Heading into Week 12, the Chicago Bears are sitting at 7-3 and atop the NFC North division with the playoffs in sight.
After enduring a 10-game losing streak last season, and several coaching changes that followed, the Bears went out and made changes to the roster and the coaching staff, bringing in Ben Johnson to lead the way. And he has had plenty of success in the early turnaround.
When asked about the possibility of the playoffs, Johnson said, despite the Bears being in first place he’s not even looking ahead to the playoffs right now. Putting his focus on the game in front of them this weekend when they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers to Soldier Field, Johnson said the team is in a good spot for where they are at in this stage of the season.
“We’re way far away from that,” Johnson said. “I haven’t been thinking about that. We’re really in the third quarter of the season. … We’re in a good spot right now for where we want to be at this quarter of the season and we have a tough opponent coming in here on Sunday.”
This is the best start the Bears have had through 10 games since their 2018 season, the last time in which they won the NFC North. That was also the first year under head coach Matt Nagy, who would go on to win the NFL’s Coach of the Year, an honor that Johnson is certainly up for consideration for this season.
There’s plenty of reason to be excited and optimistic for the Bears’ playoff chances, and the back half of the season is going to be a tough stretch, and they’ll have certainly earned a playoff spot if they can get there.
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