Sunday’s win over Minnesota wasn’t terribly pretty, but the Chicago Bears did what they needed to do in order to win a football game. Week in and week out, Ben Johnson’s team just keeps finding ways to win, which is quite literally the exact opposite of last year, when the Bears would invent new ways to lose each time out. LISTEN TO EPISODE 9 OF THE BN BEARS PODCAST: Apple | Spotify | YouTube This team clearly believes in each other, their coaches, and that they will find a way to win each time out — no matter what. It’s quite the turnaround from last year, or even earlier this year, when this squad started 0-2. Let’s look at the first-place Bears’ 19-17 win over the Vikings 24 hours later. Nov 16, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai (25) celebrates a touchdown during the first quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker – Imagn Images Bears 24-Hour Rule It wasn’t Caleb Williams’ best day, and the deep ball accuracy still has to improve, but I was impressed with what we saw most of the afternoon. After calling a fairly conservative defense in the Week 1 matchup between these two teams, Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores threw the book at Caleb on Sunday. Caleb didn’t light up the scoreboard or have the sexiest stat line, but he took care of the football and won the game. As Patrick noted on today’s BN Bears Podcast, the stat line looks pretty darn similar to Lamar Jackson’s from last week’s Ravens and Vikings matchup. HAPPY VICTORY MONDAY! Recap and Highlights | Bears Nightcap | Player Grades I’m not saying Caleb Williams is Lamar Jackson, obviously, it’s just an example that taking care of the football against Brian Flores’ aggressive and exotic blitzes is impressive. Caleb took care of the ball and did a great job finding hot reads. He also managed the game without making the big mistakes. Williams still has some growing to do and areas to improve, but he is making progress learning how to be an NFL quarterback. Nov 16, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Chicago Bears running back Kyle Monangai (25) and quarterback Caleb Williams (18) celebrate a touchdown during the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel – Imagn Images I feel like we’re saying this just about every week now, but there’s not enough credit to be given to Ben Johnson, D’Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai, and the offensive line for how the run game has turned around since the bye week. In this week’s Instant Grades, I gave the Swift and Monangai tandem a B-minus, and it probably should have been even better than that. They ran the ball when they had to and combined for over 100 yards on the ground. And they did so against a stout defense. What a turnaround. Again, I came away impressed with rookie tight end Colston Loveland after this game. It feels like he’s improving every game. While the stat line wasn’t totally eye-popping, it was solid, and he continues to get looks in key moments. His blocking is coming along, and he’s becoming a very reliable target in the middle of the field, which will open things up for everyone. For what it’s worth, Cole Kmet was really good, too. We’re starting to see Ben Johnson’s two-tight-end vision play out, and I like what I see. WATCH: Ben Johnson’s “Good, Better, Best” Postgame Speech After Week 11 Win vs. Vikingshttps://t.co/vbK73lKJNp— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) November 16, 2025 It wasn’t nearly as bad as last Sunday, but the wide receivers had a few more unacceptable, head-scratching drops. In fairness, both DJ Moore and Luther Burden III made some important plays to make up for those drops, and we didn’t see them really bite the Bears all that much. But still, those have to be cut out. Especially in the case of Luther Burden, who was given an increased role and is looking to become a bigger player in the offense week in and week out. I thought it was an admirable effort for the Bears’ defense yet again, all things considered. Nahshon Wright continues to be a roller coaster on the outside, but there’s no denying that he has a nose for the ball and has been a playmaker. Dennis Allen’s secondary desperately needs to get healthier, but how they’ve weathered the storm thus far has been impressive. Granted, Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy isn’t all that good, but the Bears, for the most part, did their job in the secondary. The defensive line, though, continues to struggle. Montez Sweat has been fine, but he’s also being paid enough to be better than just fine. That unit needs a spark, and in a big way. Nov 16, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Chicago Bears kicker Cairo Santos (8) kicks a game-winning field goal during the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker – Imagn Images I can’t be too hard on Cairo Santos because he did drill the game-winner, but it also never should have even come to that, as he never should have missed the first attempt from 45 yards out. He was good on Sunday, but again, if his leg can’t be trusted from way downtown, he’s got to be perfect from mid-range. Credit to Devin Duvernay and the blocking on the kickoff return unit for setting up the game-winner. It saved the special teams from yet another tough day. You could see that hole opening up long before Duvernay even hit it, and when he did, he shot through it like a rocket. All in all, we’re seeing signs of growth. We joked today on the pod that these Bears have what White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson used to call TWTW — The Will To Win. While I love joking around about Hawkisms, I do think there’s a whole lot more belief in this locker room than there was at any point last year. This group believes in its coaches, and it believes in each other. No, it’s not the greatest team in the world, and no one is calling them a true contender in the NFC just yet. But the buy-in is very clearly there. There’s a lot of room to grow this season and this offseason in terms of building up the roster, but the amount of growth we’ve seen in year one under Ben Johnson, even from Week 2 when they essentially quit at halftime against the Lions until now, has been truly impressive. Good, better, best!
https://www.bleachernation.com/bears/2025/11/17/bears-24-hr-wk11/