On paper, the idea made all the sense in the world. If you want your young quarterback to thrive, the smart thing to do is pair him with a sharp offensive mind as the head coach. The Chicago Bears had tried it with Mitch Trubisky and Matt Nagy. It had some early success. Unfortunately, the pair seemed to lose chemistry as the seasons went on, and the Bears’ hopes went with it. Some experts felt the Caleb Williams-Ben Johnson combination threatened to do the same because of the coach’s preferred style of quarterback play.

Williams was a world-class improviser, known for going off-script and making insane things happen. Johnson was far more structured, wanting everything to be run on time and in rhythm. Skeptics didn’t believe the head coach would have the patience to see if Williams could adapt to that style. Even the quarterback himself sensed early on that Johnson didn’t like him. He admitted this to the media during his press conference on Tuesday. It wasn’t the type of coaching he was used to.

Johnson gave Caleb Williams exactly what he needed.

There is a great quote from the Academy Award-winning actor George C. Scott when playing General Patton in the biopic of the World War II icon. When asked about the fact that several soldiers in his army hated him for his sometimes gruff leadership style, Patton merely shrugged.

“Damn it, I don’t want these men to love me. I want ’em to fight for me.”

That is essentially the approach Johnson took as head coach when he took over. His goal wasn’t to get the players to love him. That wasn’t important to the task. He wanted them to execute at a high level on the field. If that meant having to be tough on them, so be it. Caleb Williams would not get any preferential treatment just because he was the quarterback. Previous head coaches may have treated him like royalty because of his elite talent, but that doesn’t work in the NFL.

The best head coaches hold everybody accountable, whether they are stars or not. Once Williams grasped Johnson’s methods, it became clear that he could reach new heights if he embraced the work. A few months later, the Bears are headed to the playoffs for the first time in five years. Williams delivered one of the most epic comebacks in franchise history against Green Bay. Their relationship appears stronger than ever.

There hadn’t been that kind of electricity at Soldier Field in years. The closest feeling was likely that big win over the Los Angeles Rams in 2018. Fans were loud. The weather was cold. It was a playoff atmosphere. However, this time felt bigger because it was against the Green Bay Packers, the team that has tormented the Chicago Bears for the past 30 years. Beating them would not only seize control of the division and get revenge for the loss two weeks prior, but it would also get a monkey off their back that had been present for decades.

Everybody knows what happened next. Led by Caleb Williams, Chicago scored ten points in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter to force overtime before an all-time finish on a 46-yard bomb for the winning touchdown. It was by far the most incredible game between the two teams of at least the past decade, probably more. Unbeknownst to most at the time, it also set an NFL record. Mike Florio of NBC Sports reported that it was Chicago’s sixth victory, despite trailing in the final two minutes of the game.

“Saturday’s overtime win over the Packers was the sixth time this season that the Bears have won a team they were trailing in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. They’re the first team in NFL history to win six games they trailed after the two-minute warning.”

The Chicago Bears can’t survive this way, but it may not matter.

History says the team will become a genuine factor in the Super Bowl picture after they have seasons like this. In 1979, they were 3-5 and destined for another disappointing year. Then a come-from-behind thriller against San Francisco saw them rip off seven of their last eight games to make the playoffs. That set them on the path of ascent in the 1980s, culminating in their 1985 championship. The same is true of 2001. After five straight losing seasons, the team surged to a 13-3 record, marked by dramatic late-game finishes. While the team didn’t do much over the next couple of years, they knew they had a core capable of going far. Once Lovie Smith arrived in 2004, everything fell into place.

This Chicago Bears team feels the same. They have some important pieces lining up, led by Williams. Head coach Ben Johnson is already proving to be the real deal. This suddenly feels like a team that is probably one or two good drafts away from taking that final step into true contention. They may run out of magic in the playoffs, but we know from history that this is likely just the beginning.

Plenty of names get thrown around for who the best head coach was in NFL history. You get the obvious ones like Bill Belichick, Don Shula, Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh, and Andy Reid. It isn’t hard to understand why. All of them had incredible success over extended periods of time. However, one name that should come up more often is Bill Parcells. The Hall of Famer coached 19 years in the league. He won two Super Bowls in New York, reached another in New England, reached an AFC championship with the Jets, and had three winning seasons with Dallas in four years.

