Chicago’s Been Hurt Before — But These Bears Are Hard Not to Believe In

“Enjoy the ride.” That has been the ultimate goal for most Chicago Bears fans during this unprecedented fall of winning and wonder.

A team originally dubbed the Cardiac Bears for their late-game heroics and improbable week-to-week escape acts has slowly — and maybe reluctantly — begun to build some level of expectations in the Windy City.

That shift isn’t exactly by choice. Most Bears fans I know have spent the season doing everything they can to stay measured. Trauma is hard to shake, and this franchise has supplied its fan base with enough of it to last a lifetime. 

It’s like entering a new relationship. After spending so long processing heartbreak, it feels good just to put yourself out there again. But then that spark returns—an unexpected rush of possibility—and what should feel exciting suddenly turns into fear. While you daydream about what could be, the distant memory of your last breakup lingers in the back of your mind.

It’s that…just the football version. You with me?

We had every reason to believe the magic would eventually evaporate — and maybe we still do — but here the Bears sit, in early December, as the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture.

This is uncharted territory for the organization—at least for the last two decades. The last time the Chicago Bears held the No. 1 seed in the NFC in December was 2006. They were playing in the Super Bowl a few months later.

The 2025 Bears have kept finding ways to win while staring defeat straight in the face. The results, along with the leadership of first-year head coach Ben Johnson, instilled an unwavering belief that radiated through the locker room.

That belief now shifts the tone of every Bears game. Chicago walks onto the field expecting to win — because they’ve proven they can.

And for the most part, that confidence has become contagious among the fans.

The road win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Black Friday cemented it. And if we’re being honest with ourselves, it also makes it pretty hard to simply “enjoy the ride” now. It’s time to start thinking about making the playoffs… and making some noise.

Beat the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, and the Bears pull out to a 1.5-game lead in the NFC North and maintain their spot as the conference’s top seed with just four to go.

At that point, you’d have no choice but to start calling a spade a spade and the Chicago Bears a Super Bowl threat.

I can’t believe I’m even typing those words.

The national discourse has been quick to discredit the Bears all season. An admittedly soft schedule made the unbiased observer believe Chicago’s success wasn’t sustainable.

Everyone has been waiting for the real juggernaut teams to reveal themselves — teams with signature wins, no embarrassing losses, and no obvious roster holes. When the Bears didn’t check those boxes, it was easy to dismiss them early on. For years, that has been a fair way to separate contenders from pretenders.

But anyone with eyes can see that this NFL season is different.

Every team has blemishes. Even as the football world crowned the Los Angeles Rams as the clear Super Bowl favorite heading into Week 13, they got knocked off by a Carolina Panthers team that has been criticized all year for its inconsistency.

And maybe that’s the entire point.

If you’re looking for the sure thing — the team that is clearly leaps and bounds better than the Chicago Bears — you’re not going to find one.

New England? Knocked for their weak schedule and yet to be tested outside their division.

Denver? A quarterback many don’t trust, and a string of razor-thin wins against mediocre competition: 13–11 over the Jets, 33–32 over the Giants, 10–7 over the Raiders, and an overtime squeaker against Washington with Marcus Mariota under center.

 The Rams? They just lost to Carolina.

The Seahawks? They lost to the Rams while QB Sam Darnold threw four interceptions.

The Packers? Lost to Cleveland and Philadelphia - who the Bears just manhandled for 60 minutes on their home turf.

You can spin yourself in circles playing the transitive property game all you want. Or you can acknowledge the reality that the NFL has no clear hierarchy this season. There are a handful of teams capable of beating anyone on any given Sunday. And the Bears are one of them.

There can be no doubt about that anymore if they come away from Green Bay with a victory on Sunday. Who then in the NFC is “ unbeatable” for Chicago?

I’ll admit, the Bears match up with some teams better than others and I wouldn’t be optimistic about a head-to-head playoff matchup with the Rams or even the Lions, who already flexed their might against Chicago in Week 2. 

But a win at Lambeau could push the Bears closer to the No. 1 seed — and if they can get a bye with home-field advantage, who’s to say the playoff bracket doesn’t break their way?

Advanced metrics can be a useful predictive tool, but this is a week-to-week league. Data collected three months ago has almost no gauge for a team’s competence today. Sports have a funny way of letting the results do the talking - besides College Football apparently, but that’s another article entirely. 

So in a season where the prevailing opinion is that “nobody’s good,” maybe it’s the teams who simply win the most games that are best equipped for a Super Bowl run.

And right now, nobody in the NFC does it better than the Chicago Bears.

Believe me, I’m painfully aware that by publishing this — and by entertaining visions of Ben Johnson holding a Lombardi Trophy — I am setting myself up for devastation and a front page feature on Old Takes Exposed. 

But if the Bears walk out of Lambeau Field with a win this weekend, I won’t be able to sit back and pretend I’m just enjoying the week-to-week magic anymore.

It will be another statement win, in front of the entire football world, that the Chicago Bears are as good as anyone. And once you reach that point, why can’t you believe?

Simply because they’re the Bears?

I think we’ve already established that this team doesn’t resemble the Bears of old. They’re breaking every stigma and shedding every negative connotation tied to what we thought we knew about Chicago football. They have an identity. Leadership. A franchise quarterback. One of the best offensive lines in the sport. And most importantly: belief.

What more do you need?

Ben Johnson’s old high-school postgame mantra has become a locker-room battle cry that now echoes across Chicagoland. And perhaps it’s a bit of prophecy too. 

It certainly feels like the good has started to become better. And if the better becomes best — and Johnson has promised the Bears will be playing their best football in December — then a Super Bowl parade is absolutely within reach.

I’m not afraid to say that out loud!

Just kidding…I’m terrified. But that doesn’t make it any less true.