Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has operated like somebody with a strong business sense. He already licensed his Jumpman logo after his iconic 4th down throw to Rome Odunze in the playoffs. Then he moved to patent the “Iceman” nickname. Nobody can say the young man is blind to money-making opportunities. One would think a player who thinks that way might be really focused on his next contract. After all, the second one is always the biggest in the NFL, especially for quarterbacks. We’re talking $65-70 million per year.

Yet when asked about it, Williams shrugged it off. He’s not worried about the contract situation. It doesn’t matter to him if he’s the highest-paid quarterback or not. That caught a lot of people by surprise. Most young players are so driven to get that big payday. Not Williams. He admitted that his NIL deals in college and the Bears’ rookie contract have already set him up nicely. If he retired tomorrow, he’d be fine. Money isn’t what drives him. Besides, he knows that the dollars will find him if he achieves his actual goal. He explained a lesson he learned to Adam Jahns of CHGO.

“One of the things I always refer back to is that LSU year, where they won and everybody gets rewarded,” said Williams, referencing LSU’s undefeated 2019 season with quarterback Joe Burrow and receivers Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase. “Even a year later, where Terrace Marshall, the wide receiver that got drafted to Carolina (in the second round) after all the guys left. Winning. Winning. Winning. Winning handles everything. (It) sweeps everything under the rug in that sense – so that’s where my mind’s at.”

Caleb Williams once again shows a keen understanding of reality.

Winning is the biggest selling point of all. That 2019 LSU team got five players drafted in the 1st round alone. Three of them are now among the highest paid in the NFL at their respective positions. The 2020 Alabama team that won the following year produced six 1st round picks. Georgia won back-to-back national titles and sent a parade of players to the 1st round as well. If you win, the rewards will follow. This has been a fundamental reality in sports, not just football, for decades.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a breakout year in 2025 while helping the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl. The team immediately rewarded him with $168 million in new money, making him the highest-paid receiver in football. Patrick Mahomes is now the highest-paid quarterback after three championships in 2019, 2022, and 2023. The list of evidence is substantial and goes back a long way. Caleb Williams recognizes reality. If he delivers wins, the Bears will pay him more than enough money. There’s no sense haggling over a few dollars here and there.

The Patriots’ legacy looms large.

Former New England wide receiver David Patten was once asked an interesting question. The Patriots were chasing a third Super Bowl going into 2004, and the receiver was in the last year of his contract. He was asked which he’d prefer: three rings or big money. Patten’s response was superb.

“Three rings. Because the money comes with the three rings.”

He was exactly right. After claiming a third Super Bowl over the Eagles that season, Patten cashed in on a 5-year, $13 million deal with the Washington Redskins. That was more than double his original salary in New England. Once again, the fundamental truth is real. If you win, either your team or another will throw money at you to maintain or transfer that success.

Williams knows he’ll be taken care of. The trick is getting his money without handicapping the team. That is why it’s possible the Bears quarterback may take some kind of discount, giving the Bears some cap wiggle room to stay aggressive in their future roster-building.

The Los Angeles Rams told you everything about their plans going into this season by what they did in the spring. Trading for Trent McDuffie and Myles Garrett while coaxing Aaron Donald out of retirement made it crystal clear. This team is Super Bowl-or-bust in 2026. It isn’t hard to see why. Matthew Stafford is 38 years old. He is about to embark on his 18th season. The Rams know their window is closing. After coming up short in the NFC Championship last year, they know they’re close. They must seize the moment. By contrast, you can’t really say that about the Chicago Bears.

While they lost to the Rams in the divisional round, their circumstances are very different. Quarterback Caleb Williams is only 24 years old. He should have a long career ahead of him. The same goes for other members of the roster, such as Darnell Wright, Colston Loveland, Luther Burden, and Rome Odunze. They don’t have to operate with nearly the urgency L.A. does.

Just don’t tell them that. Based on what NFL reports Stacey Dales has seen and heard at Halas Hall, everybody in that locker room, players and coaches, has tunnel vision for the Super Bowl. She said as much on Hoge & Jahns.

The Chicago Bears are showing that urgency should always be active.

Sure, the Rams are up against the clock, given their age in some critical areas. That doesn’t mean they have exclusive rights to feeling the need to win a championship. That mentality should be ingrained in your organization every single year, regardless of the situation. Head coach Ben Johnson has preached that from the moment he arrived in January of 2025. While some felt the Bears would need time to get oriented, he stated that his goal was to win immediately. He certainly accomplished that goal.

