Bears are 5-2 — and it's time to ask the scary question

Fans of the Chicago Bears have been trained by hard-luck experience not to ask this question in October. So let’s ask it carefully … are the Bears actually this good?

Thursday night's 30-24 win over the New England Patriots at Soldier Field was the kind of game Chicago has lost in the past. On a short week, the Bears were facing a Patriots team riding a three-game winning streak. Drake Maye came into Chicago playing the best football of his young career but the Bears, missing pieces throughout their defense, still found a way to win.

Caleb Williams was the story again. In his second game back from a hamstring injury, the top pick of the 2024 draft went 22-of-33 for 308 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, outdueling Maye (the third overall pick from that same class) in their second professional meeting. Maye got the first one as a rookie, 19-3, in 2024. Round 2, however, belonged to Williams, who made the big play when needed, including engineering a touchdown drive to open the second half after New England scored on a head-shaking play as the first half expired.

On that answering drive and throughout the night, Williams leaned on the weapons this front office has stacked around him. Luther Burden III turned four catches into 130 yards and a touchdown. Colston Loveland hauled in a score, shaking off a couple of dropped passes. D'Andre Swift ground out 78 rushing yards and a touchdown. And when the game needed closing, Cairo Santos drilled a career-best 58-yard field goal with 1:34 left to push the lead to 30-21.

The defense, while bending often to some of Maye's play-making abilities, made the one grab that swung the night. D'Marco Jackson's end-zone interception of Maye late in the second quarter killed a Patriots drive that would have changed the halftime math entirely. Maye finished with 321 yards and accounted for three touchdowns, but that one throw is the one he wanted back.

So which Chicago Bears team is this?

Here is the scary question, Chicago. Is this a Bears team that will break the Windy City’s hearts again or is it strong enough to build a case for a Super Bowl run?

Here is the case for believing. Williams has now posted back-to-back 300-yard games since returning from injury, and he is doing it by spreading the ball to a receiving crew that seemingly has found its stride and mojo. The Bears are 5-2, have won in primetime on a short week and keep winning the turnover moments that decide close games.

Bears fans know, however, there is always a case for caution. The pass rush remains thin, the injury list isn't shrinking and the schedule is about to bare its teeth. Chicago gets a long week ahead of a Monday night matchup in Seattle against the reigning champion Seahawks. That game could well tell us more about this team than the last two (both wins) combined.

Williams, for his part, isn’t hedging against what the Bears have become with him back under center.

"These games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team, and that's who we are. We're a smashmouth football team, innovative team," he said Thursday night.

Bears fans have been hurt before (commentators brought up the painful “double doink” moment on Thursday night) and nobody is fitting anyone for rings in October. However, 5-2 is 5-2, the quarterback looks like the real thing and the scary question about the Bears doesn't feel so scary to ask anymore.