If that weren’t enough, his coaching tree is equally impressive, boasting Belichick, Tom Coughlin, and Sean Payton, who have collectively won a combined nine Super Bowls. The Parcells approach is a proven one across 40 years of NFL history. Being compared to him would certainly be a big deal, and that is what happened with Ben Johnson. People inside the league got the sense that the Chicago Bears‘ head coach had a similar style based on how he treated players in training camp. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated put it best.

There was no hand-holding. He was looking for weakness.

And that went for everything. From the way the players practiced to the amount the coaches were throwing at them, Ben Johnson was conducting what looked very much like an old-school Parcells-ian weeding out through the offseason (which makes sense since Dan Campbell, whom Johnson worked with in Miami and for in Detroit, is a Bill Parcells protégé). He was going to find out how much his guys could handle, one way or the other.

The result, as I see it anyway, was on display with five minutes left in Saturday night’s showdown with the Packers, with the Bears down 16–6 and searching for a spark. Most teams with Chicago’s recent history would probably be dead in the water, even with a record of 10–4, in that spot. These Bears weren’t—and it goes back to how Johnson hardened them.

Bill Parcells understood the fine line with players.

He knew he couldn’t be their buddy. It didn’t matter if they liked him. What mattered was that they did what he told them to do. If that meant he had to be hard on them, so be it. Players openly admitted they couldn’t stand him because of his hardass style. However, they tolerated it because they soon realized his approach worked. They went from 3-12-1 in his first year to 9-7 in his second. Parcells knew how to establish an identity and build a culture of toughness and camaraderie. He could get guys to believe.

Johnson is the same way. Yes, he’s intense and can be harsh with his criticism. However, he always makes it clear it comes from a place of wanting to win. Everything is about winning. If you just trust him and put in the work, everything will work out. Now, like Bill Parcells, he has taken a 5-12 team to 11-4 in his first season. Everything points to the Bears being a force in the coming years as they continue developing the identity Johnson has set for them.

People will debate up and down whether Caleb Williams is a good quarterback (he is). He’s not the most efficient. Nobody would put him in the top 10 conversation quite yet. However, there is one thing people can’t deny. The Chicago Bears QB is hands down the most maniacal troll artist in the league today. He has always made it known that he maintains an online presence. He likes posts across social media that criticize him all the time, almost using them as fuel to motivate himself. However, it doesn’t stop there.

He also keeps receipts, waiting for the perfect time to snipe back at those people. Williams may have just delivered his masterpiece. So, back in January, a Detroit Lions fan posted on Twitter (X) that he was buying a bottle of Don Julio tequila for the day when Ben Johnson, who’d just taken the Bears job, was fired.

Just 48 hours after the Bears toppled the Green Bay Packers to make the playoffs and the Lions suffered a heartbreaking loss to Pittsburgh, Williams gave his offensive linemen gifts for the holidays. Tucked among them?

Bottles of Don Julio tequila.

Caleb Williams was clearly a master torturer in another life.

No normal human being files away a tweet, waits an entire year, and then uses gifts to his own teams as a way to twist the knife like that. It is a level of pettiness that defies description. Even Michael Jordan, the king of such moves, would be proud. This serves as a reminder not to underestimate the Bears quarterback. He may not vocalize his feelings much to avoid trouble, but it’s obvious that he takes things personally. If you criticize him on a public platform, be prepared for consequences.

Detroit was talking all sorts of junk after what happened in September, believing they’d crushed the Bears’ spirits beyond repair. Instead, Chicago is going to the playoffs, and the Lions are left watching what might be the closure of their Super Bowl window. Seeing Caleb Williams roast them without a single word uttered has to sting more than any quips might. The best part is the Bears still have a chance at even more revenge as they’ll host Detroit at Soldier Field in the season finale. Williams will no doubt aim to rub more salt in the wound.

The Chicago Bears have been fighting for three years to gain headway on a potential new stadium. It felt like Arlington Heights was the obvious choice. Then Kevin Warren pivoted to a downtown stadium on land south of Soldier Field. Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois government refused to entertain the idea. So the Bears shifted back to Arlington. However, the state still refused to consider any public assistance for the move. As a result, Warren declared the team would reopen the search, this time expanding into Indiana.

