Have the Bears developed a killer instinct? | Chicago Sports Tonight
Have the Bears developed a killer instinct? | Chicago Sports Tonight
On tonight's CST, Lou is joined by Tina Nguyen, Matt Spiegel and Gabe Ramirez to recap another Bears thrilling victory! Cairo Santos' clutch 48-yard field goal gave the Bears a huge divisional win in Minnesota. Is this one of the craziest Bears seasons in recent memory and does this team need to develop a killer instinct? The CST panel discusses.
Through 10 games, it’s hard to say Ben Johnson’s debut season has been anything but a dream.
The Chicago Bears stand atop the NFC North at 7-3. They are in first place in the month of November with seven games remaining. According to The Athletic’s NFL playoffs simulator, the Chicago Bears have a 50 percent chance to make the playoffs as it stands.
The Bears are playoff contenders.
But, being contenders isn’t enough to get in there.
To make the playoffs, and to start thinking about winning postseason games, the Bears need to take the next step. They need to put teams away. They need to win games by multiple scores.
More accurately, the Bears need to become killers. At 7-3, they’re already winners. They need to become what the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and others have become on their way to Super Bowl appearances.
The Bears have seven weeks to get there.
"You have to celebrate all these wins," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. "I don’t think, as a team, we’ve developed a killer instinct yet."
Big picture view:
The Bears introduced a new phrase recently: Living in the known.
This means they’re operating, playing and acting with what they have. Right now, the known is the Bears are 7-3 and have won their last three games in the final minute with clutch plays on offense and special teams. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams pontificated on this after setting a franchise record with his fifth comeback win in 2025.
"It doesn’t matter when. It doesn’t matter how. It doesn’t matter who," Williams said. "We’ve got the guys. We’ve got the coaches. We live in the known. And so when our moment comes, when their moment comes, whoever it is on the team, we’ll make the play."
But, in each of the Bears’ last three wins, they’ve been winning. Each time, they watched their lead slip away.
They were beating the Bengals 41-27 and needed a game-winning touchdown. They started up 7-0 against the Giants, and needed a two-score rally in the fourth. They were up 16-3 on Minnesota, only to trail 17-16 in the final minute.
A thoughtful Williams knows the Bears have been killers in the fourth quarter. They put aside their mistakes and get the job done.
"You have to have a killer instinct to be in these games, and finish these games the way we have," Williams said. "To come out victorious, you have to have a killer instinct."
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - NOVEMBER 16: Caleb Williams #18 of the Chicago Bears leaves the field after the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings 19-17 on a field goal as time expired at U.S. Bank Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Phot
He took it further from there, though.
When the Bears see red, they need to go and take a win. They were up 16-10 in the fourth quarter with the ball, first and 10 at the Minnesota 48-yard line. The offense was moving, and even a field goal would have made it a two-score game with about two minutes to go.
Kyle Monangai had a five-yard run, and the Bears were about to continue rolling. Instead, Darnell Wright was flagged for an illegal formation foul, the drive crumbled from there and the Bears punted the ball back with 3:21 to go.
They had a chance to end the game right there. They needed to end the game right then and there.
"When there’s blood in the water, we gotta go," Williams said. "That’s a mindset and belief that we have to grow towards."
That’s next for the Bears.
They need to become a team that wins big and leaves no doubt that they were the better team. This was the message Johnson conveyed to Williams on the literal Day 1.
"We have the same mindset," Williams said on Jan. 22. "We sat down and talked and had the same mindset about scoring and all these different things. Sportsmanship is at the end of the game when you shake hands and be respectful in those ways. When you're on the football field, you want the other teams to feel as if you embarrassed them."
What's next:
If the Bears don’t develop that killer instinct this season, that’s okay.
Johnson’s first season in Chicago has already shown he can get the Bears to win games. At 7-3, they’re close to being a playoff team one year after enduring a five-win season, a 10-game losing streak and a fired head coach.
He’s already done so much to prove the future of the Bears is bright, and getting brighter with each win. After all, Johnson got his first NFC North win this past weekend.
But, becoming killers is the next step.
The Bears have seven weeks to prove they can become exactly that, especially since Sunday’s performance might not work against the Packers, Eagles or 49ers.
"We had too many opportunities in the third and fourth quarter, as a team, that we could have just completely shut the door," Byard said. "I had a question that was asked: Do we think that it can be sustainable against a better team? I don’t want to find out."
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