Bear Digest

What one Bears player admitted about Ben Johnson's pet saying

The "good, better, best" line used by coach Ben Johnson has been popularized for months now and one Bears player reveals what he first thought when he heard it.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson might have used an old, borrowed phrase that even players admit was corny but it works.
Ben Johnson might have used an old, borrowed phrase that even players admit was corny but it works. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

As winner of this year's Jeff Dickerson Good Guy Award from the Chicago PFWA, Bears veteran Kevin Byard is one of the more accessible and candid players when dealing with media on the Bears' roster.

He's also a player with a very positive vibe.

Yet, the three-time Pro Bowl safety did have to admit something this week that probably almost everyone thought when they first heard Ben Johnson yelling in the videos of Bears postgame celebrations.

This was regarding the "good, better, best" slogan that now can be found on almost every T-shirt, hat and sweatshirt in the Chicago area—and even the possible future home of the team in northwestern Indiana.

Byard said there was no problem for players buying into Ben Johnson’s team culture of toughness and never giving up when it all started back in the offseason. He even used a good, better, best reference regarding their play.

“We might need to drop that T-shirt line," he said, leading to laughter among media members. "But like I said, just buying into the culture and buying into what Ben's been preaching.

"I spoke about this, when he first did the ‘good, better, best’ deal. I think that was the Bills game in the preseason. It was kind of like, I won't say it was corny, but it was ... I don't really know ..."

Corny.

"But when you continuously say the message, you continue to actually understand what it says and what he means when he's saying it, it's basically just never let it rest," Byard said. "Always continue to strive for more and better until you get to your best.

"That's what we've been doing all year.”

The six comeback wins in fourth quarters staged by the Bears show they took it to heart even if it grows on a stalk and has ears and it really isn’t original.

The slogan was borrowed by Johnson from his high school team in North Carolina, but it was something Tim Duncan used to say with the San Antonio Spurs that he learned from his mom; was used by Cubs Hall of Famer Billy Williams after a teacher told it to him; and has been traced by some all the way back to Saint Jerome in the fourth century. Some even say it was a popular ad slogan used to sell cars.

Original or not, there have definitely been worse motivational methods in the NFL. Besides, Johnson really sells it.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.