Saints @ Bears
Final Score: Bears 26, Saints 14
Writer: Christian Otteman (@COttemanPL on Twitter)
A rainy day in the Windy City set the stage for a relatively stress-free win for Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears. While Spencer Rattler managed to get the Saints within one score at the beginning of the second half, Chicago’s defense stepped up to force four turnovers under the guidance of former Saints coach Dennis Allen. The Bears primarily won this game on the ground behind efficient running from D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai, meaning Caleb Williams and Co. did not help your fantasy ledgers. The Bears will ride a four-game win streak into a Week 8 date in Baltimore, while the Saints will retreat home for a divisional showdown with the Buccaneers.
Three Up
- Kyle Monangai — Handled a career-high 15 touches and looked efficient en route to his first touchdown.
- D’Andre Swift — Even with Monangai eating into his workload, Swift found the end zone and had an efficient day at the office as well.
- Chris Olave — Though most of his production came on one drive, Olave was the bright spot for the Saints on offense, and he scored his second and third touchdowns of the season while making some impressive grabs.
Two Down
- Bears’ passing game — The Bears won’t run the ball this often every game, but two straight games of featuring the run aren’t encouraging for owners of Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, and the rest of Chicago’s passing attack.
- Saints’ running game — Kendre Miller left this game due to injury, and Alvin Kamara was barely involved in the passing game, even with the Saints playing from behind the entire game.
New Orleans Saints
Quarterback
Spencer Rattler: 20/32, 233 Yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs | 2 Carries, 12 Yards, Fumble (LOST)
For as poor as the Saints have been in 2025, Spencer Rattler has at least done a good job of protecting the football, only throwing one interception heading into Week 7. Unfortunately, Rattler would not only throw a trio of interceptions in this game, but he also lost a fumble to complete a Golden Sombrero of turnovers. Rattler made several poor decisions and looked uncomfortable in this game aside from a 2-minute drill at the end of the first half when he fed Chris Olave the entire way down the field. Rattler is nowhere near startable status in single-QB leagues and is a risky play in Superflex formats, even as a bye-week fill-in.
Running Back
Alvin Kamara: 11 Carries, 28 Yards | 3 Targets, 3 Receptions, 1 Yard
One. Singular. Receiving. Yard. Alvin Kamara has earned his reputation as a perennial fantasy RB1 on the back of consistent and reliable receiving production, but those days seem well behind us in Kellen Moore‘s offense. The pieces were there for Kamara to have a big day: the Saints trailed the entire game and backfield mate Kendre Miller left early with an injury. However, for whatever reason, Moore doesn’t scheme many touches for Kamara, and Rattler rarely looks his way for short gains. It doesn’t help that Kamara isn’t looking great in the run game, either. His lack of shiftiness and explosiveness are bleak reminders that eventually, Father Time comes for us all. Even for those with six-TD performances during Championship Week.
Kendre Miller: 1 Carry, 7 Yards
Kendre Miller has taken a larger share of the backfield work this season, but he unfortunately left this contest with a knee injury in the second quarter. If he looks set to miss a significant amount of time, don’t feel like you need to hang on to him while he heals up.
Devin Neal: 1 Carry, 1 Yard
If Miller misses time, rookie Devin Neal will presumably be the next man up behind Kamara. He won’t be a suggested add in this sputtering offense.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Chris Olave: 7 Targets, 5 Receptions, 98 Yards, 2 TDs
Chris Olave is unsurprisingly the focal point of this Saints offense and is the only player worth starting every week on this team. Olave showed off great hands and athleticism at multiple points during this game and looked like a Hall of Famer for about 7 minutes of game time when he scored two touchdowns on consecutive Saints drives. Olave’s volume gives him a relatively safe floor, even if his ceiling is capped by the quality of the players around him.
Stop playing with #12!!!!!
Olave's second TD of the day
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/PkVMSZH1NF
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) October 19, 2025
Juwan Johnson: 7 Targets, 5 Receptions, 79 Yards
Juwan Johnson‘s usage took a dip in recent weeks with the returns of Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau, but yesterday’s performance looked more like early-season Juwan when he was a target hog for Rattler. We can’t expect this usage to continue based on what we’ve seen recently, but this performance at least validates Johnson as a streamer who will have sporadic spike weeks.
Rashid Shaheed: 9 Targets, 4 Receptions, 40 Yards
When you see nine targets for Rashid Shaheed, you’re hoping that at least one of them was a deep connection for a big game, but that wasn’t the case in Sunday’s game. This marks six straight games with exactly four receptions for Shaheed, but only one of those games came with a yardage total over 52 yards. Shaheed should be a fine flex option in deeper leagues, but he hasn’t flexed his trademark upside often in 2025. It doesn’t help that Rattler is often missing him on those signature deep connections Shaheed is known for.
Taysom Hill: 2 Targets, 2 Receptions, 12 Yards | 2 Carries, -4 Yards
The days of Taysom Hill being a Swiss Army knife cheat code at TE appear to be over. After last season’s devastating knee injury, Hill doesn’t seem to have the same athleticism that allowed him to create big plays at a moment’s notice.
