The 2025 Chicago Bears season will forever be remembered for one major theme: near-heart attacks, high-level anxiety, and plenty of brown-paper-bag breathing.
These Bears gave the fan base continuous heart palpitations. It wasn't for the faint or weak-willed.
The 'Cardiac Bears' became a thing, and even general manager Ryan Poles acknowledged as much. During Poles' end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, he noted the nickname. But he wasn't exactly a fan of it.
Asked about the late-game heroics and all of the drama his Bears put the city through, Poles had this to say:
"I don’t think you can be satisfied. I heard the whole Cardiac Bears thing. I’d rather not be the Cardiac Bears. ... What you can take from this season is we were able to have poise down the stretch of games, poise to finish, and guys made plays when they needed to be made. I don’t think you should ever shy away from those characteristics."
Noted, Mr. Poles.
He doesn't want this franchise to be known as the 'Cardiac Bears.'
The 'Cardiac Bears' were ahead of schedule and much-needed
When you look back, most fans would have expected an eight-or nine-win season in Ben Johnson's first year. That seemed realistic and, to be truthful, it'd have been an improvement.
It should have taken this team longer than just a year to learn how to win football games, in all likelihood. Yet, Johnson took this team to even higher heights in his first year. The Bears eventually needed to learn how to win, and in tough situations, but who knew it would happen this soon and this often?
Now that the Bears have learned how to win, with their backs up against the wall, their next step is pretty simple: learn how to win by "a lot," just as Johnson said in his initial press conference after being hired. That's the next logical step, and the Bears are ready for takeoff.
The biggest thing is having a franchise quarterback with the confidence and ability to win in crunch time, which the Bears have. Now, it's about figuring out how to put the pedal to the metal early and often in games, and not letting up.
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For a team going into Year 2 of this offense, I think that's exactly where they're headed. Now, buckle up, because the 'Cardiac Bears' are about to be no more -- and that's a good thing.