Bears

The NFL is truly a week-to-week league. After dropping nearly 60 points in a Week 1 win, the Bears were humbled and scored just three in a Week 2 loss to the Vikings in horrible weather. Even worse, they lost QB Caleb Williams for a still-to-be-determined amount of time with a hamstring injury that looked like it could be major at first glance. Bears HC Ben Johnson will go from targeting the NFL scoring record to just trying to keep the season afloat with backup QB Tyson Bagent. 

“Their defense isn’t very good,” one exec for another team told The Athletic’s Mike Sando, “so it’s just fascinating to me where they go mentally. To me, it’s like Ben Johnson has been thinking, ‘The more I double down, the better it is. I’m going to throw this s— out there, and I’ll live up to it. I want to lead the league in points scored.’ Which they still may. Whatever. The s— is hard to do.”

Another executive for a different team, however, wasn’t ready to write off Johnson and the Bears. 

“Ben’s schtick is what it is, and it works for him,” the second exec said. “He wanted 60 points last week. He wants 38 a game (for the season). I’d be much more concerned if they had three points in a dome…”

“They drove with a minute left from their own 35 to the Minnesota 12 with their backup quarterback and no timeouts, and got three throws to the end zone. A lot of teams don’t do that with their starters.”

This source told Sando they thought the dropoff from Williams to Bagent would be less than some people expected, even though the talent gap is obvious. 

“They went to Philly and won last year because they could run the ball,” the second exec said. “They’ve got two better-than-average backs (D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai), and they had (224) yards rushing last week combined. Ben’s vision is he’d like Caleb to be a more refined pocket passer. They will actually play in the structure of the offense more with this guy, Bagent. I don’t think the sky is falling.”

• Johnson talked about Williams’ hamstring injury: “It sounds like it’s going to be a week-to-week deal for him… But he will likely miss some time.” (Dan Wiederer)

Lions

• Lions HC Dan Campbell said S Brian Branch is closer to returning than S Kerby Joseph off the PUP list, but both must sit out the first four games regardless of when they return to practice. (Dave Birkett)
• Campbell said Joseph didn’t suffer a setback, but there was a time when they felt he couldn’t do everything they wanted: “Until we can get the knee to a certain point to where it feels strong — as strong as we can possibly get it and he feels comfortable — we’re not gonna put him out there. Until he’s ready.” (Colton Pouncy)
• Campbell backed DC Kelvin Sheppard after allowing 41 points in Week 2: “I believe in (Kelvin) Sheppard. I believe he’s an outstanding coach.” (Pouncy)

Packers

Packers DE Lukas Van Ness had one of the best games of his career in an overtime win in Week 2, going for nine tackles, three tackles for loss, four quarterback hits, and 1.5 sacks. Green Bay HC Matt LaFleur raved about Van Ness’ day and thinks he would’ve done more of this last year had he been healthy.

“He was all over the place,” LaFleur said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “He’s really coming into his own, and I think we’ve seen that. We’ve seen it all offseason. I think you even saw flashes last year. He just was injured so much. I think he can be a very impactful player for us.”

Van Ness described his mental state coming into the game after the outside noise following a tough Week 1 loss.

“I just came in today, and I was just focused on dominating,” Van Ness said. “I’ve always maintained belief in myself. I know what I’m capable of, but again, it’s been a process. It’s day by day. I’m not focused about the outside noise or what people are saying outside the building. All I care about is the people in the locker room and the building and just continue to progress 1 percent every single day, and again, when you do that, and you’re consistent, that’s when you have these performances.”

Packers TE Tucker Kraft came into the league in 2023 with Van Ness. He isn’t surprised at all by his close friend’s performance and couldn’t say enough about his potential.

“Lukas has been a close friend of mine,” Kraft said. “We’ve both kind of grown up together in this team, in this organization, so seeing all the work that he’s put in, seeing it come to fruition, it puts a smile on my face because I have to practice against him every day, and I know how good he is. And barring injury last year, he would’ve been doing the same stuff. He was already doing the same stuff that he’s doing right now, so with a guy like Lukas Van Ness, you hate to say the sky’s the limit because I think that he can be even better than that. He’s a dog. He’s a physical specimen, and I’d hate to have to play against him when the lights are actually on.”