Caleb Williams is MVP level and Chicago Bears are complete Super Bowl contenders after Jeffery Simmons trade, says Neil Reynolds | NFL News

The Chicago Bears told us exactly who they thought they were late last week when they traded for all-pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from the Tennessee Titans.

The Bears gave up their 2027 and 2028 first-round picks for a 29-year-old defenseman. They may believe that because of their success on the field, these picks will be late in the first round, but that’s still a steep price for a player who isn’t exactly young in NFL terms.

This suggests the Bears believe they are all-in. They were 5-2 when they made the trade, and they thought they could improve a defense that had started pretty well this season, but still had room for improvement.

On Monday night, the Bears backed up this big trade and perhaps sent another message to the rest of the NFL and the public as they traveled to Seattle and recorded an emphatic 34-17 victory over their hometown Seahawks, and Simmons made an impact immediately. He led the team with six tackles, had a sack, two tackles for a loss and picked off a pass.

More importantly, this Bears team looks complete now. They are led by a head coach who is imaginative, aggressive and has just enough craziness in him to keep this team on the edge, Ben Johnson.

Caleb Williams was excellent again in Seattle and he is elevating his game to the MVP level. Going against the Seahawks defense will never be easy and not everything will be structured.

If you move Caleb Williams from his spot, he will be more than happy. So he had to work on his yardage Monday night and it didn’t look spectacular in terms of scoring on the box – 247 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions – but that’s what he did to keep this team energized, to keep it moving and his connection with his passing game targets continues to be at a high level and he has good weapons.

Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland and then Luther Burden became young receivers. Khalif Raymond always seems to come up with a big play when needed. The racing game is also present.

We’re waiting for Kyle Monangai to return from injury, but D’Andre Swift had three touchdowns in Seattle, so this is a team that seems to have all the pieces in place now and believes in it.

If they didn’t believe in it, they wouldn’t make this trade for Simmons, and I think that’s the other thing: This move sends a wave of confidence and enthusiasm and energy through the Bears locker room.

They played that way on Monday in the toughest environments and now, at 6-2, the Bears enter the midseason in great shape, as if they have addressed all areas of their team and as if they are very well led.

All of this is tangible, but the intangibles are also important. These Bears feel really good about themselves and feel good about the direction they’re heading in the second half of the season.

They made progress last year by making the playoffs and making it through the first round. This feels like a classic follow-up year where you can go one step further and put together a definitive run and that’s why these passionate Windy City fans are dreaming of a Super Bowl for the first time since and a Super Bowl victory for the first time since the 1985 season.

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