That caught many people off guard. Nobody thought for a second the Bears would ever consider leaving the state. However, Indiana’s government has been aggressive in its efforts to entice the franchise to the idea, and it’s working. Reports indicate that the team is already conducting preliminary tests at the most likely site in Hammond, Indiana.

It’s hard not to feel like things are slipping away from Illinois. Still, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stated in a recent press conference that Warren contacted him about discussing the Michael Reese site downtown now that the city’s budget bill has passed.

It feels like the Chicago Bears are giving the state one last chance.

The Michael Reese site is south of McCormick Place in Bronzeville on the South Side. It’s well-known that the area has been in need of modernization for several years. However, the city hasn’t been able to find ways to make it happen due to a variety of complicated reasons. The Chicago Bears initially didn’t consider the site. Among the problems were its generally small size, considered too narrow by NFL standards. It’s also on active rail lines, meaning it would take complex work to relocate the freight yards. There is also less space for parking.

So why revisit it? Obviously, it would keep the Bears in Chicago. The site offers excellent access by train, bus, and car, without requiring a transfer at the lakefront properties. That is why Friends of the Parks stated they wouldn’t raise opposition to the idea. Most importantly, it is the one option that people in the state government said they’d consider offering public support to renovate. They believe upgrading the Michael Reese site would benefit the city, and by extension, the taxpayers.

One thing is clear. Based on how quickly things are moving, this might be Illinois’ best and last chance to keep the Bears. Indiana’s push is organized and strong. They already have legislation passed to provide public support for infrastructure. All they need is the team to pick a place to build. That phone call from Warren feels like one last olive branch before the point of no return.

The Chicago Bears have 11 wins. They’re in the playoffs for the first time in five years. They’re likely one win away from their first division title in seven years. It has been a crazy past 12 months, punctuated by the arrival of head coach Ben Johnson. Everybody agrees his arrival is the single biggest reason the Bears were able to go from one of the worst teams in the league to the postseason so quickly. However, none of this happens without the ascent of Caleb Williams at quarterback.

Through 15 games, he has accounted for 27 total touchdowns, 3769 total yards, and only six interceptions. He’s led six 4th quarter comebacks this season, including the instant classic against the Green Bay Packers last weekend. Anybody with eyes can see Williams is steadily morphing into a star. Yet there are still people out there trying to downplay his impact. Not just fans, mind you—actual insiders with credible league sources. The latest is Mike Sando of The Athletic, who, for someone supposedly impartial, came across as someone desperately trying to cover for one of his buddies, having stated that Williams was a liability a few months ago.

He isn’t even trying to hide the agenda.

Both men laughed. The team laughed. There was an ease among them that defied the narrative heading into this season, fueled by a 32-source Go Long piece that dropped three days before the opener, painting Williams as selfish, entitled and hard to coach.

“I’ve got the best coach in the world, and we have the best coaching staff in the world,” Williams said after the game.

The coach is still the boss: Williams, uncoachable? The evidence suggests he might not have a choice in the matter…

…The winning touchdown pass (against Green Bay) required what a coach from another team called a “Tier 1 throw” by Williams, but the structure of the play — under center, hard play-action — was all Johnson.

Caleb Williams has proven the “sources” wrong all year.

Every sign to this point has gone against what Tyler Dunne’s article reported about him. He has accepted every demand made of him by Johnson during the process. There was never a single inkling that he was upset with the treatment. He hasn’t pushed to play a more open, spread style like at USC. Williams adopted the under-center approach, drilling himself diligently to master the necessary fundamentals. As for the selfish label? His giving credit to teammates and giving back to the community would suggest otherwise.

Don’t forget Sando and Dunne are friends. Seeing one defend the work of the other is hardly a surprise. Yet Sando’s willingness to double down on the Caleb Williams story after what we’ve seen for the past four months feels incredibly tone-deaf. It’s as if he buried his head in the sand and ignored every sign that the quarterback was maturing. Not that it matters. Williams doesn’t owe them anything. He has always been focused on one thing: winning football games.