Brandin Cooks: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 3 Yards
Jack Stoll: 1 Target
Mason Tipton: 1 Target
Chicago Bears
Quarterback
Caleb Williams: 15/26, 172 Yards, INT | 4 Carries, -2 Yards
It was the perfect storm for Caleb Williams, whose fantasy line was harmed by the weather, the game script, and the team’s run-first game plan. Unfortunately for Williams, the team’s ground attack didn’t include any designed QB runs, and he failed to gain positive yardage rushing for the second straight week. Williams also had season lows in attempts, completions, and yards, and did not throw a touchdown for the first time all year. While Williams didn’t need to do much, he also didn’t look at his best against a beatable Saints defense and made multiple poor decisions that allowed the Saints to stick around just long enough for the game to be interesting into the third quarter. The good news for Williams is that next week’s opponent, the Ravens, has had a hard time stopping the ball through the air all season.
Running Back
D’Andre Swift: 19 Carries, 124 Yards, TD | 1 Target, 1 Reception, 14 Yards
Kyle Monangai: 13 Carries, 81 Yards, TD | 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 13 Yards
We’ll talk about D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai in the same blurb for a few reasons. First, both backs looked excellent in this game, breaking off chunk runs and finding holes in the Saints’ front seven all afternoon. Swift made a great cut to find the end zone on his touchdown run, while Monangai powered through a tackler for his first career score.
Gettin' Swifty with it 💨
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/yuwlOjPuxw
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 19, 2025
Kyle Monangai scores his first NFL TD!
NOvsCHI on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/tlabBDz5Mb
— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025
The second reason we’ll talk about these backs together is because their workload split is a crucial story to watch with the Bears’ run-first approach out of the bye. According to PFF’s Nathan Jahnke, Swift played 36 snaps to Monangai’s 31, marking the closest we’ve seen to a 50-50 split this season. Coach Ben Johnson has seen success with a two-man backfield with Sonic and Knuckles in Detroit, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Monangai earn more consistent work moving forward. However, it’s also crucial to remember that Swift was nursing a groin injury most of the week, so Monangai’s increased workload could at least be partially explained by Swift’s health. At the very least, Monangai is worth an add in all but very shallow leagues in case this kind of split and efficiency sticks. With matchups against the Ravens and Bengals on the horizon, both backs could be in for more big weeks.
Roschon Johnson: 1 Carry, 11 Yards
No longer a fixture in this offense, even in short-yardage situations as he was in seasons past. Monangai is undoubtedly the team’s RB2.
Wide Receiver/Tight End
DJ Moore: 5 Targets, 3 Receptions, 43 Yards | 1 Carry, 9 Yards
DJ Moore led the team in receiving this week, but the modest yardage total is all too familiar for Moore owners this season. Moore did receive a red-zone target but didn’t seem aware a pass was coming, leading to the funniest blooper of the day as the pass bounced harmlessly off the helmet of Kool-Aid McKinstry. Moore is plenty talented, but if you roster him, you’re still hoping for a trade before the deadline passes in a few weeks.
— No Context Chicago Bears 🐻 (@BearsNoContext) October 19, 2025
Rome Odunze: 6 Targets, 2 Receptions, 31 Yards
For the second straight week, Rome Odunze and his quarterback didn’t appear to be on the same page. Odunze was targeted on Williams’ interception and also had a drop on a pass that hit him right in the hands. Odunze is still getting plenty of looks, but the Bears’ offense looks completely different before and after the bye week. With the run-first approach and shaky play from Williams, the Odunze hype train is slowing down. Hopefully, next week’s matchup against the Ravens will get things back on track.
Rome Odunze you gotta catch this pic.twitter.com/hAmljl2hGh
— Dave (@dave_bfr) October 19, 2025
Colston Loveland: 4 Targets, 3 Receptions, 24 Yards
Look for Colston Loveland to earn some more opportunities in the future, as Cole Kmet left this game in the third quarter with a back injury. Loveland played a season-high percentage of snaps and made some nice plays both as a receiver and blocker, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get more opportunities while he continues to validate his lofty draft stock. Loveland is a great add if he’s on waivers, but he’s not quite an auto-start yet based on his modest offensive output.
Not many TE’s can run like this and block like that. Colston Loveland is a unicorn. Hes gonna be JUST fine. #DaBears #Bears pic.twitter.com/reA7XIFVlQ
— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) October 19, 2025
Luther Burden III: 2 Targets, 1 Reception, 22 Yards | 1 Carry, -1 Yards
Another underwhelming performance for Luther Burden III, who was only on the field for 19 of the Bears’ 68 offensive snaps. Burden is still worth stashing if you have the roster space, but he shouldn’t be sniffing your lineups with the unreliable usage. If Moore is shipped off via trade, Burden would figure to be the biggest beneficiary.
Cole Kmet: 1 Target, 1 Reception, 16 Yards
Olamide Zacchaeus: 3 Targets, 2 Receptions, 9 Yards | 1 Carry