Chicago Bears momentum generated from the top fuels real optimism

"And so, he did that (Monday) and he says that to me. And so, he has all belief and confidence in himself. And then those little things actually provide confidence when you're about to go call the play and you line up and you're like, 'uh oh,' and then the play actually works. The belief and trust in him, the faith in him that he's dialing it up and he does every time.”

Williams described the 1-yard touchdown run he made around right end as exactly that way. Three defensive players had lined up outside and it looked like the play might not work.

In Ben they trust. It went for a TD and a 13-0 lead.

"Yeah, I'm excited every single day that I get to wake up and be coached by him," Williams said. "But I know the other guys are also.

"We believe in him, we trust him, we trust our other coaches and I think that's gonna continue to keep
growing. The belief in him is there. We want to win for him. We obviously wanna win for us and the Chicago Bears."

Defensive players are saying the same about Dennis Allen and his scheming. They're giving up yardage and don't always get the most pressure on QBs, yet they're succeeding. They finally stopped the run sufficiently Monday night and added three takeaways to make it 11 in three games.

"Really, like I said, starting in practice, (DBs) coach Al (Harris), all the coaches, say we need three or four interceptions, and guys are staying true to that.

"Guys are hungry, ball hungry. We want the ball. So, you could tell.”

The excitement generated by success from seeing coaching plans come to fruition is pervasive. Brisker sees it building the type of attitude and chemistry they lacked in the past.

“Yeah, it’s definitely different in the locker room," Brisker said. "Like I said, it starts in practice. You can feel it.

"The energy is different in practice. The way, guys are getting closer, the way we meet without the coaches and things like that, and then the way we communicate on and off the field, it’s amazing. You can tell things are trending up, and guys are believing.”

The coaches have the players believing in the work they're putting in during the week

“Yeah, we got something," Williams said. "I can't say the first word, but it starts with an S and ends with a T. We say we 'love this (S--T); We love it.' The hard work, the effort, everything that pays off. I mean, we love it.

"At the end of the day, we're itching for wins. We're itching to get back out there and practice and things like that because all the hard work is paying off. And that feeling is really, really, really, really good. It feels really good that hard work does pay off, and it always does. It always pays back.”

Teams can say this coming off big wins like the Bears just had, but they also are taking the right attitude heading into a week at home against a much weaker opponent in New Orleans.

“We still got stuff to clean up, but when you come out with a win, it feels a little bit better going into cleaning that up for the next week," running back D'Andre Swift said. "So, a lot of stuff to improve on, but it's definitely the right direction."

A year ago they seemed headed in the right direction but no one was talking about great confidence in what the coaching staff was telling them or putting together, and then came Washington and the 10-game losing streak.

Now, with Johnson and staff in place coming out of the win over Washington, the future looks brighter than it has for the Bears since possibly the division title-winning season of 2018.