Chicago Bears Question of the Day: What makes the Bears elite?

The Bears entered the 2025 NFL season with varying degrees of expectations. Some just wanted them to compete. Others wanted them to simply make the playoffs. A select few had very high aspirations.

Here we are, 13 weeks into the season, and I think it’s time for us all to raise our sights a little higher.

The Bears are 9-3, and after the Rams loss to the Panthers (thank you Carolina gold), Chicago finds themselves at the top of the NFC playoff picture. With all that has happened since the 2024 Thanksgiving game and subsequent firing of Matt Eberflus, it is hard to overstate what an achievement this is on its own.

The narrative regarding the Chicago Bears’ 2025 season has mostly focused on their weak schedule, narrow margins of victory, and inconsistent play. But those three things don’t get you to 9-3. You have to be good at something. So what is it? What distinguishes the Bears from every other team in the NFC? I’ll give you three.

What makes the Bears elite?

I think there are three things that make the Bears as good as any other team in the league:

1. Ben Johnson

2. Running the Football

3. Opportunistic Play

You can look at some teams in the league and very easily deduce what they are good at.

The Texans? An elite defense – next.

Why are the Cowboys still in it? A league leading passing offense.

What makes the Broncos so good? They sack the quarterback at a historic rate.

The Bears, however, aren’t a team that jumps off the page. They haven’t shut a lot of teams down on defense, as their opponents have scored at least 14 points in every game this season. Their offense, while good, has only scored more than 31 points once this season, so they aren’t blowing anyone out either.

In fact, every single game this season except for three, has been decided by less than 10 points. They’re winning close games, over and over again. And before others dismiss it as luck — I’d like to chalk it up to something else first — coaching.

Ben Johnson is a helluva football coach that started off the season roughly. A mismanaged game to the Vikings to start the season, that saw his Bears squandera 17-6 lead, was a gut punch. It was then followed up by a game where the Bears were ill-prepared against a Detroit team eager to prove Johnson’s move wrong.

Since then, Ben Johnson has been fantastic in all aspects as a Head Coach.

Johnson has motivated his team to rally in big moments (Blackwell’s block, Moody’s GW FG, Loveland’s TD, etc.). He has been a plus playcaller, as evidenced by their top 10 offense which was floundering at the bottom of the league a year ago. He has been a good game manager, with the Bears scoring in the final 2 minutes of the half and 4th quarter twelve different times. The Bears are also 3rd in the league in Time of Possession, holding the ball for 53.24% of the games they have played.

More than anything, he’s gotten his players to buy in. The mental errors that seemed to plague the Bears earlier in the season has gone down dramatically. He has players up and down the roster contributing — from D’Marco Jackson, to Ozzy Trapilo, to Nashon Wright, and even Brittain Brown. This roster believes in Ben Johnson, and they’ve raised their level of play in response to his coaching.

Something else that makes the Bears elite is their rushing attack — something that Ben Johnson has his fingerprints all over.

As it currently stands, the Bears are 2nd in the NFL (behind the Bills) with 153.8 yards rushing per game. That figure is even more impressive given that the Bears were averaging 102 yards per game on the ground through four contests. Since then, the Bears have averaged a whopping 179.6 yards rushing per game.

Much of the success of the running attack has been because of the revamped offensive line and Ben Johnson’s unique pre-snap motion that creates confusion on the defense. Johnson utilizes motion on 59.2% of offensive plays, 9th highest in the league. The Bears also have a 19.3% play action rate, third highest in the league. In short, the Bears rushing attack is very hard to plan for play to play. Add in some elite run blockers in Drew Dalman and Darnell Wright, and you’ve got a recipe for an elite rushing attack.

Finally, no team in the league is more opportunistic than the Chicago Bears.

The obvious metric that suggests this to be true is turnover differential. The Bears are tops in the league at +17 — a remarkable margin that transcends luck and shows a team that is elite in scouting and role discipline. It also shows a team that does not make the critical mistake on offense. The Bears’ 9 giveaways is 5th lowest in the league.

Beyond just turnovers, the Bears shine brightest in key situations. A few stats:

• The Bears are 5th best in the league in offensive 3rd down efficiency at 43.9%

• The Bears are 9th best in the league in defensive 3rd down efficiency at 36.2%.

• The Bears are 8th best in the league in defensive 4th down efficiency at 50%.

• The Bears are 14th in the league in Red Zone TD rate at 58.5% (and are 5th in the last 3 games).

• The Bears have made 26-31 FGs (84%) compared to their opponents hwo have made 16-22 (73%).

Chicago has been good at key moments and have forced their opponents to make mistakes. Good teams win in these categories.

So, while the Bears might not be dominating teams like juggernauts of old, they appear to have a winning formula — be prepared, run the ball down your opponents throat, and make key plays. That’s how you get to 9-3, and if they keep it up, how you win in the playoffs.