However, Johnson wasn’t happy with the outcome. While fans were thrilled with a division title and a playoff win over the Packers, that wasn’t the main objective. The Chicago Bears wanted a Super Bowl title. They didn’t win it, and therefore, the season was a failure. Maybe a little harsh, but that is the standard Johnson set. He wants all of his players to think that nothing less than a championship is acceptable in that building. It sounds like the message has been well-received.

Mindset is the first step.

Now it comes down to whether the Bears are good enough. They certainly feel they are. From the outside, the offense isn’t the concern. Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles assembled an impressive roster at every position on that side. The big issue for most is the defense. The Bears were among the league’s worst last season in pass rush and run defense. Only a league-leading 30 takeaways managed to mask how rough it was. Based on the moves made this offseason, it doesn’t feel like the unit got better. Ongoing injury problems haven’t helped.

Don’t expect Johnson to use that as an excuse. He believes the Bears have enough to beat anybody. The team is certainly younger and faster than it was last season. If some things align defensively and the offense stays healthy, the predictions of regression may look foolish. This team will need to reach deep down for something special if they’re to overcome the powerhouses in the NFC. As we’ve seen already, they aren’t afraid of anybody. If you want a fight, they will oblige.

One thing Ryan Poles has taught us since becoming general manager of the Chicago Bears is always to pay attention to his early scouting stops. They tend to strongly hint at the direction the team is thinking. In 2022, he popped up at Alabama to watch quarterback Bryce Young, but also Clemson and Georgia Tech, who each boasted quality defensive tackle prospects, Bryan Bresee and Keion White. The Bears ended up passing on young in their famous trade of the #1 overall pick, but picked Gervon Dexter in the 2nd round.

A year later, his first two games were East Carolina vs. Michigan and North Carolina vs. South Carolina. Unsurprisingly, both featured eventual 1st round quarterbacks Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy. The Bears, of course, ended up taking Caleb Williams #1 overall the following spring. Georgia-Clemson and Notre Dame-Texas A&M were his first stops in 2024. Both games featured prominent defensive line talent. Chicago took A&M’s Shemar Turner in the 2nd round. Last year, it was Texas-Ohio State, where he watched top safety prospect Caleb Downs. Chicago ended up grabbing Dillon Thieneman 25th overall this past April.

There are always glimpses into Poles’ thinking with these opening visits. Is his latest one doing the same?

Ryan Poles isn’t even trying to hide his intentions.

Attending the Miami-Stanford game was for one of two reasons. Either he was scouting quarterback Darian Mensah, who is a projected top 10 pick, or he was there to watch the Hurricanes’ stacked defensive line. Since the Bears already have Williams, it’s not hard to determine which. Miami has three players up front on defense who are currently considered 1st or 2nd round prospects. Chief among them is defensive tackle Justin Scott, a Chicago native known for having explosive get-off, violent hands, and excellent strength. He was a quiet hero for Miami during their run to the national title game last year.

Next is Ahmad Moten. Like Scott, he’s a highly mobile 300 lbs defensive tackle with quickness and the ability to collapse the pocket on the quarterback. He was more productive than Scott last season with 4.5 sacks and 9 tackles for a loss. Last but not least is Damon Wilson Jr. The transfer from Missouri excelled last season with 9 sacks and 9.5 tackles for a loss. He did this with explosive burst off the edge and an ability to bend without losing momentum. He is a true speed rusher, which is something Ryan Poles knows the Bears lack.

The intention seems pretty clear.

Concerns about the Bears’ defensive line have persisted for years. Poles has drawn a lot of criticism for his failure to field a strong unit despite a steady investment in draft picks and pricey free agents. Failing to add anybody significant this offseason, especially on the edge, is a big reason why Chicago is a heavy favorite to regress this season after their division title in 2025. Poles has expressed confidence that what the team has should be enough to do the job if everybody stays healthy.

Based on his first major scouting visit of the season, those statements ring somewhat hollow. It’s pretty clear the Bears are circling the defensive line as a major focus in the 2027 draft. While taking one of those Miami kids may not happen, it likely means they’re hoping to grab a legitimate pass rusher early next year. While that is a relief in some ways, many remain skeptical that Poles can find the right guy, considering his dubious track record with the position.

