Are the Chicago Bears On their Way Up?

The 2025 Chicago Bears were supposed to be better than the 2024 version was. Granted, that’s not hard to do, but everything pointed to the Bears having a resurgence.

To start the season, the Bears didn’t have any kind of resurgence and were looking worse than they did in 2024. While they may still be poised to finish last in their division and end up with a top-five or ten draft pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Bears could be waking up.

What we saw at the start of the season was not what anyone expected out of the Bears and their head coach, Ben Johnson. But the Bears are finding ways to win, and it’s showing with each game.

What Has Gone Wrong

This depends a lot on who you ask. Injuries, mostly on defense, have really hurt the Bears. The loss of cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, and the inconsistent play of linebacker T.J. Edwards, has made it very difficult for the defense to stick to its intended strategy. The defense has been run over by Detroit and allowed a comeback to the Minnesota Vikings, which showed that they can completely collapse. There hasn’t been much good, through the Bears’ first two games, to come out of the defensive side of the football.

Enter the Dallas game, and things seemingly turned around. It seemed as though the Bears had managed to completely reverse course. They didn’t “dominate” the Dallas Cowboys, but they played so well that the Bears won the game big. Now granted, the Cowboys aren’t the greatest team in the league by any means, but the Bears played sound football and walked out without a turnover or a sack.

That’s saying a lot for a team that had a ton of points put up against them just a week before.

Turning Point

Is the Dallas game going to be a turning point for the Bears this season? That’s a strong possibility. They could finally be putting things together. This may result in better play and more wins for a team that desperately needs them. But one win is not a sign of a turnaround and a trip to the Super Bowl. The Bears have a lot more work to do to make sure that they are successful and win a lot of games.

But the Cowboys game may have been an eye-opening experience for the players and the coaching staff. They also may have shown the league what this team is capable of. The players stepped up and played as well as they had played in a long time. The coaching staff had them well prepared.

Johnson’s imprint is starting to show itself on this team, and that’s huge. It’s going to equal a lot more victories in the long run.

What Does the Future Hold?

If you take stock in what the Bears have been able to do so far, you might see a glimmer of hope at the end of a long, multi-year tunnel. If quarterback Caleb Williams can keep on progressing and developing, and the offense can continue to grow, especially on the line, great things will happen. This team is slowly getting better; it just took a while to do so.

Now, the Bears just need to continue to build on what they have, get great play from the offense, defense, and special teams, as well as great coaching. They also need general manager Ryan Poles to do his thing to make the team better. If all this can come into play, the Bears will be the team to beat in the NFC North for several seasons to come.