Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos: Who’s in More Trouble?

There are different kinds of 0-3 clubs. The Minnesota Vikings haven’t won yet, but everyone knows they have the talent to make something of their year, even if the playoffs are a long shot. Then there are the Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos, two franchises for which their respective fanbases could easily ask “What exactly are we doing here?!?”

Which team, the Bears or the Broncos, is in bigger trouble through three weeks?

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Bears and Broncos: Uninspiring Starts

Chicago and Denver are both winless through three weeks of action, but unlike certain other teams that can cling to some optimism, these two have fully deserved the boo birds signing for them.

Week 1 in the Windy City brought with it hope and, dare it be uttered, a modicum of ambition. Da Bears hosted the hated Green Bay Packers, but the latter’s legendary QB Aaron Rodgers – unofficial “owner” of the Bears franchise – had packed his bags for New York. Enter Jordon Love, who hadn’t played much in two seasons. Maybe, just maybe, this was an opportunity to send Green Bay a message. The NFC North wasn’t theirs for the taking anymore. Justin Fields would see to that.

Four quarters of football later, the Bears and their fans stared at a miserable 38-20 defeat with long faces. But it was only one game. After all, Week 2 was a date against the Baker Mayfield-led Buccaneers! Result: a 27-17 defeat. Most recently, Chicago looked hapless against the mighty Chiefs, suffering a 41-10 annihilation at Arrowhead…with none other than pop icon Taylor Swift in attendance to appreciate the demolition derby.

In Colorado, it’s year two of the Russell Wilson era and year one with former Saints boss Sean Payton at the helm. Surely things wouldn’t be as bad as 2022. Wilson has a season under his saddle and Payton is a proven winner on the sideline. Week 1 was a 17-16 loss to the Raiders, who themselves don’t look amazing. Week 2 was an inexplicable 35-33 home defeat to the Commanders. The latter have since lost 37-3 to the Bills, so that says a lot. On Sunday, well, suffice to call what happened against the Dolphins a “memorable” 70-20 buzz sawing.

The Problems in Chicago and Denver

On the Week 3 recap episode of the equally informative and entertaining Around the NFL Podcast, one of its co-hosts who had been assigned the Chicago-Kansas City contest described the vibe on the Bears sideline as lacking inspiration, lost. Whatever head coach Matt Eberflus is preaching during mid-week practice, before the game, and at halftime is not translating to anything remotely productive on the field.

Speaking of the field, there is quarterback Justin Fields. He was an exciting figure in 2022, largely due to his nimbleness, speed, and ability to run for a ton of yardage. But Chicago was awful in passing offence, ranking dead last in yards per game. Through three weeks this season, they’re second last, with only the Zach Wilson Jets behind them. DJ Moore, Cole Kmet, Chase Claypool, none of these signings or returning receivers seem to matter. And the defence is shockingly bad. It’s given up the fourth-most total yards, third-most through the air, and conceded the second-most points.

Over in Denver, the hype train for what Sean Payton and Russell Wilson were going to concoct together has come to a breaking, ear-piercing halt. The offence has scored 20 points or fewer in two games, and scoring was a huge issue in 2022. They mustered 16 against a Las Vegas defence that’s notoriously mediocre. The only reason why the Broncos are a middle-of-the-pack club in the major offensive statistical categories is because they put up 33 on Washington in Week 2, a game they lost and ended close thanks to a rare successful Hail Mary at the end.

Wilson is eighth in the NFL in total passing yards. That’s a fact. What’s more, it’s a solid ranking, so what’s going on? For one, those yards are evidently not translating to enough points. WR Courtland Sutton is balling, but almost nobody else on the roster is (Marvin Mims Jr. has outlier stats). But if the matches against Washington and Miami indicated anything, it’s that the 2023 Broncos defence is a far cry from the 2022 edition that kept plenty of games low-scoring and close.

Who is in Bigger Trouble: Bears or Broncos?

It’s a great question for a headline. Life is all about the many shades of gray, however. First and foremost, how are we defining “trouble”? If the equation is strictly limited to winning games, both these sides are vastly subpar.

If it’s about which has shown more positivity, call this author crazy, but the Broncos look better than the Bears. Yes, despite the 70-20 disintegration they suffered a few days ago. However moribund Week 1 was, it was close until the bitter end. In Week 2, they had a 21-3 lead at one point, and when things flipped upside down, they fought back to give themselves a chance. Lastly, and let’s be frank between author and reader, how often is a team going to lose 70-20? It was an unmitigated disaster, but an outlier.

Chicago has looked risible on both sides of the ball thrice in a row. Baker Mayfield is perennially under the microscope for his play and even he appeared pretty good in Week 2 for the Buck (26-for-34, 317 yards). It’s not as if the Bears were hampered by injuries on defence heading into Week 3’s match in Kansas City. In fact, the unit was relatively healthy. It simply isn’t playing well at all, in addition to now having to deal with injuries, especially in the secondary.

The question as to which team is in more trouble is most interesting when studied from a public relations standpoint. Should Chicago and Denver fail to improve this season, it’ll be obvious that both franchises made severe errors in judgment when drafting and signing players and coaches. Beyond that, there is what the public and media pay attention to. Like it or not, that matters. Why else are the Dallas Cowboys always part of the NFL conversation despite not playing a Super Bowl since 1996?

From that angle, the Broncos are in more trouble. There was so much hype surrounding the arrival of Russell Wilson during the 2022 offseason that last year’s failure potentially spoke volumes about his inability to play outside of the Seattle system. Potentially. That’s why bringing in Sean Payton meant so much. If the Denver Broncos don’t start winning games – and a decent amount of them, at that – this could end up looking very, very bad.

The jury was out on Justin Fields and Matt Eberflus a year ago. Perhaps fans are simply learning that they aren’t the personnel to lead the Bears to glory. It’s not that simple with the Broncos.

They both have 14 games left to change these narratives, maybe less should results not change.

The clock is ticking and it starts this week when the Broncos and Bears face off in Chicago.