Bear & Balanced: This Chicago Bears team is different

Last week, when the Dallas Cowboys tied the game up at 14 in the second quarter, I found myself thinking, ‘Here we go again,’ because we’ve seen that game before from the Chicago Bears. They jump out to a lead against an opponent they should be able to beat, but then they lose momentum, and it all falls apart, leading to a loss.

But not that Sunday. That Sunday, they regrouped and scored, then shut the Cowboys down for the rest of the game to win their first under Ben Johnson.

Fast forward to yesterday against the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Bears were taking the ball away, yet had nothing really to show for it. The offense stalled and was forced to kick field goals, and they trailed 14 to 9 at the half.

They refocused coming out of the locker room for the third quarter and managed to put a TD on the board.

But the Raiders answered with a touchdown of their own, and the Bears could only hit back with a field goal.

Another field goal by Vegas put them up 5 points with 6:45 to go, leaving Caleb Wiliams and the Chicago offense in a must-score scenario.

Eleven plays later, D’Andre Swift ran it in for a touchdown, but the 2-point try failed, leaving the door open for a game-winning Las Vegas field goal attempt with 1:39 left on the clock.

We’ve seen this story in Chicago before.

But not this time. This time, Chicago’s defense made a third-down stop, and the special teams made a play to seal the win.

We’re just four games into the Ben Johnson era, and there will surely be some more clunkers along the way, but everything appears to be on track.

We’re watching our favorite team grow up right before our eyes.

Check out JB and me on our latest Bear & Balanced right here (or on YouTube) live at 6:00 p.m. CT, or anytime after.

Podcast version right here:

Here’s our usual bullet point outline of Bear & Balanced.

• Intro: We’ll both share some general thoughts about the game.
• Trench Tribute: This is our weekly pick for the best Bears lineman.
• Caught up in a numbers game: This segment features one number or statistic from the game that we found interesting.
• Sweet Tweets: We’re both active on social media — so be sure you’re all following us at @gridironborn & @wiltfongjr — and we highlight one Twitter interaction/Tweet each week. We’re both also on the Bluesky here and here.
• The Caleb Corner: We talk about quarterback Caleb Williams before we take our commercial break.
• The 3 Bears: You all know the story of the Three Bears, don’t you? In this porridge-themed portion of the show, we give our picks for the Bear that was hot, the Bear that was cold, and the Bear that was just right in the game against the Raiders.

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