Bear Digest

Bears earn shocking ranking from former Super Bowl champion

Former NFL defensive end Chris Canty surprised his ESPN co-hosts with where he ranks the Chicago Bears after Week 13.
Pete Martuneac|
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Through the first 12 weeks of the 2025 NFL season, fans and analysts around the league maintained a 'wait and see' attitude when evaluating the Chicago Bears. Even when the Bears had won four games in a row (twice!) and authored five game-winning drives, people still believed they couldn't trust this team. Not until they'd beaten a 'real' opponent.

Well, it doesn't get any more real than the defending Super Bowl champions. After the Bears' statement win over the Eagles, people are finally starting to believe that these aren't your same ol' Bears. ESPN skyrocketed the Bears in their Week 14 NFL power rankings, all the way into the Top 10, while CBS Sports has Chicago knocking on the door of being a Top 5 club.

But perhaps no one in the media is higher on Chicago right now than Chris Canty. A former Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants, Canty co-hosts ESPN's "Unsportsmanlike" morning radio show alongside Evan Cohen and Michelle Smallmon. On Tuesday morning, he unveiled his Top 5 teams in the NFL, and not only are the Bears included in this list, Canty has them at the very top.

Co-hosts Smallmon and Cohen can be heard expressing their shock, but it's hard to argue with Canty's reasoning. He cites the fact that they've won nine of their last 10 games, including several 4th quarter comebacks that show they "have the confidence to execute in critical moments". Their run game is dominant, and they lead the league in takeaways, which is generally a recipe for success.

Canty concludes by saying, "The Chicago Bears are a team that, I think, we have to start putting in the championship-contending conversation. That's how Impressed I was with what they did to the Philadelphia Eagles."

Can the Bears actually contend for a Super Bowl in 2025?

Hearing Canty go to bat for the Bears like this is surprising, considering how hard he's been on this team in the past. As recently as this offseason, Canty openly wondered whether Caleb Williams and the Bears had a future together. But here he is, suggesting that analysts and fans around the league talk about the Bears in the same way they talk about the Seahawks or Patriots.

The fact of the matter is that Canty's right. We're moving into Week 14 now, and preseason assumptions and narratives have to be left behind in the face of overwhelming evidence. The Bears have already cleared their expected win total with five games left to play. They've risen to the top of the NFC and beaten the defending champs. There's now a very real chance that we'll get a 40-year-old Super Bowl rematch between the two biggest surprise teams this year.

It would be a historic first for two teams with second-year quarterbacks and first-year head coaches to meet in the Super Bowl, but it's no longer a pipedream for the Bears and Patriots. The Bears are legit, and it's time for people around the league to accept that.

Caleb William
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

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Pete Martuneac
PETE MARTUNEAC

A former Marine and Purdue Boilermaker, Pete has been covering the Chicago Bears since 2022 as a senior contributor on BearsTalk. He lives with his wife, two kids and loyal dog.

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