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The viewpoint differs from person to person at Halas Hall.
The man in charge of it all sees it simply. The Chicago Bears need to play the game ahead of them. There’s no need to worry about the playoffs until the fourth quarter of the season.
"I haven't even been thinking about that," Bears head coach Ben Johnson said. "We're still in the third quarter of the season. That's really what we're focused on. We set goals once we hit the halfway mark and once we make it through the three-quarters mark. Then we'll start shifting our focus."
As it stands, the focus around Chicago has firmly been on the Bears.
The 7-3 Bears have captivated the city first. Now, the rest of the NFL has taken notice of the team that’s gone from worst in 2024 to first in the NFC North in November 2025. The turnaround has had the league on watch.
The backbone of that turnaround are the wins engineered by all three phases of football. Four comeback wins in 2025, plus defensive stands and special teams aces. All of it feels like a wish come true from Bears’ fans, and somehow makes 2024 seem like a faux pas that yearns to be forgotten.
Plenty of the wins in 2025 were games the Bears found ways to lose in 2024. It begs the question: Why can’t you kill the 2025 Chicago Bears?
The viewpoints differ, but point to a common denominator.
What they're saying:
D’Andre Swift is confident in his team, especially now.
The Bears are one of the most efficient rushing teams in the NFL thanks to the Bears’ running back. It’s why there is no situation where the Bears are completely lost.
"We’re never out of it," Swift said. "Never out of it, no matter what the situation is, no matter what presents itself and if it's close, we like our odds."
That was true against the Commanders, Raiders, Giants and Vikings. Winning each of those games was an exhilarating test of the Bears’ fortitude and their fans’ heart health.
What’s more impressive was how the Bears won, which was by having each of their three phases of football standing tall.
"It’s been a different person or a different situation each time," Swift said. "Special teams came up big for us. Maybe defense came up big for us. One game, offense. It is kind of taking turns. It's a sight to see. It's amazing to see that whoever it is, whatever phase it is, just to come through when we need it to."
One reason the Bears don’t die easily is because of the players who make up those three phases. Namely, most of them are the players who endured last season’s 10-game losing streak.
Those players have been through hell in a season. There’s nothing other teams can’t do to them that they’ve already endured. That’s hardened the veterans at Halas Hall.
"Majority of the guys that's been in here have been a part of those," cornerback Tyrique Stevenson said. "We know like, don't create this type of energy or don't even look at the clock or just keeping the guys riled up. Just the small things that could lead to big things."
You can’t kill the Bears who know what it’s like to be on the other end of it all.
"Taking those lessons and taking those losses and just growing from them," Stevenson said.
The other side:
After the Bears nail a game-winning kick, long snapper Scott Daly sprints to the end zone to pick up the ball. He wants to deliver it to the kicker who delivered a win.
He’s done it three times in 2025: In January when Cairo Santos defeated the Green Bay Packers, again in October when the Bears defeated the Commanders and last week when the Bears defeated the Vikings, all on walk-off field goals.
In those wins, the Bears needed to stage last-second wins with offense, special teams and defense, all working in tandem. No blinking.
"It just stems just from the second that Ben's come in, he's instilled that confidence in us," Daly said.
The team the Bears have is influenced by the one voice that’s unified a group of rookies, free agent signings and holdovers from the last-place team in 2024.
Johnson has the team believing every play can be theirs. There’s no better example than the win over the Vikings, where the Bears’ special teams unit continuously kept reinforcing the idea that some could – or, more accurately would – make a game-winning play.
"They were in the huddle every play saying that they're going to make a play and that they could execute," Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. "They were going to come out victorious."
Hightower was also there for the low points.
The high points are because of what Johnson was able to instill in just 11 months.
"The belief, the mindset that they have, guided by our head football coach, is permeating through our football team," Hightower said.
The new coaching staff has done nothing but reinforce this confidence while making sure the team doesn’t dwell on last season.
"When it's all said and done, you don't necessarily have to have the best players on Sunday," Bears running back coach Eric Bieniemy said. "You gotta be the best team for 60 minutes. And I think when it's all said and done with those seven games, we found a way to be the best team."
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