Bears' grades are in. How did they do against the Saints?

What marks do the Bears get after their 26-14 win against the Saints at Soldier Field?

QUARTERBACK — D-PLUS

Caleb Williams kept scrambling when he should have run the ball, treated checkdowns like mortal enemies, had strange trouble holding on to snaps and made zero big plays. Other than that, he was perfect. Look, this was a game in which the Bears should have romped, but their No. 1 overall QB seemed unready at the start and then never found any sort of timing. A 61.7 rating against the Saints? Come on, man. Despite the Bears’ four-game winning streak, Williams’ play is cause for concern.

OFFENSIVE LINE — B-PLUS

The Bears rushed for 222 yards, their most in a game since 2023. That’s back-to-back outstanding days at the office in the road-grading department. Williams had pressure on a lot of his drop-backs, though he could have dealt with some of that himself without such scrambling theatrics. One sack allowed won’t get anybody banished to Siberia.

RUNNING BACKS — A

Once upon a time, a parade would’ve been held downtown had a Bears rusher erupted for 124 yards in a game. We’re thinking all the way back in, like, September. Suddenly, though, D’Andre Swift — whose 124 was his second-highest total as a Bear — is teeing off on defenses. Rookie Kyle Monangai’s 81-yard contribution was eye-opening. Bears backs averaged 6.5 yards per carry, which should move them into the middle of the pack in the NFL in that category after they were scraping the bottom of the barrel entering October.

DEFENSIVE LINE — A-MINUS

The Bears sacked Spencer Rattler four times, but only one of those was by a lineman. Fortunately, that lineman was Montez Sweat, the purported star Bears fans have gotten tired of waiting on. Sweat had a strip-sack on Rattler’s first drop-back of the game, a turnover that led to the game’s first points. Sweat later stuffed running back Alvin Kamara on a third-and-short, forcing a punt. Dominique Robinson blew up a sweep off a direct snap to Taysom Hill, dumping Hill for a nine-yard loss.

SECONDARY — B

Safety Kevin Byard III, the NFL’s active leader in interceptions, snagged his 33rd on a beautiful read of a Rattler overthrow down the left sideline. Byard would’ve had a 34th if cornerback Nahshon Wright didn’t run into him on a terrible underthrow by Rattler. Wright gets a pass, though, considering he had one of the Bears’ four picks himself and hauled it back 38 yards to set up a touchdown. Safety Jaquan Brisker and cornerback Kyler Gordon came out thumping, and each had a sack. Long Saints touchdown drives to end the first half and start the second half came through the air, when the cover guys let their guards down.

COACHING — B-MINUS

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had to love the heck out of a four-turnover day against his former team. Williams’ shaky play wasn’t a good look for Ben Johnson, though. Credit to Johnson for challenging a Saints trick play that went for a big gain but was overturned.