CHICAGO (670 The Score) – Coaches who openly identify desperation really just want execution.
So it was easy to understand what Ben Johnson meant earlier in the week when he emphatically declared, before playing one of the worst teams on the schedule, that the Bears “desperately need this win.”
Badly, yes.
But desperately?
Johnson never wavered, not wanting to see any residue from an emotional loss to the dreaded Packers.
He didn't want good or better; he wanted his team's best. He wanted accurate throws, solid blocks and sure tackles. He wanted intensity that burned hot enough to combat sub-zero wind chills along the lakefront.
He wanted his players to show everyone what a 10-win team looked like.
In blowing out the Browns, 31-3, on Sunday at Soldier Field, the Bears proved again how well they respond to Johnson's coaching.
"Our guys understand it … they know,” Johnson said after the Bears' fifth straight home victory. "It doesn't take much from the head coach at this point. They get it.”
The collective response underscores they certainly do.
Asked about reaching the 10-victory threshold that typically leads to a playoff berth in the NFL, Johnson stayed in character.
“Ten is great,” Johnson said. "But it's not enough.”
Wonderfully, it never is for Johnson. Because he's right.
This is what the Bears should do to teams like the Browns – dominate them slowly at the line of scrimmage and make the day feel even longer than the scoreboard suggested.
By halftime, the Browns already looked cold. By the fourth quarter, they appeared more interested in making their dinner reservations back in Cleveland than another first down. Their retreat was recognizable.
Before Johnson arrived last January, of course, the Bears used to be like the Browns. They were one of those teams in a perpetual rebuild, with blueprints constantly changing with so many new football architects, an organization mired in a mess with its only consistent element an unfailingly loyal fan base.
But that's Cleveland's problem.
Chicago, meanwhile, suddenly anticipates a holiday season where the gift of Ben Johnson will keep on giving into the new year and, come next Saturday night, the Bears have a chance to ruin the Packers' Christmas.
How far can this Bears team go? Will they really “take the North,” as general manager Ryan Poles boldly proclaimed on the first day of his tenure? Can they ascend to the No. 1 seed in the NFC?
Stunningly, all questions remain valid for the Bears with three games to go in the regular season.
"I know we're a good football team,” Johnson said.
He expects the Bears to keep getting better on the way to being at their best for the playoffs, which are well within their reach. Expect the playoff-like atmosphere to envelop all three remaining regular-season games, beginning with the visiting Packers in a matchup that quarterback Caleb Williams already began hyping.
"Definitely excited for that moment,” Williams said, looking ahead after taking care of business against the NFL's most dominant defender, Myles Garrett, and the Browns.
Williams completed 17 of 28 passes for 242 yards, two touchdowns and a 112.5 passer rating while looking as accurate as he has been all season. The quarterback nicknamed "The Iceman” also looked as comfortable as he had all season, taking another developmental step in the right direction.
Of everything the Bears accomplished in the 28-point rout, perhaps the most significant came in Williams rediscovering DJ Moore.
Moore faced questions all week about his diminished role in the passing game, a fair question given his $25-million salary and statistics more befitting a No. 3 wide receiver. Almost as if Johnson and Williams had paid attention to the chatter around the team, the Bears offense looked designed to make Moore's presence felt.
On his first touchdown reception, Moore ran a crossing route that required Williams to place the ball perfectly in the corner of the north end zone. On his second touchdown, a 22-yard beauty in the third quarter, Moore plucked the ball out of the air amid two Browns defenders and maintained his concentration despite it passing through a maze of hands.
It was on that play – a "hero post" pattern – that Williams displayed the rare talent that makes him elite and gives the passing game hope. Rolling right, Williams threw against his body toward the center of the end zone.
Postgame, Johnson would say he'd tell "99%" of NFL quarterbacks not to waste their time attempting that throw. NextGen stats calculated the completion probability at 16.1%.
Metrics be damned, Williams and Moore connected. Was that an ill-advised throw, Williams was asked.
"No,” he said, smiling. “I can make any, throw.”
Williams has a point. Earlier Sunday, he set an NFL record for protecting the football by making his 1,000th NFL pass attempt with just 12 interceptions. No quarterback in history has fewer interceptions in his first 1,000 pass attempts.
And it's Williams' considerable confidence in his ability – and Moore – that makes the Bears dangerous offensively.
Moore was only targeted five times, but each intended pass seemed more intentional – and illustrated that Johnson and the Bears realize he's the team's best all-around receiver, which the offense will need more than ever as the competition stiffens.
Remember, the Bears can run the ball against anyone with one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. But for the passing game to peak, Moore must re-establish himself as the No. 1 wide receiver he’s paid to be, whether Rome Odunze returns from a stress fracture or not.
Odunze was on track to return Sunday but was a late scratch after pregame warmups. It was the second straight week that a Bears player was lost after warming up. Kyler Gordon went through the same sequence against the Packers and is now on injured reserve. What's going on with players being cleared who, well, clearly aren't ready?
That's a question for another day. Here's a more pertinent one: Can Dennis Allen's defense ride its takeaway train all the way into the playoffs?
Three more interceptions gave the Bears an NFL-leading 30 takeaways this season.
"I can't say enough about our defense,” Johnson gushed.
Linebacker D'Marco Jackson, filling in for Tremaine Edmunds, intercepted a pass and sacked Sanders. Nickelback C.J. Gardner-Johnson, one of Poles' best in-season moves of his tenure, picked off a pass. And cornerback Jaylon Johnson ripped the ball from Jerry Jeudy's grasp in the south end zone.
The Bears also revived their pass rush with five sacks, including one from former Browns defensive lineman Joe Tryon-Shoyinka.
The Browns hardly threatened the Bears defense the way the Packers will, but a secondary recently wounded by Jordan Love needed this kind of rebound performance.
The 54,051 fans who braved the elements – the temperatures was 8 degrees at kickoff with a wind chill of minus-2, or “Bear weather,” as Johnson stamped it last week – were rewarded by a determined, driven effort.
You might say the Bears played like they were desperate to win.
They even practiced like it, with Williams noting that going outdoors to prepare at Halas Hall during the week included no heated benches or heaters to be found. So game day felt familiarly frigid.
“You've got the adrenaline ... you go out there and you get going and you forget about those things,” Williams said. "This is Chicago.”
In the NFL – in December – that finally means something again.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. Follow him on X @DavidHaugh.