I always like the Chicago Bears. But here come three additional reasons, and a prediction!

(1) I know the NFL world is enamored with advanced stats, but I still cling to some old school numbers. The Saints have been competitive, even at 1-5, but they have also played four of their first six games at home. They have a -6-point differential in those games. Their differential is -43 in their two road games, and Spencer Rattler struggled in both Buffalo and Seattle. If the Saints deliver a big performance on the road, it will be a surprise.

(2) The Kindness of the Schedule. So often, in this league, momentum is determined by who teams play and when they play them. The Bears are coming off one of their most exuberant road wins in years, and they are rewarded by returning home to face a Saints team that is fending off rumors about trading their best offensive weaponry. I would describe recent Soldier Field crowds as tenuously optimistic. They want to believe. But, in their hearts, they don’t. That tenuousness will disappear on Sunday. Folks believe things are changing. If this were one of the next two games – at Baltimore, at Cincinnati – I could foresee a letdown from this young program. I don’t see one coming on Sunday.

(3) The Bears have now put a dominant run game performance on tape. That will dramatically open up the play action opportunities moving forward, and that is Ben Johnson’s play-calling superpower. The only teams in the NFL allowing a higher passer rating to opposing quarterbacks than the Saints through six weeks are the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas Cowboys. This will be the best performance of the season from Caleb Williams.

Chicago Bears 31, New Orleans Saints 20

Anybody will tell you if you’re not familiar with Chicago Bears history. Offense in this town is about as rare as One-Eyed Willy’s treasure. In an era where franchises seem to have a top 10 offense at least once every few years, the Bears break the mold. They’ve accomplished the feat exactly one team since the turn of the millennium. That was in 2013. Outside of that, it’s been a parade of mediocre or awful. Plenty of coaches were hired to change that. Mike Martz, Marc Trestman, and Matt Nagy were among the most successful, and they weren’t all that good. The Bears hoped Ben Johnson might finally turn their fortunes around.

Five games into his tenure, it is already obvious that hiring him was the right decision. Let’s ignore the cultural impact he’s having in the locker room for the moment. Just focus on his influence on the offense. The Bears have now scored 24, 21, 31, 25, and 25 points in their first five games. That may sound pretty standard for teams these days. Not this one. It marked the first time in 30 years that the Bears have scored at least 21 points in their first five games.

Ben Johnson is living up to his reputation.

He’s renowned as one of the best offensive minds in the game, and it’s proving accurate. While the Bears haven’t set scoreboards on fire, they’re scoring at a much faster clip than we’ve seen in years. The 1995 team was probably the most efficient offense this organization has fielded in the Super Bowl era. They passed and ran with equal success. Erik Kramer claimed the single-season yards and touchdown records that year. Caleb Williams is currently on pace to break both of them.

The scariest part is that those who know Ben Johnson can see he’s holding back so much of his playbook. Allen Robinson said we haven’t even seen a quarter of it yet. He is sticking to the plays he feels the players can execute well. As they grow more comfortable, he will begin adding more and more layers. If the Bears are hard to stop now, try to imagine what it’ll be like in December.

Bruce Arians was one of the best head coaches in the NFL for a long time. He elevated the Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, two long-suffering franchises, to extended success. That included a Super Bowl championship in 2020. One thing he knows better than most is how to develop quarterbacks. Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Andrew Luck were all mentored by him. Carson Palmer and Tom Brady both had career years under his watch. So it is always worth paying attention when he has something to say about your team. Arians certainly had notable words about Ben Johnson.

The future Hall of Famer watched the Monday night game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders. Johnson was at the forefront of the action, calling a tremendous game that saw Caleb Williams play mistake-free and D’Andre Swift go over 100 yards rushing. Once again, the team rallied from a 4th quarter deficit to take the game in the final seconds. Arians is more convinced than ever that Johnson is one of the great ones in this league. If Williams is smart enough to listen to him, he’ll end up a top quarterback in the NFL before too long.

Ben Johnson is already having a major influence on the team.

