The Bears are playing for the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and first place in the NFC North on Saturday night. They have a 94% chance of making the postseason if they win, per NFL Next Stats, and 62% if they lose. They’re facing the rival Packers, who have lost at Soldier Field just once in 15 years. In prime time.
Spare cornerback Jaylon Johnson the hype.
“We ain’t got no pressure,” Johnson said this week. “Everybody else was telling us we’re not supposed to be here.”
Like who?
“Did you think we were gonna be a 10-win team?” he said.
Not at this point. No one did. Which one of the things that makes Saturday night so compelling. The 10-4 Bears are having their moment, even if it’s ahead of schedule. And who knows when it will happen again?
While the Packers have made the playoffs five of the past six years, a pennant race is new around here. The Bears haven’t played in the postseason in five years and haven’t won a playoff game in 15 seasons.
They traded for four-time Super Bowl champion Joe Thuney and signed 2017 NFC champ Grady Jarrett in March, and signed C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who won the Super Bowl last year, in October. For every Bears player with postseason experience inside Halas Hall, there are a dozen or more getting their first taste of the pressure — and excitement — of a playoff push.
Wide receiver DJ Moore has been in the NFL for eight years and hadn’t played for a winning team until this season. Same for nose tackle Andrew Billings. Defensive end Montez Sweat, tight end Cole Kmet and Johnson have played six years and never finished above .500 — until now.
Head coach Ben Johnson has sought out those players the past few weeks. He’s asked Moore how much fun he’s having. This week, he talked to Billings about the task ahead.
“We have a number of really talented players that have not been a part of this … ” he said. “When that happens and you’re someone that hasn’t experienced it a whole lot, you’re just grateful … You want to take advantage of the opportunity. You just don’t know when it’s going to happen again.
“That’s the nature of the NFL. The parity is so strong that, when you have a good season and you win some of these one-score games like we’ve been able to do to put ourselves in a good spot — we want to make sure we capitalize on it as a team.”
Before the Bears beat the Browns by 28 on Sunday, they had been outscored by one point over the course of the year. Even now, half the NFL has outscored their opponents by more than the Bears’ 27. Only four teams have more wins, though.
Johnson credits preparation — not a lack of expectations.
“Part of our intent as coaches early on in this thing was to build a very poised unit that can handle pressure,” he said. “That’s our coaching style. That’s why we were very demanding out of our guys. I think they have felt that from the springtime all the way up until now. .. Because of that, I like to think that we thrive in high-leverage and high-pressure situations.”
The Bears didn’t handle it well two weeks ago at Lambeau Field. Before composing themselves in the locker room at halftime, Kmet said “there was a little pressing going on.”
Saturday, though, will be the most pressure the Bears have faced all year.
“We’ve really been pushed and tested for times like this,” Jarrett said. “I think we will be ready to go and do what we need to do.”
Moore, who didn’t have a single winning season in college or the NFL before this year, is curious — and excited — about the month ahead.
“People say the stars get brighter around this time,” he said.
Gardner-Johnson, though, has been through this before. He’s played in two Super Bowls and 13 total playoff games over five different seasons.
“This game means a lot more than just a rivalry,” he said. “It’s for seeding.”
Playing meaningful games this time of year is “all you could ever hope for,” his coach said. Kmet, an Arlington Heights native and lifelong Bears fan, will stop to appreciate it at some point Saturday.
“It’ll definitely be a moment when you kinda take it in,” he said. “I’m sure Soldier Field is going to be rowdy Saturday night. A lot of playoff implications on the line.
“This is why you do it.”