Not too long ago, you couldn’t pay somebody to trade places with Chicago Bears fans. It was pure misery. The team had embarked on its two longest losing streaks in franchise history under former head coach Matt Eberflus. They watched one former 1st round quarterback fail, get traded, and then his replacement 1st round quarterback get sacked 68 times in his rookie season. Eberflus was fired midseason, thrusting the franchise into one of its most uncertain periods ever. Unsurprisingly, people expected the worst.
Fast-forward almost two years, and those same people might be willing to offer their firstborn children for a chance to swap places with Bears fans. That is how different things have become. Head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams have fostered a turnaround rarely seen in the NFL. They went from one of the league’s worst teams to suddenly being in every Super Bowl conversation after throttling the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night.
It’s gotten to a point where fans of opposing teams are openly admitting outright jealousy of Chicago. You have Lions fans in Detroit saying it, as 97.1 The Ticket stated.
If that weren’t enough, the same sentiment surfaced on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, where Falcons fans can’t help but feel the same.
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Chicago Bears fans should appreciate what is happening.
They endured so much to reach this moment. All those losing seasons intermixed with incredible heartbreak. From 2013 through 2024, they had one winning season. That season ended with the Double Doink. It reached such a period of darkness that Bears fans began to believe things would never get better. The organization would never find a quarterback. It’d never find the right head coach. They were doomed to live in football hell for all eternity. Then general manager Ryan Poles started a revolution with one bold decision.
He flipped the #1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers for a wealth of draft picks and wide receiver D.J. Moore. Three of those picks became Caleb Williams, Darnell Wright, and Luther Burden. He then made the momentous decision to hire Ben Johnson as the new head coach last year. Not only did the man live up to the hype as one of the best offensive play callers in football, but he also proved to be an outstanding leader. Poles had accomplished the equivalent of going down 0-2 in the count with 2 outs in the 9th inning and hitting the game-winning home run. His work between March of 2023 and April of 2026 has been some of the best in franchise history.
It’s okay to enjoy the moment.
The football gods have already punished Chicago Bears fans plenty. Fearing the next one isn’t the right way to live. We’ve all earned this. A great team is taking shape before our eyes. Rather than worry about the future, the best thing to do is enjoy the journey. Opposing fans certainly sound like they wish they could do that right about now. This team can compete for a Super Bowl. You could argue it is a more complete group than the 2006 team that went to the big game. That one didn’t have the quarterback, weapons, or, frankly, the head coach that this one does.
If things click in the playoffs as they have for the Bears in recent weeks, they can beat anybody in the league. It looks like they know it too. This is a hungry football team, and they aren’t afraid. They’re embracing the pressure. They want to be great. All of that starts with Williams and Johnson. If you’re not aiming high, why are you even in the sport? Bears fans should treasure this.
