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What happens next after a big Week 3 win may tell us if this Bears team is truly different under head coach Ben Johnson

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Kole Noble | Last updated Sep 24, 2025 12:17 PM ET

The Chicago Bears earned a well-deserved victory in Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys after all the right buttons were pushed to have the team not only respond, but prepare for the game the right way during the week leading up to Sunday.

After a short-lived celebration in the locker room, the Bears are ready to turn the attention to Week 4 with the opportunity to get back to .500 going into the bye week.

“We’re looking to piggyback of that performance here and go for our first road win here this week,” head coach Ben Johnson told reporters on Monday. “We’re road underdogs already. I think Vegas is picked to beat us. So, we gotta come out and have another great week of preparation.”

Last week, the Bears learned how to respond to adversity, now the team needs to learn how to respond to success as well, which could tell us a lot about this new culture in Chicago.

Bears need to learn how to handle success going into Week 4 matchup against the Raiders

"We'll get right back on the horse, we'll get to work again. This doesn't change anything for who we are or where we're going," Johnson said while doing an exclusive interview with Jeff Joniak on ESPN1000. "We're learning how to win and we're learning how to respond to success as well."

That's the right mentality to have. It's any given Sunday in the NFL and the Bears can't afford to just coast off one win and expect every game to end that way. All the hard work and preparation the team put into practice last week needs to carry over and even improve for this week.

Good news is, Johnson's message was already being carried down to the team leaders immediately after the game. Johnson shared that veteran safety and team captain Kevin Byard addressed the team in the locker room after the Week 3 win and reinforced the expectations.

"I thought Kevin Byard did a nice job after the game just talking about 'Yeah this is what it's supposed to feel like. We're supposed to come to the locker room and enjoy the win, but we gotta quickly transition and put in the same amount of work we put in last week. The same preparation as last week.' [Las Vegas] is a good group, it's a prideful group. I know coach [Pete] Carroll is going to have them ready to go and we haven't won on the road yet. We need to do that."

More importantly, the Bears need to learn how to stack a win. The last time Chicago won consecutive games was in Weeks 4-6 last season, nearly a full calendar year ago.

The message Johnson sent to his players ahead of Week 3 was strongly received when it came to bouncing back from adversity. Now, the message is that the Bears gotta make sure they don't overlook their next opponent and treat everyday with the same level of intensity.

"I know that [the Raiders] are going to bounce back and they're going to respond," Johnson added. "So, we're going to have to be right on top of it. I can't wait to see how we respond to success here this week. We did what we needed to do to get it done (last week)."

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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