3 overreactions to Bears 36-10 drubbing of the Panthers: Is Caleb Williams already making the leap?

It's a Victory Monday for the Chicago Bears, and boy does it feel good. Getting a win is one thing — the Bears already had two of those. Winning in such dominant fashion, as the Bears did in blowing out the Carolina Panthers 36-10 — that's something else entirely, but it's a feeling that Bears fans could get used to.

Sunday's result served as a final referendum on the trade that landed Bryce Young in Carolina, and Caleb Williams, DJ Moore and several other key pieces in Chicago. Everyone around the league already knew the final grade from that trade, as it hasn't exactly been a secret that it reinvigorated the Bears and crippled the Panthers, but the lopsided final score, and the way that both teams arrived there, was kind of like having your parent sign your report card to return to your teacher.

For Bears GM Ryan Poles, this one is getting hung on the refrigerator. Caleb and DJ connected five times for over 100 yards, and two of those went for touchdowns. Darnell Wright was part of a much-improved offensive line that held the Panthers to just one sack, and Tyrique Stevenson was everywhere in coverage as he helped limit Andy Dalton to a paltry 136 yards through the air.

Dalton being under center in the first place for Carolina was damning enough, as Bryce Young rode the bench for the third game in a row and didn't get in until the final result was assured.

Let's not mince words. The Panthers are a bad football team, and anyone that loses to them needs to take a long look in the mirror. It's the way the Bears won that should have Bears fans excited, though, and as much as we want to keep things in perpective, it's just too tempting to want to overreact after a 26-point win, so here we go.

Overreaction 1: Caleb Williams will be a top-10 quarterback in the league by the end of the season

There's not a single quarterback in the league that played as well as Caleb Williams did on Sunday, and that's not hyperbole. Caleb threw for over 300 yards, something six other quarterbacks accomplished. Of those 300-yard passers, he's the only one that didn't commit a single turnover. He also ran for 34 yards and only took one sack on the day. He led the league in QBR for the week, and yes that includes the aerial show put on by Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield on Thursday night.

I'm not sure that there's another player at any position that has so tangibly improved in every single game from Week 1 to present day, except for Caleb. Remember how the Bears won despite him against the Titans thanks to huge plays on defense and special teams. Remember how he made a few throws but struggled to sustain drives in a Week 2 loss to the Texans. He finally let it fly by throwing for 363 yards against the Colts in Week 3, but two interceptions, one fumble lost and four sacks taken undermined the effort.

Caleb seemed to learn a lot from stuffing the stat sheet but coming away with that loss in Indianapolis, because he played his most composed game of the season against the Rams last week. His final stat line was much less gaudy than what he put up in Indy, but he didn't commit a single turnover while completing over 73 percent of his passes. Caleb's steady play, combined with a running game that had been MIA the first three weeks, was enough to get a well-earned win.

The priority Caleb has placed on protecting the football was again present on Sunday, but whereas he was missing most of his deep shots through the first four weeks, often badly, now he connected time and time again for several explosive plays.

Caleb's rapid development has become the story of the Bears season through five weeks, but now Bears fans want to see just how high he can ascend. What is the ceiling, exactly? We all heard the Patrick Mahomes comparisons that were thrown about in the offseason. Is it possible that Caleb could actually meet them? Bears fans can't wait to find out.

As tempting as it may be, let's not get too ahead of ourselves based on destroying the Panthers. Big picture though, there's no reason Caleb can't be a top-10 QB by season's end, and possibly earlier, if he keeps this up.

Overreaction 2: The Bears have the best defense in the NFL

There are many things that make a great defense. Great defenses tackle well. They get to the quarterback. They get better on third down. They force turnovers. They stiffen up in the red zone.

The Bears do all of that and more. Continually on Sunday, the Panthers tried to get their receivers in space in one-on-one situations, and nearly every time, the Bears made the tackle. Chicago has 14 sacks through five weeks, not an incredible number, but enough to rank in the top half of the league. Gervon Dexter has led the way with four, and the second-year player is already looking like a budding All-Pro.

Opposing teams are converting less than 29 percent of their third down chances against the Bears, a mark that's good for third in the league. That's due in large part to the pass defense, which is .2 behind the Saints for the lowest opposing quarterback rating. Something tells me that after New Orleans plays Patrick Mahomes tonight, the Bears will move up to number one on that list.

The Bears are tied for third in the league with six interceptions, and tied for first with five fumbles recovered. Sometimes stats like that could indicate that a team is playing a high risk/reward style of defense, but not the Bears. Matt Eberflus' group has been disciplined enough to allow the seventh-fewest yards per game, well under the totals of the Vikings and Packers, the only two teams to have forced more turnovers.

Chicago has also been lights out in the red zone, with opponents only scoring touchdowns on 38.5 percent of their opportunities inside the 20. Even more encouraging, the Bears have been excellent at making halftime adjustments, as they've allowed just 32 points total in the second half through five games.

The one area the Bears could use some work on is their run defense, but with the exception of a big day from Jonathan Taylor, that's something that has improved as the game has gone on each week. Chuba Hubbard had a big touchdown run to open the scoring on Sunday, but the Bears bottled him up after that. Same for Tony Pollard, who got off to a hot start in Week 1 and then couldn't find any traction in the second half.

This Bears defense checks nearly every box you'd want to see from the best defense in the league. At minimum, this is already a top-five unit, but with how young all of the core players are, they're only going to keep getting better.

Overreaction 3: The Bears will make the playoffs

Being a fan of an NFC football team right now makes you appreciate what all those Western Conference NBA fans have been going through for years. It is rough out there, and when the dust finally settles at the end of this season, there are going to be multiple quality NFC teams that are scheduling tee times in the Caribbean instead of playing January football.

The Bears are not going to be one of them. The start of the season has been far from perfect, but five games has given us enough of a sample size to see that not only are the days of scoring a top-10 draft pick over, so too are the days of missing out on the postseason.

Good teams take care of business against inferior foes, and the Bears did that in dismantling the Panthers on Sunday. Good teams defend their home turf, and the Bears are now 3-0 at Soldier Field. Good teams steal games they have no business winning, and the Bears did that in Week 1 against the Titans despite a complete no-show from the offense. If those two teams played today, I would fully expect a Bears double-digit victory.

Being a good team isn't necessarily going to be enough in this hellscape of an NFC, but the Bears have the juice to be more than merely a good team. We've gone over the defense, which might be the best in the league, and we've gone over Caleb Williams and his development, which has him on the fast track to being the best quarterback in franchise history.

Special teams have been excellent as well, with rookie punter Tory Taylor deservedly taking home the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week award against the Rams for his Dude Perfect-level display of punting.

If the offense stays anywhere close to its current trajectory, the Bears won't just be a playoff team, they'll be a serious Super Bowl contender.

Sometimes it's easy to see which direction a team is headed. Look at the Eagles last year, who got by on smoke and mirrors before falling apart in the second half. The Bears are getting better every week, and though there's a lot of season left, there's every reason to believe that they'll have what it takes to break through in a hyper-competitive NFC playoff race.