The Chicago Bears are riding high after last Thursday night’s win over the New England Patriots and have another full week to rest and prepare for the other reigning Super Bowl team when the Bears travel to face the Seattle Seahawks next Monday.

The Bears will need all of the time they can get, not only to get healthy but to prepare for this defense. The Seahawks are no joke and will be a daunting challenge for head coach Ben Johnson’s offense, especially on the road in one of the league’s most hostile environments.

“Seattle’s always a hard place to play,” Johnson said Friday on ESPN1000. “Those fans are crazy out there, they love their football. It gets loud. And I want to say it’s the number one defense in football right now. We’ll have a huge challenge going into that one.”

Ben Johnson’s last matchup against Mike Macdonald didn’t go very well

When looking at top defensive minds around the NFL, I would probably rank Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald as second behind Brian Flores. And we all know the issues Flores caused for this offense back in Week 2. What you might not know is that Macdonald was also responsible for one of the worst offensive games of Ben Johnson’s career as a primary play-caller.

Back in 2023, the Detroit Lions lost 38-6 against the Baltimore Ravens, a game in which Macdonald had Johnson’s number. The Lions averaged 4.7 yards per play in that game, going 5/16 on third down, and 1/3 in the red zone. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ offense have the Lions some fits, but that game was the lowest scoring game of Ben Johnson’s tenure as a primary play-caller until his unit in Chicago scored six points back in Week 2.

The Ravens held the Lions to 16 total yards in their first three possessions and from there they pinned their ears back at attacked Jared Goff, finishing the game with five sacks. Johnson just had no answer to attack this defense.

Now, it’s worth noting that Ben Johnson is working with different players in Chicago and Macdonald is working with different players in Seattle. But I’m sure Johnson remembers that game vividly.

Seattle’s defense has been just as frustrating for opposing offenses under Mike Macdonald

Since taking the head coaching job in Seattle, Mike Macdonald’s defense has still been just as dominant. It’s a big reason why this team won the Super Bowl last season and that unit continues to give opposing offenses issues this season.

Seahawks Defense	Number	League Rank
Total YPG Allowed	233.9	1st
Passing YPG Allowed	144.4	1st
Rushing YPG Allowed	89.4	6th
Yards Per Play Allowed	3.99	1st
PPG Allowed	17.9	4th
EPA/Play Pass Defense	-0.13	3rd

This has been a suffocating unit all season long and if you did some pre-scouting last night, you saw that first-hand against the Kansas City Chiefs. Mike Macdonald held Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Kenneth Walker III, and the rest of that offense to 4.3 yards per play and 3/11 on third down in route to a 20-3 win at home.

This absolutely is a dangerous matchup for the Chicago Bears, who have to avoid falling into a similar experience they had in Week 2 against the Vikings. Again, the good news is that Johnson gets another full week to prepare for this challenge and he’ll need all the time he can get.