Despite the heartbreaking end to the year, the 2025 Chicago Bears will be a memorable team that fans in the Windy City will remember for a long time.
Bears head coach Ben Johnson completed his first season with the team, leading them to an 11-6 record, winning the NFC North, and beating the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card 31-27 after being down by 18 points at halftime and storming back with 25 points in the fourth quarter. Chicago fans couldn't have asked for a better first year with Johnson and company.
Even Bears quarterback Caleb Williams understood the impact that Johnson has brought to the team. Williams also knows what Johnson has meant to the city since he was hired one year ago.
"He has been everything that Chicago needed as a coach," Williams said via 670 The Score's Chris Emma.
Ben Johnson is truly the coach Chicago needed for a long time
The biggest reason for it is the attitude he brings to the team. Johnson single-handedly brought back the Packers' rivalry, which had been gone for over a decade. From his introductory press conference comments about beating Matt LaFleur twice a year to actually beating Green Bay twice in the season, Johnson has admitted to not liking the Packers, and Bears fans couldn't be happier to hear it.
Johnson has brought that attitude to the team, as well as coached them hard and pushed them to limits they never thought they could reach. He has Williams thinking he doesn't like him, but that tough coaching was more like tough love being delivered to the roster.
The confidence, the excitement of the Bears, is something fans have never seen in Matt Eberflus or Matt Nagy over the last decade. Johnson is aggressive and innovative to a fault, but still shows the kind of effort that Chicago has missed in a coach since Lovie Smith.
Read more: Cole Kmet said what Bears fans certainly didn't see on game-tying TD in loss
This was only the first step for the Bears, as they have to spend the offseason fixing the defense after focusing solely on the offense last year. No matter what kind of work has to be done, Chicago knows that Johnson is the right man for the job and can bring back the Lombardi Trophy to the Windy City after over 40 years without it.