Copyright Chicago Tribune
A CTA Red Line car packed with Chicago Bears fans left the Roosevelt Street station late Sunday afternoon when the conductor came over the tinny speakers with an announcement: “If there are any New York Giants fans on this train, thanks for playing Russell Wilson.” This was a man who obviously knew his audience, but even the few Giants fans on board laughed. What was left unsaid was that the Giants’ 24-20 loss to the Bears was the result of injured quarterback Jaxson Dart being replaced by Wilson, opening the door to the comeback win engineered by Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. The announcement on the “L” was a much-appreciated shout-out after Bears fans experienced 2 1/2 hours of misery and 10 minutes of bliss on the first cold, wintry day in Chicago. Believing in the Bears and coach Ben Johnson’s “good, better best” mantra wasn’t the postgame “L” narrative I heard being discussed on my trip home from Soldier Field. Suspending disbelief was more the order of the day. Everyone shook their still-frozen heads and asked, “How in the world did that just happen?” In the end, who cares? It happened, and now Bears fans have to get used to the fact that their team is a realistic playoff contender. You can’t blame Chicagoans for wondering if all this recent winning by the Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks is some kind of sick joke. We haven’t seen our three winter teams win in concert in quite a while, so it makes sense to expect the bubble to burst, forcing us to return to our default settings. The post-pandemic winters have been tough to endure, and it wasn’t all that great even before 2020. None of the three has advanced to a postseason since the 2021-22 Bulls, who promptly lost 4-1 to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, and are currently in another rebuild. The Bears’ last playoff win was on Jan. 16, 2011, when Lovie Smith was coach and Jay Cutler was just an unlovable quarterback and not whatever he is now. The Blackhawks haven’t won a playoff game in a non-pandemic postseason since beating the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 of their first-round series on April 23, 2016. That was four coaches ago, if you’re keeping score. Now all three have gotten off to strong starts in 2025-26, following the Cubs’ first postseason appearance since 2020 in October. It’s like a switch that hasn’t worked for years was flipped back on, brightening up a gloomy outlook. Does this mean the Dark Age of Chicago sports is finally ending? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s no such thing as a November reign, and it’s still Chicago, where the owners of sports teams are suspects until proven otherwise. The Bears, naturally, are the only winter team that has captured the city’s undivided attention so far. That’s partly because they’re the most popular team, but it also reflects the belief that Johnson actually knows what he’s doing, unlike many previous Bears head coaches in the post-Ditka era. While most Bulls and Blackhawks fans are also Bears fans, it will take a lot more suspension of disbelief in the respective rebuilds of the two United Center tenants to have turned the corner. Check back on New Year’s Eve for an update on the trust factor. Either way, we should enjoy this feeling while we can. Hope is in the air for the first time in years, and it’s a refreshing sight for our very sore eyes. The Bears improved to 6-3 after Sunday’s win and are in position to compete for a playoff spot. The Bulls were 6-3 entering Monday’s game at the United Center against San Antonio, though coming back to earth after their 5-0 start. And the Blackhawks were 8-5-3 after winning the final three games of their six-game road trip, including Sunday’s 5-1 pasting of the Red Wings in Detroit. When was the last time they were even above .500 after the first snowfall? The Bears were 5-4 after nine games in 2020, but in the midst of a six-game losing streak in their last playoff season, playing in empty stadiums during the pandemic season. They were 3-6 after nine games in ’21, 3-6 in ’22, 2-7 in ’23, 4-5 in ’24 and 4-5 last year. The Bulls were 46-36 at the end of the 2021-22 season, but got off to bad starts the last three years and haven’t been at .500 or better past mid-November since. The Hawks were last at .500 a month into their ’20-21 season, with a 22-22 record on April 29, 2021. But that was in a pandemic-shortened season that began in January. The Hawks have had four coaches since Jeremy Colliton, but finally seem to have someone who gets it in Jeff Blashill. All in all, that’s a lot of losing, and in almost every fashion imaginable. That’s only made this current stretch more fun to watch. Each team has been led this season by three young men with a lot to prove and a willingness to learn on the job. Hawks star Connor Bedard, still only 20 years old, was tied for second in the NHL on Monday with 25 points through 16 games, and was tied for third in assists with 16. Bulls guard Josh Giddey, 23, averaged almost a triple-double with 21.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game in nine games heading into the Spurs matchup. Williams, 23, led the Bears to back-to-back, late-game comeback wins against the Cincinnati Bengals and Giants, leading Johnson to call him a “Houdini” for his escape act. Bedard, Giddey and Williams have all gone through some difficult times in Chicago and haven’t blinked yet. They can sense how much Chicago wants them to succeed, knowing how much sports mean to this great city. The future is seldom as good as we imagine it will be, but at least there’s a future for Bears, Hawks and Bulls fans to dream about. It’s been a minute, so enjoy every second.
