Four years covering the Chicago Bears.
Four years. It can be bewildering to put into perspective all the work that this endeavor has entailed. It’s not a small number, yet not truly a large one either. Four years. What precedes those years are three decades of love and admiration as a fan. True “fan-ship” where Sundays as a child were a paradox between worshipping God at church but also getting home in time to watch the Bears play. Combine those and you have twelve thousand, four hundred and eighteen days of watching, cheering, crying, covering, contemplating, and sometimes wishing that this organization would truly change.
I’ve seen cultures introduced then fall apart. I’ve seen hope turn to dread, dread turn into hope, dazzling displays of skill, and perplexing displays of incompetence. It's this “merry-go-round” that is the hallmark of what it means to be a fan of the Chicago Bears. It's believing in a team that doesn’t seem to believe in itself and loving a team that will consistently break your heart. Having experienced this for so long, we’re left with the question of why one would continue to come back after all this inconsistency and why would this year be any different? It crosses all the boxes of a typical Bears season. New quarterback? Check. A staff that is poised to have a breakout season? Check. A defense that is amongst the best in the league? Check.
The question you’ll have for me is then, why are you writing this article at all if nothing’s changed? You’d be right. From an outside perspective, nothing has changed. But after having spent years covering this franchise, I can tell you that everything has changed. Not only in the player personnel department, but in the highest echelons of this team. While not perfect, the echoes are change are evident.
Three years ago, I sat at my computer during a season-ending interview with George McCaskey. He spoke about change and what was next for the organization, and there was a snarky grin on my face. Sort of a “here we go again” feeling as déjà vu crept into my mind. After another disappointing season, the Bears “brass” assured stakeholders that change was coming, but all fans could feel was discontent. Fast forward three years later, and an ineffable feeling of change is in the air.
This year seems to be different, and not the “this year is our year” difference that is the rallying cry of fans of Chicago sports, but a distinctive cultural and environmental shift. It could not have been clearer than it was today, as I walked from the Abbott parking lot into Halas Hall on Day 1 of the 2024-2025 Chicago Bears training camp. Fresh faces that I’ve never seen, from all walks of life, with a distinctive and confident grin on their faces that says, “something’s changed”.
The Bears not only spoke about creating a successful and diverse organization, but they’ve created it. It echoes George McCaskey’s insistence that fair opportunity is key to a successful organization. What’s most striking is that at the top of the forefront of this change was a black general manager in Ryan Poles and a black team President in Kevin Warren. We’ve seen instances of the Bears declaring they changes they’ve made and how they’ll improve, but something is different.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the lightning rod of this seismic shift, quarterback Caleb Williams. His selection in of itself is a shift for a team; an electric, Heisman winning QB taken with the number one pick. While he’s not the first young QB expected to shake up the organization (as fans have seen this before), the situation that he’s found himself in is considerable. Three bona fide no.1 receivers next to him in DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze and a defense that ranked amongst the best in the league in the latter half of last season. The position Caleb Williams’ finds himself in has catapulted him into role where he’s looked upon as a symbol of hope for the city. He represents a promise of skill and confidence that Bears fans have desperately craved and whether he understands it or not, there is a considerable amount of pressure on him to change the Bears’ fortunes.
This is not a declaration of a guaranteed change, in fact, it’s far from it. We’ve seen how far promises of change can take this organization. However, after covering the Bears for four years and seeing the highs and lows, the moments of brilliance, and the stretches of mediocrity. There is a different feeling that I can’t shake—one that suggests that the Bears might finally be on the right track. This season isn’t just about proving doubters wrong; it’s about proving to themselves and their fans that they are capable of greatness. That hopeful feeling that permeates the atmosphere cannot be denied but whether it’s justified or not, remains to be seen.