Ryan Poles isn’t in any danger. There is no point discussing it. Not after the general manager saw his Chicago Bears win the division and beat the Packers in the playoffs. Calling for his job is pointless, and not the reason for this article. This is more about discussing the complicated track record of Poles and his biggest flaw that is holding the Bears back from being a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Let’s make one thing clear. Poles has already achieved two vital goals for sustained success. He found a viable quarterback when he drafted Caleb Williams. Then he added a brilliant head coach, Ben Johnson, to reshape the team’s culture and vision. For all the talk about good or bad general managers, the reality is that most of them hover around average. What separates the successful ones from those getting fired after three or four years is finding the right coach and quarterback. Poles is the first to achieve that in decades for the Bears.

That said, it’s a team game. Winning the Super Bowl requires a complete roster. Every GM has a blind spot: that one position they seem to struggle to find good players for. It all depends on how much said position matters to the big picture. Unfortunately for the Bears, Poles’ happens to be in a vital area.

Ryan Poles’ failures on the defensive line can’t be hidden.

If you look at the roster, he’s demonstrated a keen eye for positions that have historically haunted the Bears. Rome Odunze and Luther Burden at wide receiver. Colston Loveland at tight end. Darnell Wright at tackle. Of course, Williams at quarterback. His defensive exploits are less encouraging. Nowhere more so than up front. To date, he has drafted seven defensive linemen. Two were cut. One left in free agency, and another was traded. Shemar Turner hasn’t returned from a torn ACL. That leaves two of the seven remaining with a chance to contribute this season.

It doesn’t get much better on the free agency front. Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett signed for a combined $91.5 million in 2025. Odeyingbo tore his Achilles midway through the first season. Jarrett only had 1.5 sacks. The only true impact player Ryan Poles has acquired to date is Montez Sweat, who cost a 2nd-round pick and $98 million to acquire. Right now, there is no positive outlook for the Bears’ immediate future. Sweat is in his 30s. Booker has yet to play a full season healthy. Van Den Berg is a rookie with lots to prove.

The Bears have been here before.

You never want to say that something like this can stop you from winning a championship, but the evidence suggests otherwise. Look at the Bears’ two most recent teams with legitimate title aspirations. The 2006 and 2010 teams both reached at least the NFC Championship. Both fell due largely to failure on offense. Much of that stems from former GM Jerry Angelo’s rough track record with drafting offensive tackles.

Jerry Angelo

Both of their crushing losses to Indianapolis and Green Bay can be attributed to protection issues. Conversely, look ahead to the 2018 season. Ryan Pace had that team in a great spot for a run thanks to an elite defense and strong running game. What did them in was his constant inability to find viable receivers. He never found someone to adequately pair with Allen Robinson, and it showed in the playoff loss to Philadelphia. No receiver other than Robinson had more than 37 yards.

Ryan Pace

Unless Poles finds a solution, the Bears won’t reach their full potential.

Part of being a good leader is recognizing your own faults. Football people call it self-scouting. Doing that helps put everything in perspective. Then you can find solutions. In this case, Ryan Poles must realize by now that his current mode of operation on the defensive line isn’t working. Something must change. One way might be to bring someone into the front office who can advise him on what to look for. Teams hire senior executives all the time. There is bound to be someone out there with a reputation for identifying good defensive linemen.

Even great GMs have this problem. Howie Roseman of the Eagles is widely considered the gold standard in the NFL. For all of his brilliance, even he has struggled in certain areas. Wide receiver was the biggest. Throughout his early time at the job, Roseman had some ugly misses at the position, like Nelson Agholor, JJ Arcega-Whiteside, and Jalen Reagor. Fed up after that last one, Philadelphia brought in help by hiring former Jacksonville GM Dave Caldwell as a personnel executive.

Caldwell was a scout in Indianapolis when they drafted Reggie Wayne, a college scouting director in Atlanta when they drafted Julio Jones, then selected Allen Robinson and signed Allen Hurns as an undrafted free agent when he became Jaguars GM. With his help, Roseman nabbed DeVonta Smith in the 2021 draft. Poles must take a page from that book and find somebody with a fresh perspective who can help solve this defensive line issue.

If he doesn’t? This talk of winning a Super Bowl will remain just that. Talk.

