally rejoin the 53-man roster before Tuesday’s deadline.
He’s coming back at a potential time of need. Defensive ends Shemar Turner (knee) and Dominique Robinson (ankle) both left the game and did not return. Turner and Robinson have been regulars in the rotation and once they were out, Daniel Hardy got a little more run. Now, Booker, who suffered a knee injury in preseason, can jump back in and likely get action.
10b. Wide receivers Luther Burden III (concussion) and Olamide Zaccheaus (knee) also left the game and did not return. That’s worth monitoring. Devin Duvernay was the next man up ahead of rookie Jahdae Walker. In the event Burden and Zaccheaus miss some time, maybe Walker gets extra work in practice. It’s all tied together, too, with the potential availability of tight end Cole Kmet, whose consecutive games played streak of 90 ended as he sat out with a back injury.
10c. The CBS team of Spero Dedes, former Bears safety Adam Archuleta and Aditi Kinkhabwala will call the Bears-Bengals game from Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Sunday.
10d. The Bears opened as a 1 1/2-point favorite over the Bengals for Sunday’s game in Cincinnati at Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/27/chicago-bears-brad-biggs-10-thoughts-ravens-week-8/