The Chicago Bears’ fast start hit a wall in Week 2, and the fallout was immediate.
Minnesota knocked off Chicago, 9-3, and in the process the Bears also lost star quarterback Caleb Williams to a hamstring injury. After the explosion of points in Week 1, it was a jarring turn for a team that had spent the past week feeding the league’s loudest buzz.
That buzz had been building ever since Chicago hung 59 points on the Carolina Panthers in its season opener. Head coach Ben Johnson had already raised the bar during the offseason by saying the Bears wanted to win the Super Bowl. He also said they wanted to have the highest-scoring offense ever, and the opener made that sound a little less like talk and a little more like a challenge.
Naturally, the math started flying. People were quickly calculating what it would take for Chicago to chase down the 2013 Denver Broncos’ single-season scoring mark of 606 points. After Week 1, the Bears were on a pace that pointed well beyond that number.
But Week 2 changed the mood in a hurry. On his podcast this week, Adam Schefter made it clear he didn’t buy the idea that Johnson and the Bears were about to fade.
He said, “ Regress my a-. I mean, give me a break.”
There was still some hope that Chicago’s offense would keep rolling, especially with Caleb Williams saying after Week 1 that the team had plenty to clean up and suggesting it might have been their worst game of the season. And there was even a quirky bit of local optimism attached to Colston Loveland, with a Chicago hot dog stand promising free hot dogs if the tight end scored two touchdowns in Week 2.
Loveland had entered the season with some attention after catching 58 passes and scoring six touchdowns as a rookie, but he didn’t have a catch in Week 1. A breakout was supposed to be coming. Instead, he finished Week 2 with one catch for three yards.
So the hot dogs stay in the stand, and the Broncos’ record remains untouched for now.
Denver’s 2013 team didn’t dip below 27 points in a game until the Super Bowl XLVIII blowout against the Seattle Seahawks. The Bears, after two weeks, are now on pace for 527 points - still a strong total, and one that would tie them with the 2018 Los Angeles Rams for the 14th most all-time.
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