The Bears were 5-5 in games in which they allowed 23 or more points in 2025 — arguably the most tangible evidence of "The Ben Johnson Effect." Prior to Johnson's arrival, the Bears were 0-25 when allowing 23 or more points over the previous three seasons, and 6-82 since 2014. So they nearly won as many games when allowing 23 or more points in Johnson's first season as they had in the previous 10 seasons. The Bears' 47-42 victory over the Bengals in Week 9 was the high end of

Just like New Mexico's Brian Urlacher was deemed too big to be an NFL safety in 2000, Oregon's Dillon Thieneman is too small to be an NFL linebacker in 2026. But there was a lot of safety in Urlacher's game and there figures to be a lot of linebacker in Thieneman's game. It's always risky to compare any rookie to a Hall of Famer, but Thieneman's intriguing combination of speed, physicality and versatility have earned him that distinction. Both players shared the "hybrid" desc

With Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams in place after a rebuild-validating 11-6 season that included a playoff victory over the Packers, the Bears are in better shape for a run of sustained success — three consecutive playoff or winning seasons by my standard — since the Ditka era. But as fate would have it at Halas Hall, the Bears have had a somewhat rocky offseason for a team with the wind at its back: Center Drew Dalman suddenly retired at the peak of his career at 27. Left t

The debate over whether Cubs red-hot left-handed hitting rookie Moises Ballesteros should bat against left-handed pitchers is being framed as nit-picking with the Cubs' offense fueling their four-game winning streak. Even after being limited to five hits in a 4-2 victory over the Mets on Saturday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs are hitting .338 with 15 extra-base hits and eight home runs in the four-game winning streak after Carson Kelly and Ian Happ homered Saturday. Kelly's thre

Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record with his 715th on April 8, 1974. I love history. And I love documenting history. So when I wasn't playing All-Star Baseball or Bas-ket when I was in high school, I was keeping crude scrapbooks from the sports pages of the Sun-Times. Just a bound book of construction paper, a pair of scissors and some double-sided tape and I was good to go. It's as much fun to look back on these 50 years later as it was to put them together

When I moved from the South Side to Lincolnwood at age 8 in 1967, one of my first friends at Rutledge Hall was the daughter of Jack Rosenberg, was the longtime sports editor of WGN. The Rosenbergs had a really cool basement, with all sorts of sports memorabilia. The highlight — for me anyway — was Jack's glass-topped office desk, which was covered with a collage of press passes he had accumulated through years of traveling while covering events for WGN Sports. The legendary a

For the record, former Bears wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad has said he was not the inventor of the notion that Chicago "is where receivers go to die," — in response to blowback after he made that comment to Sports Illustrated's Peter King in 2008 upon his return to the Panthers after three seasons in Chicago. Muhammad said he was just referencing the sentiment that someone else brought up when he signed with the Bears in 2005. Whatever the reality, the comment has stuck throu

Enigmatic players aren't usually as likable as DJ Moore. Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Martellus Bennett were productive players who couldn't hide their warts no matter how hard they tried (or didn't). Moore is everything you want in a player. He's a team guy. He's dependable — he's missed three games in eight seasons, none in the last five. He thrives in bad offenses — In his eight NFL seasons, Moore is sixth in receiving yards (8,213) despite never playing with a Pro Bow

Center Drew Dalman's sudden retirement at 27 on Tuesday shook the Bears' world and added one more hole to fill in an already busy offseason for general manager Ryan Poles. But it's way down on my list of Bears' offseason needs, behind anything on defense (edge rusher, tackle, linebacker, safety) and for one reason: Ben Johnson. Situations like this are why you hired Johnson. For years Bears fans have envied teams like the Packers, Rams and 49ers, among others, for their abili

Coming off a rejuvenating 11-6 season, with a promising, if not proven, franchise quarterback in place and still on his rookie contract, the Bears go into the 2026 offseason with the wind at their back. Still, the offseason is a quandary for general manager Ryan Poles, who has three sizable holes to fill at positions he spent significant capital on just last season: Edge rusher, defensive tackle and left tackle. You never have enough edge rushers, as the cliche goes, but defe

