ESPN’s Alex Smith on Whether the Bears are the Team to Beat in the NFC

Rich didn't ease into it with Alex Smith. "Are the Bears the best team in football now?"

The ESPN analyst and former quarterback didn't go quite that far, but he came close. "They are absolutely contenders," Smith said.

What convinced him was Seattle. The Bears went into Seattle, put up 34 points and played the way they did offensively. "I mean, they are elite on offense," Smith said. He put it in context: just a week earlier, the Chiefs went to Seattle and "got absolutely punched in the face." Playing there against that defense, Smith said, "is a monster."

And the Bears did it methodically. Smith acknowledged one trick play, "but other than that, it was just basic methodical football. It was great run game with great play action."

Then there is the quarterback. Smith believes Caleb Williams is "knocking on the door of kind of elite," among the top-tier quarterbacks in the league. "The way he plays in that offense right now, like sky's the limit," Smith said. If he keeps playing like this, Smith said Williams "absolutely deserves to be in the conversation" with Patrick, Josh, Lamar and Joe, the top-tier guys. "He's right there."

Add the move Chicago made to shore up the defense, and Smith's conclusion was clear. "Yes, I think that the Bears compete with anybody."

Next up for Chicago is Tampa Bay on Sunday night, and Rich asked what challenge the Bucs' defense presents, since it's "a totally different ball of wax."

Smith called the Tampa Bay defense "incredibly physical," starting with Vita Vea in the middle. "This isn't a defensive front that's going to get pushed around," he said. The Bucs are very active and they're going to pressure you.

But Smith thinks Chicago has what it takes to handle that, because the Bears are so complete. "They got a lot of answers on the outside," he said. "They have so many contributors in the pass game. I think it's hard to take away one guy. It seems like every week it's someone else that leads them in receiving." That, he said, is the unique thing about how they're built and about Ben Johnson's offense.

Still, Smith said, a lot of it starts with the run game up front, and he expects Tampa Bay to be determined to stop it. So much of the Bears' offense comes off of that, with play action, bootlegs and movement.

"If you're going to have a chance against this Bears offense," Smith said, "you do need to stop the run."