Bears edge Aaron Rodgers-less Steelers to improve to 8-3; Can they keep it up when the schedule gets tough?
The Chicago Bears are much improved under first-year head coach Ben Johnson and now have an 8-3 record to show for it.
Chicago took a two-possession lead against Pittsburgh Sunday, then held on for a 31-28 win over a Steelers team playing without injured starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
With Mason Rudolph at quarterback, the Steelers were able to move the ball against a Bears defense playing without all three starting linebackers Tremaine Edmonds, Noah Sewell and T.J. Edwards. But Caleb Williams kept Chicago's offense humming just enough for its eighth win in nine games.
Now comes the hard part. The Bears have proven capable of beating up on lesser opponents. Their previous seven wins came against Cowboys, Raiders, Commanders, Saints, Bengals and Giants teams that are not in the playoff picture. Sunday's win came against a Steelers team with plenty of questions about its own playoff viability and playing without its starting quarterback.
The rest of the season will tell the story of the Bears' season and just how much they've improved in 2025. Up next in Week 13 is a road game against the reigning champion Eagles. From there, they'll face the rival Packers twice, the 49ers and close their season against the reigning NFC North champion Lions.
Each of those teams has a winning record and is a contender for the postseason. The only remaining game against a non-playoff contender comes in Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns.
But you can't fault a team for its schedule. You can only beat the opponents that you play. And thus far, the Bear have largely done just that while second-year quarterback Caleb Williams has demonstrated significant improvement under the tutelage of Johnson.
He got the job done again on Sunday while throwing for 239 yards (19 of 35 passing) with three touchdowns and no interceptions. And in continuing perhaps his biggest second-year leap, Williams took just one sack on Sunday.
Williams took a league-high 68 sacks for a league-worst 466 lost yards as a rookie. Through Sunday, Williams has now taken just 17 sacks in 11 games.
His sack on Sunday was costly. He lost a fumble on the play near the end zone that the Steelers recovered for a touchdown. But as he's done throughout the season, he remained poised throughout the game to lead Chicago to victory.