It’s refreshing not to be thinking about who the Bears are going to be taking in the top 10 of the upcoming draft right now. But as it stands, the Bears are going to face a different kind of problem this offseason that is both less concrete and more important.
Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune has 10 thoughts after the Bears win over the Packers. Here he’s addressing the similarities between the 2024 Commanders and the current edition of the Bears:
Here’s the comp that is intriguing: The 2025 Bears are like the 2024 Commanders. That’s what one pro scout said.
“Got hot, started catching a lot of breaks then started making breaks,” he said. “Got good enough to go out and win two playoff games on the road and reach the NFC title game.”
Here’s the comp that is not intriguing: The 2025 Bears are like the 2024 Commanders. Same pro scout.
“All the breaks that went their way worked against them and they’ve totally fallen apart,” the scout said. “Four wins this season and a big mess.”
This guy wasn’t drawing a clear parallel between the Bears and Commanders but he did say he thinks some of the instant success for the new coach — Johnson for the Bears and Dan Quinn last year in Washington — and some of the fluky finishes make for a real comparison. It’s not a comparison game the Bears would want to take into the offseason, I know that much.
It’s not a comparison that any of us likes. But it’s something that the Bears are going to have to face in the offseason.
The danger to having a season like this is that you come out of it thinking that you are better than you are. The front office thinks that they are just one or two pieces away from a Super Bowl, and the coaching staff thinks that they have a bunch of good players that they can ease off on.
The Bears are really going to have to work hard to guard against this. I don’t think that Johnson is the kind of guy who will ease up on the players. At least it didn’t sound like it when he was in Detroit. And I’m sure that GM Ryan Poles understands that his inability to draft defensive linemen is what has made the pass rush and, to an extent, the run defense what it is. Add a much tougher schedule as the likely NFC North champions, and you’re facing a real uphill battle next year.
The Bears aren’t that good. Despite the difference in their records, it looked to me on Saturday night that they were a few Green Bay blunders away from not even being the best team in the division.
And let’s not forget that the Lions put up 50 on them in week 2. I think we all understand that they aren’t the same team now. But are they really that much better?
To be honest, you could argue that it wouldn’t be a bad thing for their long-term future for them to lose a game or two down the stretch and to be one and done in the playoffs. Either way, they’ve got a battle on their hands in the offseason just to avoid complacency.