Ben Johnson made it clear in his end-of-the-year press conference that the Bears will be back at square one after a promising 2025 NFL season.
The Bears’ head coach mentioned that Chicago was one of 31 teams that fell short of the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl. With that, there is plenty of work that must be done going into Year 2 for Johnson. Of course, there were still core building blocks that were established this season.
“Well, I mean, our identity that we outlined, that we wanted to show on tape, I thought that came through, and we have it up in the team room,” Johnson said. “The words on a wall are one thing, but bringing it to life is another thing. And I thought those guys did that. The No. 1 thing was physicality. I thought we were a physical unit on tape. That always starts in the trenches with your big guys, but I really think your little guys on the perimeter, they really helped define that.
I thought we had receivers that were selfless. They were willing to block for their buddies. I thought we had DBs that were willing to tackle. I thought that showed up these last two games in particular. Really proud of that. So physicality was the No. 1 thing that we hang our hat on. No. 2 is being sound, playing sound football, being fundamentally sound, and being schematically sound. And I thought that showed up week in and week out.”
Bears must improve in one area if they want to win the Super Bowl in 2026
The physicality that Johnson mentioned showed up specifically in the Bears’ run game, which finished third in the league in total rushing yards (2,456). However, some areas need improvement, and Johnson had no issue making them clear.
“We got to do a better job catching the football next year, and I can tell you right now that'll be a point of emphasis for us when they come back in the springtime,” Johnson said.
According to Pro Football Reference, the Bears finished with 29 dropped passes in the regular season, which was the fifth-most in the league. Using Pro Football Focus for the regular season and playoffs, Olamide Zaccheaus and Luther Burden III led the team in drops with six apiece. Rome Odunze was credited with five drops, and Kyle Monangai had four.
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The Bears’ pass-catching targets are far too talented to have the drop issues they kept showing up throughout the year. Now the team has something to work on collectively when the time comes to prepare for the 2025 season.