Bears Week 8 aftermath: Caleb Williams, Jeffery Simmons, Rome Odunze and more

Now that we've all had a couple of days to digest the Chicago Bears' biggest win of the season, yet, it's hard not to start thinking ahead.

...way ahead.

Monday night, we saw what looked a whole lot like a Super Bowl team, and the rest of the world and national media are taking notice, too.

This single win over the Seahawks, coupled with what the Bears did against New England a week prior, has given 31 other teams plenty to think about.

Caleb Williams might be the second-best quarterback in the world right now

Right now, Williams has been playing out of his mind. And some key numbers back it up.

You can watch all of the highlight throws, the incredible escapes he makes under pressure and the late-game missiles he's completed over the last few weeks. But in case that doesn't convince you, the numbers will.

On the season, Williams has the highest adjusted completion percentage in the league at 84.3%. He also holds the second-best EPA per play (+0.06) on the year, just behind Josh Allen (+0.08).

Watching Williams play, it's too easy to see that he truly might be the second-best quarterback in football right now, behind Allen.

Who else combines mistake-free football with the big throws, ability to extend plays and escape pressure and the accuracy we've seen, like Caleb does?

Go on, I'll wait.

The list is Josh Allen, Caleb Williams and then everybody else.

Rome Odunze is a walking, talking big play machine

Don't look now, but Rome Odunze is just about pacing for 1,000 yards receiving this season after starting the year somewhat slow, with mistakes overshadowing his true ability.

After Week 8, Odunze currently leads the Bears in yards per reception at 16.7 (28 receptions on 45 targets for 468 yards).

Against the Seahawks, his shortest reception went for 18.

Odunze showed up in a big way against Seattle, and Williams continued to look his direction. Two weeks in a row, the Washington product has come up with multiple key catches and in the two biggest games of the year. He's blossoming right before our very eyes.

With Odunze heating up, and Luther Burden III absorbing a good chunk of targets, the Bears' receiving duo now looks like they're only getting started. There's so much more untapped, and if Odunze continues at this pace, I can't wait to see where we're at by season's end.

Jeffery Simmons has set the tone of physicality and aggression for this entire roster

How do you even begin to describe the tone and level of physicality this Bears defense came out with in Seattle?

This is exactly how one trade, for one player, can spark an entire roster to go out and play an aggressive style of football; not that they haven't already been physical, but to this point, we've mostly been talking about that brand on the offensive side.

Now, we're watching Kyler Gordon hit Sam Darnold and Cam Lewis nearly break a wide receiver in half ... on the first drive of the game.

The Bears were only getting started.

From there, it was hat to the football over and over again, so long as Simmons was on the field.

The acquisition of Simmons looks so far beyond worthy of two first rounders, after just one game, that it's silly. The Bears defense played more tenaciously, more physically and more angry than I have seen them play in quite some time, and that's all thanks to one move by Ryan Poles.

If this is the Montez Sweat we're going to keep seeing, the Bears have a bargain of a deal

This season, Montez Sweat is currently the 20th-highest paid defensive end in football.

Had the Bears' secondary not been a borderline train wreck on Monday night and Sweat didn't have a pair of sacks wiped away, he would have finished the game with three.

This was a brand-new Montez Sweat we saw, out there, alongside Jeffery Simmons. This trade made an imprint on the unit, as a whole, but it appears as though reuniting with his old college teammate is going to do wonders for Sweat.

We have never seen him look this good in a Bears uniform. In fact, to this point, you can typically count on one or two fingers how many times you say his name in any given game.

Against the Seahawks, Sweat played like a man possessed. There was a completely different level of motivation, aggression and quickness to his game. Sweat ended the night with his lone sack (that counted), three quarterback pressures, three quarterback hits and a tackle for loss.

If you're telling me we're going to get this guy, game in and game out, then I'm going to tell you the Bears have an absolute bargain.

Sweat has gone from being an afterthought to a real difference-maker in the blink of an eye.

Austin Booker continues to blossom before our very eyes

One player I don't hear enough about, after the victory over Seattle, is Austin Booker. The third-year pro is truly breaking out right before our eyes. He has strung together several games where we've seen him make impact play after impact play.

And, against the Seahawks, Booker didn't just make impact plays. He made game-changing plays.

In the fourth quarter, Booker was arguably the Bears' best defensive player. On the Seahawks' first fourth quarter drive, they lined up for a field goal attempt down 20-9, and Booker blocked it. The Bears took over.

Later in the fourth quarter, Booker tipped a Sam Darnold pass right into the hands of James Lynch, who intercepted it.

These are the kinds of impact plays you want to see out of a younger player, and we're getting them.

The thing it makes you think about, now, is that Booker is in Year 3. It doesn't necessarily seem like it, but that's reality. If he continues to play this well, Booker could be playing himself into a nice contract extension next offseason, before a Year 4 explosion really drives up his price.

The Bears really are a cornerback away from a Super Bowl

Look, I could bore you with the numbers from both Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson. But, if you watched the game on Monday night, you saw it all.

Their performance has jumped off the screen every single week, this season, and not in a good way.

Johnson is continuously burned. Stevenson, too.

It has become less saddening to watch and more, well, maddening.

The Bears may actually have the worst starting cornerback duo in the entire NFL if we're taking Malik Muhammad out of the picture.

It is not hyperbolic, whatsoever, to think that if the Bears even traded for an average cornerback, that it'd take their defense over the top. With the way the front is getting pressure, and now with Simmons in the mix, just an average corner opposite Muhammad would make all the difference in the world.

We can not afford to see Johnson and Stevenson rolled out there anymore. Johnson is washed and Stevenson simply isn't any good. Period.

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