The Chicago Bears had one of their best years in recent franchise history, but don't talk to head coach Ben Johnson about it.
Less than three months removed from the end of an 11-6 season in which the Bears made their first playoff appearance in five years, won their first NFC North championship in seven years, and won their first playoff game in 15 years, Johnson, who did all of that in his first season as a head coach, says he has moved on.
“It's been a long offseason in terms of, you go downtown, or you go somewhere, and everyone's patting you on the back and telling you what a great, great job you did. You don't want to hear it. You don't want to hear it anymore, all right? It was great for the first week, but now our sights are turned. And we got a monumental task at hand, because this division only got better so far this offseason, and we still have the draft to come,” Johnson said [h/t CHGO Sports' Adam Jahns].
“So our guys, we got to go back to work just like we did a year ago. It doesn't get any easier. It's going to continue to get harder. They're going to feel that pressure from the coaching staff so that when we get to these games in the fall, that we're going to be ready for it.”
Back in 2018, the most recent instance in which the Bears won the NFC North, they followed that up with an 8-8 season and missed the playoffs. In fact, that has been a trend for Chicago, which has failed to make the postseason the year after winning the division title each of the last three times.
