The Chicago Bears finally crawled out of the NFC North cellar last year, winning their first division title since 2018 and finishing higher than fourth out of four for the first time in three seasons.
In Ben Johnson’s first season, the Bears used a slew of comebacks to turn an 0-2 start into an 11-6 finish. Chicago made its third playoff appearance in 15 seasons and won its first playoff appearance since 2010.
The positivity from the rapid turnaround under Johnson gives hope that Chicago is on the rise, but even from the owner’s suite, there is no rest on the laurels.
“It’s been a great run,” Bears chairman George McCaskey told the team’s official website last week at the league’s annual meeting. “It was a miraculous run. A surreal run. But in the end we didn’t reach our goal. The goal is to win the Super Bowl. So there’s more work to be done.
“I think we have a good core of players. They fight like hell for each other. They fight like hell for their coach. I think they are confident that he will find some way for them to win, and there is great and ridiculous content in our great game. He has already said that complacency will not be a problem. What do we have to be satisfied with? We have not reached our goal.”