Ben Johnson gets last laugh

[Snags]

@JadedLionsFan

@MotownExpress

The bears are smoke and mirrors. This won’t last long either. The Oline was the issue.

People here were saying for weeks that the Bears were gonna collapse down the streatch.
Gonna “come down to earth”

Welp…they better start collasping real fast

Meanwhile we peaked before Thanksgiving.

I was one of those guys that didn’t think Ben would make a good Head Coach but the results speak for themselves.

I like my crow medium-rare please. Maybe with some gravy as the crow can be tough and hard to swallow

[Wrath-SRT]

The Bears are the equivalent of the Vikings team that lost at home to Daniel Jones in the playoffs a few years ago and just because the Lions didn’t make the playoffs doesn’t make that less true

They literally have the exact same profile and I look forward to paying my car note by betting against them in two weeks

[Bols]

I laughed at the Bears fans who thought Ben Johnson would immediately take Chicago to the playoffs. I really figured that a 9-8 record would be a huge achievement for that team.

I do think they have caught their share of lucky breaks but I never would have imagined that they would win the division.

Kudos to Ben. He has done a very fine job.

[JadedLionsFan]

@Wrath-SRT

The Bears are the equivalent of the Vikings team that lost at home to Daniel Jones in the playoffs a few years ago and just because the Lions didn’t make the playoffs doesn’t make that less true

They literally have the exact same profile and I look forward to paying my car note by betting against them in two weeks

I hope you do!

I hope they go one and done.

That said…all the people that were predicting their collapse around Thanksgiving were wrong and there is no way to spin that fact. Even if the Bears got lucky…all those people were wrong.
And there is no way around that.

[CuriousHusker]

I always thought Ben would be a good a coach. I just thing their defense is a total mirage bc of turnovers and while I believe that Caleb. can be a star tbe accuracy needs to get much better.

The run game should keep their floor relatively high but I think they return to the 8/9 win level unless Caleb takes flight. The latter is certainly a possibility.

[Minotaur92]

Bears are frauds and will get bounced early. Insanely easy schedule, lucky as hell comeback against GB after they knocked out Love. I can guarantee you the top teams in the NFC are hoping to get the Bears instead of the Eagles or a healthy Love-Packers(even though I don’t think Love is all that great).

[JadedLionsFan]

@CuriousHusker

@JadedLionsFan

But discounting what they have done just because they pulled out close wins is kind of laughable for a Lions fan this season

I don’t think it’s ever laughable to point out things that you believe to be true regardless of fan affiliation.

So you think a team should get their playoff seed based on what “should have happened” and what games they “should have lost” rather than based on what their record is???}

They are what there record says they are.

If we had pulled off a few more miracle wins nobody on this forum would be like “well we don’t deserve to win the Division and be in the playoffs because we had to pull out some last minute wins” LMAO

Gimme a break.

[Wrath-SRT]

No one could predict they would play the Eagles with their best player needing double shoulder surgery or Jordan Love being knocked out of their game.

[CuriousHusker]

@JadedLionsFan

So you think a team should get their playoff seed based on what “should have happened” and what games they “should have lost” rather than based on what their record is???}

@JadedLionsFan

They are what there record says they are.

I like this cliche as well.

@JadedLionsFan

If we had pulled off a few more miracle wins nobody on this forum would be like “well we don’t deserve to win the Division and be in the playoffs because we had to pull out some last minute wins” LMAO

No, but I bet division foes would be pointing it out. You new to this whole rivalries thing?

@JadedLionsFan

Gimme a break.

Sure. How much time do you need?

[JadedLionsFan]

@Minotaur92

Bears are frauds and will get bounced early. Insanely easy schedule, lucky as hell comeback against GB after they knocked out Love. I can guarantee you the top teams in the NFC are hoping to get the Bears instead of the Eagles or a healthy Love-Packers(even though I don’t think Love is all that great).

I wish we were “in the playoff frauds” rather than “last place in the NFCN real deals”

They can’t get bounced any earlier than we did last year when Washington creamed us after we went 15-2. I guess our 15-2 was fraudulent last year since we got bounce early and badly.

[JadedLionsFan]

@Wrath-SRT

No one could predict they would play the Eagles with their best player needing double shoulder surgery or Jordan Love being knocked out of their game.

That’s life in the NFL brother.

