Ben Johnson Issues Warning to Avoid Bears' Historical Post-Division Title Collapse

The Chicago Bears put together a better-than-expected 2025 season in the first year under head coach Ben Johnson.

Chicago pulled off the upset over the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North, going from worst to first in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL.

Then, the Bears went on to win a playoff game over those same Packers and nearly toppled one of the preseason NFC favorites, the Los Angeles Rams, in the following round in what was a bittersweet ending to the season.

It was no doubt an exciting campaign and there is hope for better things ahead in 2026, especially if Caleb Williams can take his own step forward, but the Bears taking a step forward as a team after a successful season is no lock, as history tells us.

Bears' history of falling off

Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky warms up before the start of the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. — Former Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky. | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

We have seen this happen two times since 2018. After going 12-4 that season, which ended with a playoff loss in the wild-card round to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Bears went 8-8 the next season and failed to make the playoffs.

Chicago kind of bounced back in 2020 with a playoff showing that year, but it was after an 8-8 regular season and the Bears were quickly bounced by the New Orleans Saints.

We can go even farther back than that. A 2006 Super Bowl trip was followed by three playoff-less seasons in a row. Then, after going 11-5 in 2010 and making it to the conference title game, Chicago went on to have a seven-year postseason drought.

This has become a troubling trend for the Bears and it's why no fan is resting easy ahead of the 2026 season. Johnson and Co. have demons to exorcise and will have to do so in a highly competitive division and conference.

Ben Johnson's perfect message

Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson during the 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore. — Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

After last season, Johnson isn't patting himself on the back and doesn't want his players doing so, either. Instead, it's "back to square one" in Chicago.

"We go back to square one," he said. "We were back at the bottom again. And that's really all 32 teams. If you feel otherwise, you're probably missing the big picture. You know, we're back at uh we got to start from scratch. We got to start from the fundamentals."

Johnson basically reiterated this at the owners' meetings. The time for reveling in the upstart season the Bears had in 2025 is over and it's time to build on what they did.

"It's been a long offseason in terms of you go downtown or you go somewhere and everyone's patting you on the back and telling you what a great, great job you did," Johnson said. "You don't want to hear it. You don't want to hear it anymore, alright... So our guys, we got to go back to work just like we did a year ago. It doesn't get any easier. It's going to continue to get harder."

Bears' offseason hasn't been good enough

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles looks on before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Soldier Field — Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. | Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

For a team looking to take that next step in 2026, the Bears have not done a lot of true consequence in free agency this offseason, or via trade for that matter, either.

Sure, the DJ Moore trade was a fantastic haul, but that move isn't guaranteed to help Chicago immediately unless the Bears land a Year 1 impact player with the second-round selection. In fact, it could hurt, as the Bears replaced Moore with a less-talented Kalif Raymond and the receivers room is now more reliant on unproven players like Rome Odunze, Luther Burden and Jahdae Walker.

Another problem on offense is left tackle. Ozzy Trapilo's patellar injury threw a massive wrench into things and now the Bears are forced to rely on the winner of a competition that includes Braxton Jones, who was benched last season, Jedrick Wills, whose entire career has been a disappointment, and Theo Benedet.

Bears made moves in free agency, but are they enough?

Dec 28, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Browns LB Devin Bush reacts after Steelers miss a field goal. Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The additions of Coby Bryant and Devin Bush will help the defense, but Chicago lost a pair of safeties in Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, which leaves a concern there since Chicago doesn't have another starting-caliber player at safety.

The interior of the defensive line and edge rusher are both still lacking. Chicago's run defense isn't set up to be any better than it was last season, when the Bears ranked tied for the seventh-worst unit in the NFL. There is still a massive question mark opposite Montez Sweat, also, because of the uncertainty with last year's big free-agent signing Dayo Odeyingbo, who is coming back from an Achilles tear and was not good before it.

As of this writing, there is just no looking at this Bears roster and thinking it is better than the 2025 version. There is still time to improve things, sure, but that's the general overview currently.

There will be the draft in less than two weeks, but we know there is no guarantee any of the players the Bears take will make the Year 1 impact this win-now team will need. Chicago needs to be active in the second wave of free agency after the draft or else the Bears will be more likely than not to suffer the same fate as the last four playoff teams in franchise history.