{"id":245489,"date":"2025-09-22T04:25:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T04:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/245489\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T04:25:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T04:25:34","slug":"for-one-day-at-least-chicago-bears-looked-like-a-real-nfl-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/245489\/","title":{"rendered":"For one day at least, Chicago Bears looked like a real NFL team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;right:0;bottom:0;width:100%;height:100%;z-index:2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/85768711007-usatsi-26897473.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Ryan Fitzpatrick breaks down top NFL storylines so far this season<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Fitzpatrick stops by to talk all things NFL and about his partnership with State Farm.<\/p>\n<p>Sports Seriusly<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Chicago Bears defeated the Dallas Cowboys 31-14, giving head coach Ben Johnson his first win.<\/li>\n<li>Quarterback Caleb Williams matched his career high with four touchdowns and posted his best QB rating yet.<\/li>\n<li>Chicago&#8217;s defense forced four turnovers, including three interceptions on Dallas&#8217; final three drives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CHICAGO \u2014 This game is exactly what the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/chicago-bears\/326\/stats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chicago Bears,<\/a> and their fans, hoped for when they drafted <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/players\/caleb-williams\/1286445\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Caleb Williams<\/a> and hired Ben Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>An explosive offense. An offense that\u2019s fun to watch. An offense that can grind opposing defenses into submission. A defense that\u2019s opportunistic. A defense that doesn\u2019t beat itself.<\/p>\n<p>Most of all, a team that can win.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have so many guys that care,\u201d Williams said after Sunday\u2019s 31-14 thrashing of the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/dallas-cowboys\/331\" data-autotag=\"7af2161d-a8dd-41a5-87e2-32eb5b028473\" rel=\"noopener\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe always felt that our hard work, our preparation, the long-drive drill, the two-minutes, the moments, the four-minute, situational third downs \u2014 all those things, those are going to come,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI know we started off 0-2, but the belief was still there. The trust was still there. It\u2019s just being able to go out there and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One game is not enough to revive a franchise or declare Williams the quarterback the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/chicago-bears\/326\" data-autotag=\"69c69e75-f807-4542-90d2-619e6d4a23b1\" rel=\"noopener\">Bears<\/a> have been searching for since before he was born. This was against the Cowboys, after all, a team that has given up a whopping 891 yards \u2014 720 of them in the air \u2014 and eight touchdowns in the last two games and doesn\u2019t yet have Jadeveon Clowney.<\/p>\n<p>Still, for a team and a fan base starved for any sign of progress, this was a game they desperately needed.<\/p>\n<p>Williams matched his career high with four touchdowns, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheWienerCircle\/status\/1969893172923826427\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">earning fans free hot dogs Tuesday<\/a> from The Wieners Circle, while posting his best QB rating (142.6) yet. He finished a game without a sack for the first time since the Bears made him the overall No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, and Chicago did not have any turnovers or pre-snap penalties.<\/p>\n<p>While Rome Odunze remains Williams\u2019 favorite target, he threw to eight different receivers. Williams was able to get rid of the ball quickly \u2014 that he was able to pull off the flea flicker that resulted in a 65-yard touchdown to Luther Burden III is a miracle \u2014 and his footwork looked better. He made better decisions and, unlike previous games, most of his misses were to the right area.<\/p>\n<p>The defense, meanwhile, set the tone on Dallas\u2019 first possession. Javonte Williams had rushed for 22 yards and was trying to get out of bounds when Tyrique Stevenson ripped the ball from his hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnist\/nancy-armour\/2025\/09\/18\/tom-brady-still-causing-trouble-for-nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-las-vegas-raiders-flag-football\/86208213007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Brady still causing headaches for the NFL a decade after Deflategate | Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Bears D finished the game with interceptions on each of Dallas\u2019 last three drives, two by Tremaine Edmunds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt builds confidence for us, as a team and an organization, to be able to go out here and win these games and feel confident about who we\u2019ve got on this field,\u201d Williams said. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Chicago fans have been punked by the Bears on a regular basis since 1985. There have been some years when they resembled a real football team \u2014 Lovie Smith took the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006 and had a winning record in five of his nine season \u2014 but mostly it\u2019s been long stretches of futility.<\/p>\n<p>Particularly lately.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago hasn\u2019t made the playoffs since 2020 and has had a winning record once in the last 12 years. Johnson is the fifth head coach in that time, and Williams is the third QB the Bears have drafted in the first round since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>But Johnson\u2019s success as Detroit\u2019s offensive coordinator, coupled with Williams\u2019 talent and savvy, gave fans optimism that the Bears had finally gotten it right.<\/p>\n<p>Then the season began.<\/p>\n<p>The Bears gagged up an 11-point lead in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the season opener, then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnist\/nancy-armour\/2025\/09\/14\/chicago-bears-caleb-williams-bad-team\/86156382007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">got flattened by the Detroit Lions last weekend<\/a>. Things were bad enough for a players\u2019 only meeting before the Cowboys game.<\/p>\n<p>And for The Wieners Circle, a local institution that specializes in hot dogs and sides of snark, to make its bet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first two weeks had not gone the way we wanted to. It&#8217;s early, but we\u2019ve got to get the issues fixed and I thought the guys were committed to that here this week,\u201d said Johnson, who was given a game ball for his first win as a head coach.<\/p>\n<p>Again, one game doesn&#8217;t make the Bears contenders for the Super Bowl. Or even the division title.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re behind the eight ball here,&#8221; Johnson cautioned. &#8220;We&#8217;re 1-2 and we&#8217;ve got to get back to .500.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But for one day, at least, the Bears lived up to their promise. After being so bad, for so long, that&#8217;s a huge victory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Fitzpatrick breaks down top NFL storylines so far this season Ryan Fitzpatrick stops by to talk all&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":245490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[691,5229,8015,8019,10809,96578,18263,960,531,128666,3189,7311,1596,8998,2488,1318,2487,11652,130527,118736,111597,29329,1571,5382,50,1232,12623,45750,1269,8614,450,1457,1451,34294,18267,62,1458,11543,645,2490,358,3187,48221,48227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,2612],"class_list":{"0":"post-245489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-american","11":"tag-american-football","12":"tag-bears","13":"tag-caleb","14":"tag-caleb-williams","15":"tag-chicago","16":"tag-chicago-bears","17":"tag-clowney","18":"tag-content","19":"tag-cowboys","20":"tag-dallas","21":"tag-dallas-cowboys","22":"tag-enabled","23":"tag-football","24":"tag-highlights","25":"tag-hub","26":"tag-jadeveon","27":"tag-jadeveon-clowney","28":"tag-javonte","29":"tag-javonte-williams","30":"tag-national","31":"tag-national-sports","32":"tag-news","33":"tag-nfl","34":"tag-nfl-hub","35":"tag-odunze","36":"tag-opinion","37":"tag-opinion-content","38":"tag-overall","39":"tag-overall-positive","40":"tag-positive","41":"tag-rome","42":"tag-rome-odunze","43":"tag-sports","44":"tag-sports-news","45":"tag-stevenson","46":"tag-story","47":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","48":"tag-texas","49":"tag-tx","50":"tag-tyrique","51":"tag-tyrique-stevenson","52":"tag-united-states","53":"tag-united-states-of-america","54":"tag-unitedstates","55":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","56":"tag-us","57":"tag-usa","58":"tag-williams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}