The 2025 Chicago Bears had two real expectations going into the season: Show growth from 2024, and see if second year quarterback Caleb Williams is the future for the team.
Both goals appeared to be very obvious as Williams broke the single season record for passing yards as a Bears quarterback and won the NFC North title for the first time since 2018.
Brand new head coach Ben Johnson wanted to test his players before the season.
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Johnson said at his introductory press conference.
Johnson selected two elite rookie prospects in the draft: Michigan tight end Colston Loveland and Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III.
The Bears were definitely in uncomfortable positions throughout the season, but made it look routine if anything.
The Bears had seven fourth quarter comebacks in the 2025 season tying the NFL record.
These clutch moments gave Williams the nickname of “Ice Man” as he had ice in his veins in every big moment.
However, the season didn’t start off easy for the Bears as they started off 0-2 with losses to two divisional opponents.
In week 1, the Bears blew a double digit lead to the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football and in week 2 the Bears let up fifty two points in a blowout to Johnson’s old team.
However, the Bears then won four games in a row with two clutch plays in a blocked field goal to beat the Raiders and a game winning field goal to be the Commanders.
It was evident in October that this year’s Bears team was way different than the Matt Eberflus led team from 2024.
In 2024 the Bears lost ten games in a row after losing off a Hail Mary to the Commanders, but that team was more mentally fragile than this year’s squad.
Johnson turned a 5-12 team into 11-6 division champs and was able to do something no Bears coach had done since 2018… beat the Packers at home.
However, what Johnson did was double what was expected of him.
“I kinda enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year,” said Johnson.
Johnson ended up not just beating LaFleur in the regular season, but in the playoffs as well.
The cardiac Chicago Bears were down 21-3 at halftime at home in the wild card game and the fans were distraught.
The Bears had been there before though, and were cool, calm, and collected. The Bears managed to get a string of stops in the second half, which allowed them to slowly creep back into the game with big catches from Loveland and wide receiver Rome Odunze.
With under two minutes left in the game, Williams threw the go ahead touchdown pass to DJ Moore to take a four point lead.
However, there was still a minute and forty three seconds left for Packers’ quarterback Jordan Love with one timeout.
The Packers got the ball down to the Bears 28 yard line with seven seconds left.
Love danced around for what seemed like hours and threw a pass which fell incomplete to win the Bears the game.
The Bears went on to lose to the Los Angeles Rams in the next round of the playoffs (not without some Williams heroics), but it was still seen as a successful performance from the team.
The Bears might’ve not won the Super Bowl, but Johnson established a culture that’ll be kept for many years to come.
“It’s back to the bottom again. We gotta build this thing back up,” Johnson told reporters at his end of season press conference.