The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key Chicago Bears players heading into their matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals to help you craft a winning lineup.
Caleb Williams, QB
Did you know that Caleb Williams is fantasy’s 15th-best quarterback this season?
Maybe you did, but did you know that if you remove Dallas from the NFL, he’d be QB25?
- Week 3 vs DAL: 4 TDs on 28 passes
- All Other Weeks of 2025: 5 TDs on 195 passes
One big game is holding a lot of weight when it comes to his season-long numbers, and while that’s concerning long-term, he does find himself in another great spot this week.
I liked that we saw him complete a season-high six deep passes last week against the Ravens, and we might see a similar level of aggression to keep up with Joe Flacco and the Ja’Marr Chase.
The rushing totals have been sporadic. We know the athletic capabilities are there, and if they are unleashed in this spot, I truly think a top-5 week is possible.
Without them, he probably settles in as a low-end QB1, rubbing elbows with Bo Nix in a much more difficult matchup (at HOU).
D’Andre Swift, RB
D’Andre Swift carried four times for 23 yards on Chicago’s first drive of the game last week in Baltimore, but that proved to be more than half of his rushing yardage for the day as the game script worked away from Chicago, a bit of a surprise against Tyler Huntley.
It didn’t end up mattering too much because he ended up with a touchdown for a fourth straight week and over 4.5 points as a pass catcher for the fourth time in five games. It caught my eye that Kyle Monangai got the first carry of the second half and continues to weasel his way into just enough work to be annoying, but we are picking nits.
Swift is a stable piece in a Ben Johnson offense, and that’s good enough for me. He’s got 12 red zone touches over the past two weeks, so while Williams is seemingly taking a step backward, this offense is doing enough to keep Swift’s expected point totals high.
I might like him more than you (my RB11 this week), but there’s no denying that he’s a lineup lock in all formats given the matchup against the second-worst rush defense by EPA.
Kyle Monangai, RB
Welcome to Kyle Monangai’s Cheat Sheet life as the seventh-round rookie who has touched the ball 22 times over the past two weeks and appears to be a piece that Ben Johnson is interested in exploring as he tries to get this ship pointed in the right direction.
Do I think he holds stand-alone value right now or that he has a real shot to unseat D’Andre Swift as the lead back in town?
I do not.
Could the former happen as soon as next week (vs. NYG) should he take advantage of what projects to be an 8-10 touch role in a great spot?
I think so.
He’s handled five red zone touches in the three weeks coming out of the bye and has seen 16 of his 42 carries (38.1%) pick up at least five yards this season.
Swift is running well, but it’s clear that Williams is going to need all the help he can get, and if a 5’8″, 207-pound back that scored 14 times last season at Rutgers offers a specific skill that is NFL-ready, I’m confident that Johnson will pull it out of him.
Rosterable but not playable.
Yet.
DJ Moore, WR
Caleb Williams is struggling right now, but at least he’s condensed his target options.
It would appear that Colston Loveland has some developing to do, and Luther Burden, when healthy, is still more of a gadget option than anything. This offense is built around D’Andre Swift on the ground and the Rome Odunze/Moore tandem through the air.
Moore wasn’t good for much of Sunday’s loss to the Ravens, but a 42-yard one-handed grab late helped salvage the day (4-73-0) and post his first game with 50+ receiving yards since Week 1.
I like that he has four games with multiple rush attempts this season. They’ve yet to yield much of anything, but that suggests that Ben Johnson is aware of his value and is doing what he can to keep him engaged.
I suspect the Bears will be pushed to move the ball through the air, and that has me thinking we’ll see the version of this Bengals defense we saw earlier in the year, when they allowed a receiver to clear 16 PPR points in five of six games.
Odunze is clearly the WR1 in this offense, but I believe this can be a get-right sort of deal, and that has Moore ranked as a solid PPR flex option.
Luther Burden III, WR
Luther Burden exited last week’s loss to the Ravens with a head injury and isn’t the type of player we need to be patient with.
The rookie entered the season with some hope, but considering that he has more games without multiple receptions than with, there’s no reason to stay married to this preseason take.
Caleb Williams needs to play better, and this is as good a get-right spot as there is, but his turning things around will benefit at least three other pass catchers more than Burden, and that’s what I have no interest in holding him at the end of benches.
“What do you win if you win?”
The absolute best-case scenario for Burden at this point is that he’s a gadgety player that you never know what you’re signing up for.
I have higher standards.
Rome Odunze, WR
I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but Week 8 was good for the soul if you rostered Rome Odunze.
After totaling just 10.3 PPR points across two games post-bye, he was open for much of Sunday’s loss in Baltimore, and even a struggling Caleb Williams was able to find him.
The second-year standout doesn’t come off the field (93%+ of the snaps in three straight) and turned his 10 targets into seven grabs for 114 yards. The 14.1 aDOT this season speaks to Chicago loving what he brings to the table vertically, but don’t sleep on his slot usage, which has always hovered around 30%: this feels like a piece on the chessboard that Ben Johnson is comfortable with.
READ MORE: Soppe’s Week 9 Fantasy Football Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Analysis for Every Player in Every Game
Odunze caught passes of 7, 13, and 16 yards on the first drive last week, and I think we continue to see him scripted into the action moving forward. The Bengals have struggled across the board defensively for 13 months now, and while that can sometimes mean the ground game takes over, they have allowed a receiver to crack 15 PPR points in five of eight weeks.
Odunze is the clear-cut top threat in an offense that will be forced to be aggressive most weeks: he’s a WR1 for me both this week and for the remainder of the season.
Colston Loveland, TE
With Cole Kmet (back) sidelined and a vulnerable Ravens defense lining up across from him, the stage was set for a Colston Loveland breakout game that elevated him to league-winner chatter down the stretch of this fantasy season.
38 yards on 32 routes later, and we are left with more questions than answers.
The rookie was the target of Caleb Williams’ first pass (18-yard gain), but that was about it. He finished the 30-16 loss with a 14.3% target share, a role that isn’t rosterable given the trajectory of this passing game.
I won’t be surprised if he develops over time: it feels inevitable given his pedigree and coaching. Just because I could see it happening doesn’t mean I’m actively betting on it.
Loveland is to be viewed as a reasonable streamer and nothing more — a major loss from this past weekend — but we can’t cry over spilled milk — or unrealized opportunities. We can only aim to stream in better production as crunch time in the fantasy postseason nears.