Bears fans who fell in love with Ben Johnson this season and rightfully embraced him as the best head coach at Halas Hall since Mike Ditka just received a dose of reality — Ben Johnson did not make a lot of friends around the NFL this season. That Johnson did not win the NFL Coach of the Year Award was not a big surprise — both the Patriots’ Mike Vrabel and the Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald are in the Super Bowl with teams that did not make the playoffs in 2024. The upset was th

The Bulls beat the Heat in Miami without Josh Giddey, Nikola Vucivic, Coby White and Tre Jones — with footnote-to-be Yuki Kawamura making a difference in crunch time — then traded salary cap space (acquiring Dario Saric's expiring contract from the Kings) for two second-round draft picks in a lauded deal with the Cavaliers and Kings. It was the biggest double-barrelled good news night in Chicago since the Bears beat the Packers in the playoffs and the Cubs signed Alex Bregman

My first and only reaction to the Bears losing offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to the Ravens is: Next!. That's the beauty of following the Andy Reid/Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan template — hiring a superior offensive designer/play-caller as your head coach — as the Bears look like they've done with Ben Johnson: You don't have to sweat the loss of an offensive coordinator like Declan Doyle. The Reids, McVays and Shanahans lose offensive coordinators all the time — Doug Pederson

Bill Belichick being denied first-ballot enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a travesty, of course. Belichick's credentials are indisputable — including eight Super Bowl championships, with six as a head coach. Let's put it this way: Belichick's record in the nine seasons between Super Bowl victories from 2005-13 would be first-ballot worthy — a 110-34 record (including an historic 16-0 season in 2007), eight playoff appearances (the only miss was an 11-5 season

Seven people who had the biggest impact on the Bears’ resurgence in 2025: 1. Ben Johnson The rare authority figure who made everyone at Halas Hall better (with the possible exception of president Kevin Warren). Before hiring Johnson, general manager Ryan Poles acquired Nate Davis, Lucas Patrick and Ryan Bates outside of the draft to upgrade the offensive line. After hiring Johnson, he acquired Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson. Caleb Williams went from a league-lead

Bears general manager Ryan Poles delivered in his fourth season in charge at Halas Hall. “Take the North” was a better podcast than a Bears rallying cry before the rejuvenating 2025 season, with the Bears winning the NFC North title for the first time since 2018. Poles did not take much of a victory lap at his end-of-season press conference Wednesday — just the standard fare of thanking his bosses, chairman George McCaskey and president Kevin Warren, and head coach Ben Johns

Caleb Williams established himself as the Bears’ franchise quarterback in 2025 with more certainty than any Bears quarterback since Jay Cutler when he was acquired in a trade with the Broncos in 2009. And yet, let the record show that Williams ranked 22nd in the NFL in passer rating this season (90.1) and 34th in completion percentage (58.1%). His 3,942 passing yards were a ballyhooed Bears franchise record, but still just seventh overall in the NFL. In fact, his 231.9 yards

After a rejuvenating season that ended in a 20-17 overtime loss to the Rams in the divisional playoffs on Sunday at Soldier Field, the Bears will be a target of skeptics who have them pegged for a regression in 2026 — unlikely to sustain their uncanny knack for rallying in the fourth quarter to win. That’s not a big surprise. I just didn’t expect Ben Johnson and Cole Kmet to be among those leaning that way, putting immediate brakes on the notion that this season was just t

The Ben Johnson Effect has been undeniable this season. The Bears beat the Packers twice in three tries — including the wild-card playoff game last week with a stunning fourth-quarter rally the Packers and Aaron Rodgers usually pull off against the Bears. The Bears' offense improved from 28th to ninth this season and won games despite allowing 23 or more points after going 0-25 when allowing 23 or more points in the Matt Eberflus era. The Bears, who didn't know how to win und

The Bears obviously haven’t run out of miracle finishes, but has Ben Johnson’s offense peaked? As the Bears were recovering from an 0-2 start with eight victories in nine games, Johnson kept the big picture in focus — for the Bears to be playing their best football in December. And as the final month began, the Bears were living up to that. After going down to the final play in a loss to the Packers at Lambeau Field on Dec. 7, the Bears responded with a convincing 31-3 vict