The Chicago Bears pieced together their final roster this past week in advance of the 2026 regular season. There weren’t too many huge surprises. Perhaps the biggest was their decision to cut training camp and preseason hero Kaden Davis, though he did end up back on the practice squad. Jack Sanborn and James Lynch were also cut but brought back after some Injured Reserve moves were conducted. Outside of that, nothing really stood out from their minor tweaks. However, one may have flown under the radar.

Most of their additions to the practice squad were familiar faces—Guys who played with the team in camp and the preseason. There were a couple of new additions, though. One of them was linebacker Buddy Johnson. Don’t feel bad if you’re unfamiliar with the name. The former 4th round pick has only played 17 games on defense in his career between Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Indianapolis. That said, he does bring a reputation with him. Johnson has quietly been one of the better special teams players at his position.

The Chicago Bears found Johnson at the perfect time.

One thing you can say about general manager Ryan Poles is that he has a certain knack for digging up special teams help in unlikely places every year. Johnson might be the latest. Over the past two seasons, the linebacker has recorded 14 special-teams tackles. It is a major breakthrough after being mostly invisible through the first couple of seasons. This isn’t one of those signings that will grab headlines. It will truly benefit the Bears during the long stretch of the season when they need a good play on special teams to pin an opponent deep.

That is where guys like Johnson thrive. Every year, it feels like the Chicago Bears add somebody like this when nobody’s paying attention. Then the player makes a big tackle or blocks a kick or punt. This is what good teams manage to do. Holding a roster together year upon year is impossible these days. You must be able to scour the market for help on the margins every offseason. Otherwise, things will eventually fall apart. Say what you will about Poles, but the man has a keen eye for players like Johnson.

The Bears have maintained a strong core on special teams.

Unsurprisingly, they retained Josh Blackwell. The cornerback has arguably been their best player in that phase since he arrived a few years ago. He is joined by edge rusher Daniel Hardy and safety Elijah Hicks as the core trio of the Bears’ coverage unit, with Kalif Raymond and Zavion Thomas bolstering the return team. Johnson should be a big help, as will Sanborn. Fellow linebacker Tony Fields II should also become a factor once he returns from Injured Reserve. All in all, it’s a solid unit that special teams coordinator Richard Hightower has to work with.

No doubt he had sway when the Bears made this move. The coach has quietly become one of the better special teams coaches in the NFL. He’s consistently demonstrated a sharp eye for talent, particularly among linebackers. You saw it with D’Marco Jackson last year, Amen Ogbongbemiga in 2024, and Elijah Lee in 2022. If anybody knows how to deploy Johnson, it’ll be Hightower.

If there is one thing we’ve learned about quarterback Caleb Williams since he joined the Chicago Bears, it is that he is obsessed with winning. He wants to go down as one of the greats. Williams understands that the fastest way to do that is by winning championships. He can’t do it alone. As ridiculously talented as the young quarterback is, football is a team sport. That means it falls on his shoulders to be the leader in the locker room and on the field. It is why you have seen more and more moments of Williams using his voice to get teammates pointed in the right direction.

What people don’t know is that, despite all the rumors about his interests outside of football, the quarterback is obsessed with finding anything that might give his team an advantage, mentally or physically. That includes looking into other sports for ideas. One he found most interesting came from a 2010 UC Berkeley study on how high-fives, fist bumps, huddles, and congratulations for teammates in the NBA affected team success. It turned out to have a massive impact. Few utilized this hidden benefit more than Hall of Fame point guard Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs.

Williams took that data and has since applied it in the locker room, demanding that teammates celebrate each other’s scores whenever they occur.

Caleb Williams reached into another sport for guidance.

“One: It’s really freaking hard to score. So let’s go celebrate when we do it. Two: it shows a sense of love and care for your teammates because you didn’t get in the end zone. You weren’t the one getting in the end zone, so you’ve got to go down there and celebrate and have fun and dance and do all these things and come back to the sideline, focus up, and get ready to go do it again.

So, it’s something like the Spurs, with Tony Parker, a couple years ago. So, it’s like if it was just this stat of like they go around and they slap hands more than anybody and it’s those small things, those small connections, those small moments that build up and when it when it comes down to it in those big moments, something from those moments and slapping hands and going down and celebrating with your teammates, they show up late in games late in the year and things like that. And so, it’s important. It’s really important to me and us.”

