Bears take biggest tumble in ESPN’s preseason power rankings

The Chicago Bears are done making tough decisions following Sunday’s roster cutdown deadline. Chicago has assembled their best 53 players and are ready to prove their doubters wrong in 2026. Unfortunately, their perception around the league took a dip just before the regular season.

ESPN’s NFL Nation team released a new set of power rankings on Monday following the preseason. Chicago took the biggest fall of any team, falling to 12th place. The Bears were ranked in 9th place immediately after the 2026 NFL Draft. Chicago fell behind Detroit, Houston, and Baltimore  in the process.

Each team also received a milestone for fans to watch out for during the 2026 season.

ESPN’s Courtney Cronin shared one obvious milestone that Bears fans have likely had their eyes on for years. She is expected Caleb Williams to become the first Bears quarterback to throw for 4,000 passing yards in a single season.

“This feels like a slam dunk. Williams was 58 yards from reaching the 4K threshold in his first season under coach Ben Johnson, and he still managed to set the Bears’ single-season passing record (3,942 yards),” Cronin wrote. “Williams threw for less than 200 yards in four games in 2025, so if he has one or two fewer instances of that, he should be at 4,000 yards by mid-December.”

This is hardly the first time Williams has been connected to that 4,000-yard mark.

Williams does not need to fundamentally retool his game to accomplish that goal. Instead, he may only need to tweak his accuracy to connect on a few more big plays.

“One focus for Williams this offseason has been improving his accuracy (58.1% completion percentage). That not only will assist the offense’s ability to stay on the field but also increase his production in the passing game.”

It will be exciting to see if Williams can make Bears franchise history this fall.

The Bears open the regular season with a road game against the Panthers. That contest kicks off at 1PM ET on September 13th from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.