Starting the season 0-2 is rough enough, but for the last five quarters of football the Chicago Bears have been outscored 73-28. No one is totally immune to criticism right now, from head coach Ben Johnson on down to the 53rd man on the active roster.
But this is also a time for assessment of players, and considering potential changes. Who's still working hard, in practice and on game day? Beyond anything that happens on the field, Johnson is trying to change a culture that has been broken to some extent for a long time. Holding players accountable is root of that effort, which Bears' players have openly welcomed from Johnson and his staff.
A tentacle of the Bears' 0-2 start is how little the rookies have contributed, especially first-round pick Colston Loveland and second-round pick Luther Burden. Both missed important on-field time during OTAs, and Burden missed some time early in training camp, so a slower start to their rookie seasons was expected.
Johnson was asked about Loveland and Burden on Monday, via Sean Hammond of the Chicago Tribune, and he pointed to increased involvement for the touted rookies.
Ben Johnson said the Bears want to get more packages for Luther Burden III.
Asked about Burden and Colston Loveland, Johnson said: "Going into this week is we're going to have a lot more competition."
— Sean Hammond (@sean_hammond) September 15, 2025
Johnson went on to call out the effort of some players when the ball wasn't in their hands during the blowout loss to the Lions.
"There were some plays there yesterday that we weren't quite as pleased with what that looked like on tape," Johnson said. "So, we're going to find out this week at practice who wants to practice hard and who wants to be a little bit more involved with the game plan here going into Sunday.”
A lot of Bears' fans and analysts have pointed to a particular player Johnson seemed to be calling out, and it makes a lot of sense upon taking a closer look.
Ben Johnson seemed to point toward trading a notable player if things stay the same
Let's start with a process of elimination based on Johnson lamenting how skill position players looked when the ball wasn't in their hands against the Lions.
Rome Odunze had the best game of his career, asserting himself as the Bears' No. 1 wide receiver. Olamide Zaccheaus is a consummate professional, as is Cole Kmet. Loveland played 36 snaps, and Burden played just 12 snaps. D'Andre Swift might be an easy target, but he posted a solid 72.4 pass blocking grade against his former team.
So who are we left with that Johnson may have been calling out?
D.J. Moore.
Moore had a 54.5 run blocking grade against Detroit, besting only Odunze's 29.7 run blocking grade among Bears' players in the game. Johnson would likely give Odunze a pass for one bad game as a run blocker, as long as the effort was there more often than not. But based on how openly he showed his frustration last season under the previous staff, Moore might not have the same leeway if a lack of effort as a blocker shows up clearly on tape.
Over the first two games this season, Moore's production (eight catches for 114 yards) and involvement (14 opportunities, targets and carries) has been on the low end of expectations based on how much he's been on the field (116 snaps; an 86 percent share of the offensive snaps).
Moore had the best season of his career in 2023, his first year with the Bears. He was rewarded with a four-year, $110 million contract extension before last season, but it's been a downhill trend in production since. Some of last year's lackluster production can be blamed on less than ideal overall usage in the passing game, but through two games this season things have not looked better.
Johnson will stop short of publicly calling out a player by name, as he should. But it's not a stretch to say Moore has been sneakily called out, and maybe a tough conversation has already been had behind the scenes. If the latter thing happened, we'll see how Moore responds.
The idea of the Bears trading Moore is not new, and his contract makes it incredibly palatable to do so.
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If things keep going a certain way, perhaps with him struggling to accept taking a back seat to Odunze, Moore may be elsewhere sooner than it has seemed possible.