Chicago Bears irate with ‘lazy’ narrative circulating

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson acknowledged the narrative circulating the team before the preseason.

“Well, we’re the number one regression candidates, so I think we got plenty of motivation ourselves,” Johnson said in July. “We talked about Caleb in the past–he’s used to handling a lot of attention, so I’m not worried about that.”

Weeks later, the Bears are still upset about talking points in the national media about their team.

The obvious argument about the Bears is that they didn’t do enough to improve the defense, especially the pass rush, which has been a problem ever since general manager Ryan Poles entered in 2022 and traded away key pieces of the defensive line.

Without a strong front seven, the Bears will rely on luck to have a chance to recreate the interceptions and comebacks that fueled Chicago’s run to winning the NFC North and wild-card game last season.

A Bears source told Jonathan Jones of The Athletic that such a narrative is “lazy.” Chicago is using it for motivation.

“I think it’s lazy,” the Bears source told Jones. “You see interceptions and say, ‘You can’t do that again.’ Fourth-quarter comebacks and say, ‘They can’t come back.’ And you’re ignoring all the space in between that can be improved. We use it for fuel more than anything.”

The defense needs to have a chip on its shoulder, but reality could set in well before the trade deadline. The offense will need to carry this team.

Can Caleb Williams overcome Chicago Bears’ problems?

The Bears believe Caleb Williams is ready to make a leap in Year 3.

“If we can play quality football within structure in those moments, I think he’ll make a huge jump,” a Bears source told Jones.

Like Dabo Swinney did with Clemson this year, the Bears will go into the season with what they have despite being warned by pretty much everyone else that they have serious problems with roster construction.

Maybe Johnson can beat the odds, or maybe the Bears will get raked over the coals.

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