The Chicago Bears were dead in the water. Detroit had just sent them home with the most humiliating defeat in a decade, 52-21. Everybody declared the team a lost cause. Everything would need to be rebuilt. Head coach Ben Johnson might be the right guy for the job, but he had so much work to do. Johnson refused to accept that. Those players were capable of playing better. He merely had to get them pointed in the right direction. After a tough week of practice, they crushed the Dallas Cowboys at home. Then things changed when they pulled off back-to-back 4th quarter comebacks to take down Las Vegas and Washington.
The heart monitor was beeping again. Guys were starting to believe. Another victory on Sunday, this in more convincing fashion against the New Orleans Saints, 26-14, put the Bears on their first four-game win streak in seven years. Yet Johnson wasn’t done delivering miracles. Before the bye, Chicago had the 31st-ranked rushing attack in the NFL. Something clearly changed during the break. The Bears put up 145 yards on Washington last week. Then they trampled the Saints for 222 yards.
It has to be the single-greatest in-season turnaround any Bears head coach has engineered in years.
Ben Johnson has the entire team playing inspired football.
It seems like every time they need something to happen, a different part of the team makes a play. In Las Vegas, it was Caleb Williams leading a crucial late drive in the 4th quarter to score the go-ahead touchdown. Last week, it was a resurgent rushing performance by D’Andre Swift. This time, it was a swarming defense that sacked Spencer Rattler four times, intercepted him three times, and forced him to fumble once. When they talk about complementary football, this is a perfect example.
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What Ben Johnson has accomplished is nothing short of a miracle. Remember, this team was 5-12 last year. They were widely known for being mentally weak and easy to break when things got tough. Lesser men would’ve let those first two games kill the season dead. Johnson used them as fuel. He refused to bend, pushing himself and his players to fight back.
Now they’re 4-2, exhibiting confidence the organization hasn’t felt in too long.
