Why Chicago Bears fans shouldn't overreact to the team's 0-2 record

"Any time you lose a game like that -- man, it's a kick in the teeth," Johnson said after Sunday's loss. "Nothing about that feels good. Unfortunately, I've been through a number of these throughout the course of my career."

The pain Bears fans feel is very real. It's a familiar pain that follows unmet expectations. The 2025 offseason featured expectations that, once again, were never realistic to begin with, but they were very much there. Those expectations that came along with Ben Johnson's arrival; expectations that an offense in Chicago would finally challenge for 4,000 passing yards and, maybe, just maybe, the Bears would shock the NFL and win double-digit games in Johnson's first year.

Reality has struck Bears fans harder than a Mike Tyson body blow after just two games, and a quick spin around social media will show just how bad it's become in Bears Nation. Fans are already tapping out; they're succumbing to new expectations that are really just recycled ones. The expectation that a top-10 pick is coming, because this Bears team is going nowhere.

Maybe those should've been the expectations all along, though.

"These guys are hurt," said Johnson. "It stinks. They fought, they fought the entire game, and when you play a good team on the road and you have turnovers and you don't convert on fourth down and you give up explosive plays on defense, it can go sideways in a hurry."

The Bears' playoff chances shrank to around 12% after falling to 0-2. In other words, there's an 88% chance that the season is already over. That definitely stings. But the goal of the 2025 season, the first year of a new era in Chicago, was never for this team to be a Super Bowl contender. Instead, it's that first step toward becoming a Super Bowl contender that Bears fans should hope to see from Johnson, his coaching staff, and his Year 1 roster.

Remember: The Lions began the 2022 season with a 1-6 record before finishing the year 9-8 and building the momentum for the team they are today.

That is the goal. And it always should've been. The start isn't what matters. The finish is. The start was always supposed to be ugly. And it has been. To move the goal posts now, as if the Bears were expected to be a winner, is nothing more than creating problems where they shouldn't exist.

The Bears are exactly where they're supposed to be. Granted, it'd be nice if they didn't get steamrolled by the Lions along the way, but a loss like Sunday's should build character, assuming the players and coaches inside Halas Hall have the mental makeup strong enough to construct it.

Don't panic, Bears fans. A winless record after two games doesn't change the outlook of this team, which remains extremely bright with Ben Johnson in charge.