Start with the offense. The Bears have now scored at least 21 points in five straight games. This is the first time that has happened since 1995. Thirty years. Ben Johnson barely knew these players when he arrived in January. Getting these kinds of results right out of the gate is impressive. As for Williams, he has eight touchdowns and just two interceptions through five games. That includes two 4th quarter comebacks. At his current pace, the young quarterback will crack 4,000 yards, the first in Bears history to do so. This is why the Bears hired Johnson.

Yet it goes beyond that. The head coach is also having a massive impact on the team culture. For the first time in years, the Bears look disciplined, confident, and resilient in tough situations. Those are all things Johnson highlighted as priorities from the beginning. It is something Arians would’ve been proud of. He probably sees a lot of himself in how Johnson coaches. That is a great thing for Chicago.

Something weird happened on Monday night. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman aren’t always the most complimentary broadcasting duo when it comes to the Chicago Bears, but they’ve at least been fair in previous outings. The game against the Washington Commanders felt different. Aikman seemed abnormally critical of the Bears all night, particularly quarterback Caleb Williams. Every mistake he made was harped on while his nice plays were dismissed as nothing special or just luck. Meanwhile, he had no problems showing Jayden Daniels praise despite two costly turnovers.

It turns out there may have been a reason for this oddly cold behavior. Williams was asked about it during his press conference on Wednesday. Here, he revealed some previously unknown information. He and Aikman were supposed to have a production meeting before the game. However, Williams was working at Halas Hall and lost track of time. When he finished, he called Aikman to meet up. The former quarterback didn’t answer his phone. Based on how things unfolded in the game, it’s a reasonable assumption that Aikman felt disrespected.

Caleb Williams won’t lose sleep over the incident.

People will argue he should’ve been better about communicating that he was running behind schedule. Fair enough, but Caleb Williams is human. He likely lost track of time. It’s not like he just blew Aikman off. He attempted to get in touch to fulfill his obligations. The former Super Bowl champion didn’t bother answering the phone. Instead, he seemed to air his grievances on national television. That isn’t the kind of petty behavior you expect from a 58-year-old Hall of Famer.

Alas, none of it matters. Aikman won’t be calling another Bears game this season. Williams doesn’t have to worry about him until next year. By then, nobody will care about what happened. It will be filed away as another one of those strange incidents that happen from time to time in this league.

The Chicago Bears were all smiles on Monday night. They’d just gotten the sweetest type of victory there is: revenge. After enduring the Hail Mary debacle last season, which sent them into a death spiral, and watching the Washington Commanders reach the NFC championship, this rematch held significant meaning. It would tell everybody, including themselves, whether the Bears had learned anything from that defeat. They proved they had by overcoming a 24-16 deficit in the 4th quarter to win 25-24. The post-game celebration was predictably loud. However, it came with a bittersweet edge. News soon trickled out that star receiver DJ Moore went to the hospital.

Fans weren’t sure what happened. The wide receiver had played the entire game. Nothing about him seemed off. He was even smiling as he walked off the field. Had trainers found something they deemed serious? Head coach Ben Johnson didn’t offer too many details other than that it was a groin issue. This confused NFL doctor David Chao. He couldn’t think of any groin-related issues that would require hospitalization. However, there was one in the same region that would.

Put simply: Moore took a shot to the nuts.

DJ Moore didn’t want to risk further damage without a checkup.

Testicular injuries can get pretty serious if not treated properly. Based on Johnson’s comments, it doesn’t sound like anything serious, hence the day-to-day diagnosis. DJ Moore will likely return to practice whenever he feels the area isn’t tender anymore. Until then, he’ll be limited. Don’t expect him to miss a game, though. One can imagine he may think twice about not wearing a cup in the future. Nut shots can be particularly nasty in any professional sport, but especially in football, where 200-300 lb men fly around at top speed. One wrong angle can lead to no more children.

Moore deserves credit for finishing the game. Most men in that situation would’ve called it a night, looking for the nearest ice bag. DJ gutted it out. That should serve as a reminder to people who question his commitment to the team.