Jeffery Simmons looked right at home with the Chicago Bears on Monday amid a 34–17 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
The star defensive tackle joined the Bears via a trade with the Tennessee Titans last week, and he made an impact with a first-half sack of Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold. Chicago became one of the few teams to beat both of last year’s Super Bowl teams.
The Bears beat the New England Patriots 30–24 on Oct. 22, and Chicago looked like it was in a new gear as Simmons joined the team. Simmons had six tackles and two for loss, and the Bears defense held the Seahawks in check.
“I’m so excited to be a Chicago Bear,” Simmons told ESPN afterward. “All the emotions … coming out in a new jersey for the first time.”
Simmons spent his whole career with the Titans from 2019 to this season, and Tennessee took him with the No. 19 pick out of Mississippi State in 2019. He made one All-Pro First Team in 2025 and second-team All-Pro twice, along with four Pro Bowl appearances.
Simmons didn’t win much amid lean years in Nashville, but he’s now part of a 6–2 Bears team with Super Bowl aspirations. Chicago showed it on Monday by beating the defending Super Bowl champions in their own building.
The Bears could have an MVP along the way. Chicago fans who made the trek chanted for quarterback Caleb Williams when he joined ESPN on the field after the game. Williams went 24–34 for 247 yards and a touchdown, and he got things going with the first score: a 1-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Luther Burden III for a 7–0 lead.
Besides Williams going at Seattle’s “Dark Side” defense, Bears running back D’Andre Swift gashed the Seahawks for three touchdown runs. Swift finished with 69 yards on 27 carries, and wide receiver Kalif Raymond added a 39-yard run.
“We got beat,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald told reporters afterward.
Seattle punted on four of its first five possessions, and the Seahawks tallied only a 27-yard field goal by kicker Jason Myers in the second quarter. Bears kicker Cairo Santos hit two second-quarter field goals for 44 yards and 38 yards to build a 13–3 lead, and Chicago scored on three of its first five possessions.
Seattle, which struggled to move the ball against the Bears defense, finally broke through when Darnold hit wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 43-yard touchdown pass.
Darnold threw his second touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, hitting wide receiver Cooper Kupp for the score to make it 20–17, but the Seahawks never scored again. Swift, who ran for a touchdown in the third quarter, delivered the knockout punches in the fourth quarter with his second and third touchdowns.
Darnold finished 17–34 with 188 yards and two touchdowns, but also an interception. He also took three sacks.
“I have to be better in certain situations,” Darnold told reporters afterward. “Just wasn’t good enough … We’re going to take a hard look at ourselves.”
Seattle lost for the fourth time in six games after starting the season 2–0. The defense gave up more than 20 points for the fourth time this season, and the Seahawks are 1–3 in those games.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson’s team is putting the league on notice with the win over the defending champions.
“We didn’t come here to make a statement. We came here to build something … and we’re just getting started,” Johnson told the team in the locker room postgame via Bears social media.
The season is almost at the halfway point, and the Bears have many opportunities and challenges ahead in the league’s toughest division. All four teams in the NFC North have winning records, and the Bears aren’t even in first place.
“We’re also a force to be reckoned with,” Williams told reporters afterward.
