LOS ANGELES — The Cincinnati Bengals' improbable run to Super Bowl LVI is providing a lot of hope around the NFL.
Any struggling team with a young quarterback now wants to believe they can pull off a short turnaround and be in the Super Bowl a year from now.
And yes, the Bears qualify as one of those teams.
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“Yeah, absolutely do I think we can be competitive, and the beautiful thing about football is what we just saw with the Bengals,” new Bears general manager Ryan Poles said at his introductory press conference the day after the Bengals beat his former employer, the Chiefs, in the AFC Championship Game. “Once the Super Bowl is played, everyone goes back to 0-0 and has the ability to improve their roster and make changes. We all know it’s fluid on a yearly basis so we’re going to attack it. Our goal is always going to be in contention and win games.”
Never mind that the Bengals weren’t built overnight. They went through a full rebuild and their roster is both younger and more talented than the Bears’ roster. But it’s also true that the Bears have enough talent to avoid a full rebuild under Poles and new head coach Matt Eberflus, even if they must be extremely tactical with limited draft capital and a cap situation that can’t be abused further than it already has.
Still, there are pieces to work with — none more important than Justin Fields.
Just think how far the Bears have already come in a month with the important changes they’ve made. This time last year, the Bengals were feeling hopeful despite a 4-11-1 season because they had replaced Andy Dalton with Joe Burrow and saw enough from the then-rookie to be excited. The Bears, meanwhile, decided Dalton was worth giving $10 million and didn’t even make him compete for the starting job when they landed their own promising young quarterback in the draft. They were moving in the opposite direction of the Bengals. But now, despite the Bears’ mishandling of Fields’ rookie season, there’s still enough to be excited about and there’s promise that a new regime will put him in a better position to succeed.
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And there’s a lot the Bears can learn from the Bengals. First, go get Fields a legitimate dude or two to catch passes. The Bengals have that, starting with rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase. Second, understand that development doesn’t happen overnight, especially when injuries are involved.
Count me among those that never thought the Bengals would be in the Super Bowl back in September. The Bengals team that visited Soldier Field in Week 2 looked nothing like the team that is arriving here in Los Angeles on Tuesday. That team allowed Dalton to march down the field on a 9-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game. And despite not scoring an offensive touchdown the rest of the game, the Bears were in control the entire way, building a 20-3 lead in the fourth quarter. Burrow literally threw interceptions on three consecutive passes. And the Bears weren’t even a team that created a lot of turnovers.
Considering that Bears victory was bookended by a beatdown to the Rams in Week 1 and a pathetic 47-yard showing in Cleveland in Week 3, it’s really one of the more inexplicable results from the 2021 season.
But as Bengals head coach Zac Taylor explained Monday, Burrow was far from 100 percent coming off a torn ACL. In fact, he said it wasn’t until “just before the midway part of the season” that Burrow started to show more confidence in that knee. He mentioned that Burrow barely played in the preseason and the Bengals faced a number of good defenses — including the Bears — early in the season.
Eventually, Burrow’s talent and development — which the Bengals’ coaching staff deserves credit for — won out. And that confidence/moxie has proven to be a non-issue for the star quarterback. In fact, it’s very clearly his strength.
“Anytime you have a quarterback that can take you to these heights — we’ve got really good talent on this team, really good football character, and when you believe that your quarterback can take you the distance, it allows everybody to play just that one percent better,” Taylor said. “Because they know on the other side that trigger man is capable of doing some really special things.”
Sound familiar? Fields still has a lot to prove at the NFL level, but his teammates have voiced a similar belief in the quarterback. And there were enough special plays made as a rookie that make you believe Fields’ talent and development will win out.
At least that’s the hope with a new coaching staff that now includes new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko.
Dreaming of a Super Bowl seems a bit unrealistic for the Bears right now. Then again, it sure seemed unrealistic for the Bengals when Burrow threw three interceptions at Soldier Field in September. But Burrow’s pedigree and confidence allowed him to overcome a torn ACL and those early season struggles.
The hope in Chicago is that Fields can bounce back with a similarly impressive Year 2. Right now, the Bengals provide that hope. And hope is what the Bears are looking for — again.