Ben Johnson: Bears Must Go Back to Square One After Playoff Loss

The Bears made great strides in head coach Ben Johnson’s first season before falling 20-17 to the Rams in overtime of their divisional round game and those strides have created a lot of optimism about what the future holds for Chicago. During a Wednesday press conference, Johnson’s message wasn’t centered on how far the team came by going 11-6 and winning the division a year after going 5-12. Johnson chose to focus on the fact that the loss to the Rams means that they are one of 31 teams that will not be winning the Super Bowl this season and that none of this year’s gains are guaranteed to remain in place when they return to action. “There is no building off of this,” Johnson said. “We go back to square one. We’re back at the bottom again. If you feel otherwise, you’re probably missing the big picture. We’ve gotta start from scratch, we’ve gotta start with the fundamentals.” Many teams that make the kind of jump the Bears took in 2025 are able to sustain their success into future seasons, but there are also a number of cases when they prove to be flashes in the pan. Johnson will be hoping that his message allows the Bears to avoid the latter scenario.