(670 The Score) Asked about the Bears offense after a 26-14 march to victory over the Saints on Sunday, Ben Johnson moved his hand as if he were tracing the terrain of a mountain range.
“Up and down – that's what we looked like," Johnson said after gesturing. “We haven't hit our stride yet.”
Nobody at Soldier Field begged to differ, not after the throwback Bears struggled inside the 20-yard line and the passing game lacked accuracy and explosiveness. But perhaps it says everything about the current state of the team that concerns over the quality of the victory tempered enthusiasm over its fourth straight win.
The Bears have higher standards than beating a 1-6 team by double-digits and goals loftier than survival every Sunday. Nothing underscored that more than the postgame press conference that, at times, sounded more like a public apology.
Johnson, he of the rollicking good-better-best locker room chants, appeared more like a guy who just witnessed bad-awful-worst. Caleb Williams, the quarterback at the crux of most people's concerns after a day the defense saved him with four takeaways, sounded more philosophical than satisfied.
"I didn't play well today,” Williams said, echoing the popular sentiment. “Days like today, I'd say, are needed in a sense to give you a chance to look back and figure out what.”
This is what they didn't say but is worth remembering: The Bears look in good shape because they’d much rather have an opportunistic defense and strong running game wait on Williams to arrive than the other way around. They went into this season believing they had found their quarterback of the future and hoping the rest would fall into place on both lines of scrimmage.
Well, the rest is falling into place – and that's arguably a bigger development than Williams' struggles against the Saints.
Despite the formula Sunday, this isn't the Lovie Smith-era Bears that essentially was a nine-year search for a franchise quarterback to lead a strong defense and running game. This is the Ben Johnson era, when the franchise quarterback he came here to coach already has provided enough glimpses to think boldly.
If Williams had yet to show the special, one might worry more. But Williams not only had made progress in the five games before Sunday's individual setback, he looked at times like a difference-maker. It was mere weeks ago that Williams was celebrating an NFC Offensive Player of the Week award.
No, nothing about going 15-of-26 for 172 yards and a 61.7 passer rating screams generational talent. Consider that Williams will be better for the struggle, and that's the most encouraging part after a day full of too many missed throws.
Every Bears fan is entitled to obsess over Williams and fear the worst. Doubting the Bears quarterback is as Chicago as calling dibs. So keep the bar as high as it should be, but resist the urge to overreact despite Williams falling short in a nondescript victory over a bad team.
"I am going to figure this out,” Williams vowed. “And when we start hitting on those cylinders, it's going to be real devastating for the other side.”
The Bears potentially scare opponents because that's true.
Understandably, some will temper their enthusiasm over the 12-point victory because the Saints now have lost six of their seven games this season. It's their worst start since Mike Ditka coached them in 1999. And yes, the Bears organization hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt. But it wasn't that long ago that the Bears were the Saints, a team with an inferior roster and scant evidence of coaching headed the wrong direction. The challenge in the Big Easy has seldom looked harder.
But still, real hope for the Bears comes from a favorable upcoming schedule and a growing belief in Johnson. The last time the Bears had won four straight games was 2018. The last time they were 4-2 was 2024, before a dreadful 10-game losing streak that led to purge of the coaching staff.
Truth is, this Bears team looks neither as bad as last season's nor as playoff-ready as the 2018 version was. This Bears team, however, appears ready for the relevance promised when Johnson came to town last January.
Two key developments have happened to make that statement valid – and neither involve the inconsistency of their quarterback. In consecutive weeks, this Bears team has shown the ability to run the ball effectively and stop the run. Nothing sustainable in a football season can happen until that occurs. No conversation about the playoffs can begin until a team masters running the ball and stopping the run.
Credit to Johnson for making both priorities. Too many young offensive wizards spend too much time early in their tenures trying to justify their reputations. Matt Nagy, for instance, started similarly strong in that 2018 season but collected plays more than he created an identity.
Under Nagy that season, the Bears epitomized finesse and unpredictability. Under Johnson, the Bears embrace physicality while being no less creative. The best football teams are built from the ball on out, a tough lesson the Bears have struggled to learn in the years since their last playoff victory nearly 15 years ago.
Every serious football conversation about the Bears this season must begin with its improved defense, which now leads the NFL with 16 takeaways. The Bears sacked Saints quarterback Spencer Rattler four times and gave up only 44 rushing yards. That's statistical dominance that made Rattler’s 57-yard completion to Chris Olave a little easier to stomach.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, fired as Saints head coach last November, received a game ball from Johnson for the way he had his unit prepared. Montez Sweat had a strip-sack forced fumble. Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon blitzed for sacks. Tremaine Edmunds loomed large again with an interception. But most importantly, for the second straight game, the Bears plugged holes quickly and made the Saints one-dimensional.
"Dennis does a great job with instilling the confidence in those guys, putting them in the right spot,” Johnson said. “It's really working for us right now, and this team needs it. It's been the foundation for us the last four games.”
That and the Bears' emerging running game, which amassed 222 yards on the ground in D'Andre Swift's second-straight 100-yard effort (124 rushing yards on 19 carries). Rookie Kyle Monangai added 13 carries for 81 rushing yards
“Both ball-carriers ran physical, ran violent and that's a huge credit to our offensive line,” said Johnson, who reinforced the importance of running the football during the bye week. "We've been pretty consistent with that message.”
That sounded more content than Johnson looked.
He left the lakefront seeming worried about all the mistakes, about all the pre-snap penalties, about Williams' buying time without finding receivers, about center Drew Dalman's botched snaps, about the red-zone inefficiency and about everything but the final score.
"I was hopeful that by Game 6 we'd play cleaner football than that,” Johnson said.
Much of that falls on the quarterback, who was the weakest link against the Saints. And, believe it or not, that isn’t the worst thing in the world for the Bears.
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.