Bears HC Ben Johnson doesn't want to hear rebuilding talk

It would be understandable if your expectations for the 2025 Chicago Bears were low when the season began. They have two playoff appearances in the past 14 years, zero playoff wins in that time and have not even been to the playoffs since the 2020 season.

With a second-year quarterback (Caleb Williams), a first-year head coach (Ben Johnson) and coming off a five-win season, it would have been easy to chalk this up as a rebuilding year. Or at least a transition year.

Johnson does not want to hear any of that talk and made it clear on Friday that his expectations for this season are to compete. 

Ben Johnson is not in Chicago to rebuild

With the Bears sitting at 4-2 going into Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens, it's a great opportunity to really start establishing themselves as a playoff contender this season.

Johnson continued to emphasize the priority on Friday at his news conference.

“The mission has always been to win and to win now,” Johnson said. “I said that in my opening press conference and I’ve been consistent with that with the team. That’s the end-all be-all, that’s what we’re going out there to do. I don’t see this as a team in transition. This is the 2025 Chicago Bears and we have a chance to put a stamp on what this chapter of Chicago Bears history is going to look like.”

It probably should not be a surprise that Johnson has that mentality. When he was the offensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions, he was extremely picky about what job he would leave for. It had to be the right job, and the right situation. That alone made it sound like he was not interested in any sort of long-term rebuild. 

Despite the Bears' recent struggles, and especially recently, there was still a ton of potential here given the upside of Williams and the skill position players they have assembled around him. They just needed something to bring it all together and the right offensive mind to maximize their talents. 

So far, Johnson seems to be doing so.

But it is also worth noting that last year's Bears team was in a very similar situation. 

In fact, it was the same situation with the same record.

It was in that game that they lost on a last-second Hail Mary to the Washington Commanders, starting a 10-game losing streak that did not end until a meaningless Week 18 win over the Green Bay Packers.

This is a big stretch of games where they have to avoid that sort of fall off, and it starts on Sunday at a Ravens team that might have quarterback Lamar Jackson back in the lineup. If they can win that game, they have winnable games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Minnesota Vikings to follow.