Williams isn’t alone in thinking this way.

It may sound unbelievable to many people, but one of the biggest advocates of celebrating touchdowns and big plays is none other than Bill Belichick. That’s right, the future Hall of Fame head coach and notorious cremudgeon openly told his players that they should be excited about those things. With all of the hard work they put in every single day, not celebrating your success or that of your teammates feels like a complete waste of effort. Enjoy those moments. They’re well-earned.

Caleb Williams has reached a similar conclusion. The Bears work incredibly hard to prepare for the season. Head coach Ben Johnson has made doubly sure of that since arriving last year. What is all the blood, sweat, and pain for if you don’t enjoy the game? That is what the quarterback wants. Once everybody embraces the small moments together, they’ll strive to achieve bigger things together. This was often a problem with previous versions of the Bears. They had talent to be sure, but rarely played with that level of camaraderie.

The Bears haven’t seen this level of leadership from a QB before.

When you look back at guys like Justin Fields, Mitch Trubisky, Jay Cutler, Rex Grossman, Jim Miller, and others, none of them came across as true leaders. Sure, they used their voices to motivate the guys and weren’t afraid to call teammates out on mistakes. However, none of them seized full ownership of how those guys in the huddle were supposed to think and act. Even Jim McMahon, for all of his successful leadership qualities, never went that far. Williams is in uncharted territory, right up there with greats like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Roger Staubach, and Bart Starr.

He feels it is his responsibility to find every way possible to get the Bears to play like champions. If forcing them to celebrate more often is one of those requirements, so be it. Not that teammates resisted that idea too much. Celebrating big plays is always a joy. The reason they don’t do it as often is that they fear they might be punished in some way. That will not happen under Williams’ watch.

Chicago Bears fans have already become aware of Jordan Van Den Berg. Back in April, only draft nerds were even aware he existed. They knew him as a 24-year-old defensive tackle from Georgia Tech who’d had a good season in 2025. They also knew he was an athletic freak, testing off the charts in almost every metric. That meant he was a project for the Bears’ coaching staff with significant upside. Perhaps he might be something in a year or two. People weren’t holding their breath, though. Most 6th round picks don’t pan out.

Barely two weeks into training camp, the buzz started percolating. Van Den Berg was forcing people to notice him in practice. Every day, it felt like he was dominating 1-on-1 drills and creating something in team sessions. He went from the third team to working with the starters by the beginning of the preseason. Is this just one of those things where a supposedly weak position group allowed a young guy to get noticed?

Not even a little bit. Former All-Pro tackle Terron Armstead was at multiple Bears practices last month. He thinks Van Den Berg is the real deal and will contribute much earlier than people expect.

You know Jordan Van Den Berg is different when this happens.

Remember, Armstead is an offensive line guy by nature. He played against some of the best defensive tackles of this generation, including a young Grady Jarrett, Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, Jeffery Simmons, Quinnen Williams, and Ndamukong Suh, among many others. He knows what the good ones are supposed to look like. So for him to single out Van Den Berg is no small thing. Let’s also remember he is predisposed to hate defensive linemen in general. It comes with being a former blocker. Praising a defensive guy doesn’t come easy.

It is likely Jordan Van Den Berg reminds him of a former teammate. The rookie shares a lot in common with Sheldon Rankins, the former New Orleans Saints 1st round pick who played with Armstead for years. He, too, was an undersized but explosive defensive tackle who wreaked havoc along the interior. That made it easy to overlook how strong Rankins was. Van Den Berg is built the same way. He’s average in size for his position, but plays way stronger and quicker than you would expect.

Things are about to change if this kid is for real.

Few things make a defense better than a good interior pass rusher. The Bears know this better than most organizations. They saw it with Steven McMichael in the 1980s, Tommie Harris in the 2000s, and Akiem Hicks in the 2010s. Finding them has always been the hard part. Gervon Dexter was a solid player, but not somebody opposing defenses feared. He never had the burst necessary to force double teams. Van Den Berg has that kind of ability. The key will be whether he can master the technical side.

Plenty of defensive tackles have talent. The great ones combine it with a deep understanding of hand-fighting skills and how to defeat various types of blocks. One must have an arsenal of pass rush moves, switching between them to keep blockers off balance. It’s why Aaron Donald was such a menace. His violent hands made his speed and quickness lethal. That is the mountain Van Den Berg must climb.