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Ben Johnson Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears have, in the eyes of many covering the NFL, “won” the offseason once again.
And whilst that may spell excitement for casuals and/or media members covering Chicago sports, Bears fans know better than to trust some talking heads giving high grades to their free agent signings.
It turns out that no one is more emblematic of this consistent skepticism than current CB1 in Chicago, All-Pro Jaylon Johnson, who had some choice words to say to the Chicago Sun’s Patrick Finley.
“Hype don’t win you no games,” Johnson said, per Finley, “I’ve been here a minute. I’ve been through the hype. And we don’t win no games. So, for me, if it’s not about winning, quite honestly, I don’t really care about it.”
Johnson then went on to say that when the team finally manages to put together some wins in November and December – of which they had none in 2024 – he would finally get “excited”.
Jaylon Johnson Halts Offseason Plaudits With Tempering Message
It is very understandable that Johnson refuses to fall into the “hype” trap perpetuated by the broader sports media covering the Bears.
Even last season, when Caleb Williams was a just a rookie, oddsmakers and football talking heads were so enamoured with Chicago’s moves that they were priced at an over/under to win a whopping 9.5 regular season games. The expectation being, thus, that they were expected to win an average of 10 games last year.
This obviously did not come to fruition. But instead of tempering their thoughts in the wake of a disastrous 2024 season that resulted in head coach, Matt Eberflus getting fired mid-season – a first for the Bears in the entirety of their illustrious 105 year history, there are now seemingly more expectations for the team.
What Should The Bears’ Realistic Expectations Be Heading Into The 2025 Season?
With Caleb Williams heading into year two, and now sporting an offensive-minded head coach in Ben Johnson – alongside three new interior offensive linemen, many believe this will finally be *the* year for the Bears.
But for a team that has still never had a 4000 yard + passer – the only remaining franchise to have not crossed that very basic threshold – it is vital to keep things in perspective, even if it feels like the stars are aligning.
And Jaylon Johnson’s words echo this, for as many seemingly “great” moves the front office may have made over the course of this free agency period in March, it is worth remembering that the Bears have just a 15-36 record under general manager Ryan Poles, with no season having passed 7 wins – 1.5 below .500.
That is a significantly worse record than former GM, Ryan Pace, who was universally panned by Chicago fans, who managed a 48-65 record over his 7 year tenure with the organization.
There are, of course, reasons for optimism within the building – for reasons previously stated: the offensive line additions of Drew Dalman, Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson – all of whom have proven to be high-end starters. And Ben Johnson did do fantastic work with the Detroit Lions‘ offense.
Nonetheless, it will take more than a couple of things going their way to turn the Bears’ fortunes around; a franchise for whom the past 30 + years has been mostly filled with disappointment and failure.