Nobody can predict injuries. You just win the games you play or your don’t. That’s all that matters until they start handing out “Participation Trophy Playoff Berths”

[CuriousHusker]

I think you are misunderstanding my, and I assume @Wrath-SRT’s point. The Bears of course deserve to play their playoff game. But this is the type of season that typically precedes a definitive pull back the following year. It is pretty common for one or even two teams with this profile to make the playoffs. It is rare for them to follow it up the following year unless they remake themselves into something less dependent on miraculous good fortune.

[Wrath-SRT]

@JadedLionsFan

I wish we were “in the playoff frauds” rather than “last place in the NFCN real deals”

Yeah I don’t at all. When Jaylen Warren ran untouched into the end zone last week I stopped wanting to make the playoffs because even if we made it we aren’t serious

At this point in the process I’m over making the playoffs or winning the division if we aren’t a serious team and this team wasn’t serious and neither is Chicago

Now the difference is the Bears weren’t supposed to be serious so even if they get blown out in the playoffs; this season was a win but that’s not were we are

[JadedLionsFan]

@CuriousHusker

I think you are misunderstanding my, and I assume @Wrath-SRT’s point. The Bears of course deserve to play their playoff game. But this is the type of season that typically precedes a definitive pull back the following year. It is pretty common for one or even two teams with this profile to make the playoffs. It is rare for them to follow it up the following year unless they remake themselves into something less dependent on miraculous good fortune.

I can totally see that.

I can also see the Bears being better with a full year under Ben. Depends on what they do in the offseason.

Put it this way, Ben went from worst to first in the NFC North in his first season. Campbell didn’t do that. His team was bad year one. Then got hot halfway through year two. Then won the Division in year 3

Ben is two years ahead of Dan when it comes to winning the division. What if they Bears get better in year 2 under Ben than they were in year one and don’t need miracle finishes to win as many games?

I don’t think Ben is gonna get worse as a coach. So the only question mark is does his roster improve or not. Hopefully his GM takes after Brad this year and rest on his laurals.

It could go south from here or they could be better. It is hard to say. I never dreamed we would go from first to worst so my Crystal Ball is definitely faulty

[JadedLionsFan]

@Wrath-SRT

@JadedLionsFan

I wish we were “in the playoff frauds” rather than “last place in the NFCN real deals”

Yeah I don’t at all. When Jaylen Warren ran untouched into the end zone last week I stopped wanting to make the playoffs because even if we made it we aren’t serious

At this point in the process I’m over making the playoffs or winning the division if we aren’t a serious team and this team wasn’t serious and neither is Chicago

Now the difference is the Bears weren’t supposed to be serious so even if they get blown out in the playoffs; this season was a win but that’s not were we are

I definitely agree that where the Bears are and where we are is not the same place.
They went from worst to first and are in the playoffs.
We went from first to worst and are not gonna sniff the playoffs

Totally different places.

We will see what Brad gets done this offseason and what their GM gets done. Hopefully this was a wakeup call for Holmes because I doubt the Bears GM will say “We’re good”, no matter how their season ends this year.

[Wrath-SRT]

I’m sorry but winning the division by going to from worst to 1st doesn’t matter, who cares?

Frankly winning the division doesn’t matter if you aren’t a real contender

The Carolina Panthers or Tampa Bay Bucs are going to win their division and they are both mediocre teams.

At this point in the process the only thing that matters is do the Lions have a realistic chance at winning the Super Bowl

[CuriousHusker]

@JadedLionsFan

Put it this way, Ben went from worst to first in the NFC North in his first season. Campbell didn’t do that.

But this Bears roster has been close for a while. It would have been a decent team with good QB play the last two years. Good meaning 8/9 wins. Ben elevated an underperforming but decently talented roster. Dan was a total rebuild from the ground up.

[JadedLionsFan]

@CuriousHusker

@JadedLionsFan

Put it this way, Ben went from worst to first in the NFC North in his first season. Campbell didn’t do that.

But this Bears roster has been close for a while. It would have been a decent team with good QB play the last two years. Good meaning 8/9 wins. Ben elevated an underperforming but decently talented roster. Dan was a total rebuild from the ground up.

Does any of that mean it’s not possible they could get better not worse in Ben’s 2nd season as HC?

[Mongoose]

I don’t care about last laugh or first laugh. I just want those folks that crapped on Ben Johnson as a coach when he was w the Lions to admit. Maybe he’s a better coach than they realized and was a nice piece in the puzzle when we had him

[CuriousHusker]

They could take a leap. But Caleb has to be much more accurate.