The Chicago Bears hoped they would be better in 2025. It felt like they upgraded across the coaching staff, going from Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron to Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen. They also spent lavishly to improve the offensive line, added some playmakers, and came into the summer with renewed vigor. Then they started the year 0-2, capped by a 52-21 drubbing in Detroit. Everybody thought the season was over. No one in their right mind thought the Bears would win seven of their next eight games and sit atop the NFC North.
Yet that inexplicably has come to pass. It all started last week when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, knocking them out of 1st place. Chicago went into Minnesota and took down the Vikings to reach 7-3, handing them 2nd place. Then, on Sunday night, the division-leading Detroit Lions were dismantled in Philadelphia. That dropped them to 6-4, inexplicably handing the top spot in the North to the Bears.
Anybody who says they saw this coming in August was a damn liar.
The Chicago Bears finally control their own destiny.
They have seven games left in the season. Three of them are against the Packers and Lions. Two will be at home. There is a golden opportunity for them to seize the moment and finally fulfill Ryan Poles’ prophecy of taking the north and never giving it back. Of course, they also must contend with those same Eagles and the surging San Francisco 49ers as well. The Chicago Bears can’t get comfortable. They haven’t played a clean football game most of the season. You won’t be top teams playing the way they have.
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They know it too. Either way, the Bears deserve a lot of credit. There is no way they should be in this situation. Yet because of their resilience and hard work, they’ve climbed out of the mud. Good teams make their own breaks. That is what seems to be happening now. The question is whether they can finish down the stretch. It is what Ben Johnson trained them for.