Let me take you back to one of your darkest days as a Bears fan.
Sorry, I’m not sorry, because it comes with a greater point.
Oct. 27, 2024, was a day we should now celebrate as Ben Johnson Day in Chicago.
The Bears were 4-2 and had a huge nationally televised game against the Commanders. In just his sixth game as a pro, Caleb Williams led his team on a go-ahead touchdown drive with about 20 seconds left.
You know where it went from there.
After the kickoff and a 13-yard gain, Jayden Daniels found Noah Brown on a Hail Mary that catapulted Washington on a magical ride to the NFC Championship Game.
I slumped in my newly purchased basement recliner, my heart sinking to my toes. It was easily a top-five regular-season loss for Chicago sports in my lifetime. What should’ve been a 5-2 start instead turned into 10 losses in a row under the incompetent Matt Eberflus.
It ended up being the most important losing streak in Bears history. It made it painfully obvious that their coaches were not leaders and their culture was built on a house of cards.
So what’s the point of bringing this up?
As Maya Angelou said, “You can’t really know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”
The Bears recognized they were in football hell, and the path back led directly to Johnson.
In one of his first meetings with the Bears, Johnson asked the team to trust him. If they did, the winning would follow.
The good, better, best of times have followed to the tune of a 16-8 record.
Two years later, the dysfunction is a distant memory, and a new, resilient Bears bunch was on full display against the Patriots in front of a record-setting Amazon Prime national audience.
After Caleb led another Bears scoring drive to take a 20-7 lead with just 14 seconds left in the half, the Pats pulled off their version of a miracle: a screen pass that went 48 yards for a touchdown.
Two years ago, a miracle play broke the Bears. Two years later, a miracle play barely fazed them.
Johnson’s team regrouped in the locker room, took the second-half kickoff and marched 72 yards in nine plays for a touchdown, grabbing the momentum right back.
Every time the Bears were tested by a really good Patriots team, they had answers.
Rome Odunze dropped a touchdown? Guess who made play after play in the fourth quarter?
It’s been a hallmark of Johnson’s team since he’s been here.
Think about how far our favorite football team has come in two short years. After starting last season 0-2, the Bears won nine of their next 10.
After losing to the Packers at Lambeau Field last December, the Bears won their next two games after falling behind in each.
This season, the Bears were humbled at Lambeau but immediately responded with a road win in Atlanta and a win against New England on short rest, in a game the Bears never trailed.
Nobody is a better example of this than Caleb Williams, who is finally getting the national love he deserves.
I woke up last Friday morning to a text from ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, who has significant Chicago roots.
“My guys are going to be all in on Caleb today, tons of coverage, top five quarterback.”
I told him I’m printing out those words and framing them.
It’s something we’ve dreamed about for not just years, but decades.
Just five weeks earlier, Caleb went down with a hamstring injury in an emotional loss to the Vikings and, for some reason, got made fun of for riding a cart to the locker room.
He took notes, got healthy, and has thrown for 613 yards and three touchdowns in two games.
He currently leads the NFL in QBR and is second in completion percentage – a stat in which he finished 32nd in the league last season.
That doesn’t happen without the resilience Johnson has not only preached but instilled in such a short amount of time.
The Bears are ready for the national spotlight yet again, this time on Monday Night Football against Seattle.
Two years ago, one Hail Mary sent the Bears spiraling into football hell.
Today, it would take a whole lot more than one bad play to knock them off course.
That’s what happens when you replace dysfunction with conviction.
• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.