Rich: Why Chicago Fans Should 1000% Have Faith in Ben Johnson’s Bears

Carl, a Bears fan since childhood, called the show with a warning, and he reached all the way back to Tuffy Rhodes to make it.

Rhodes hit three home runs in the first game of a season, Carl reminded Rich, and was briefly on pace for something absurd. Nobody should read that much into one week. Carl thinks Bears fans and especially the media are doing exactly that after the opener against Carolina, and he isn't even sure yet whether the Panthers just have a bad defense.

His memory goes deeper than Rhodes. Carl pointed to the 2001 Bears, who went 13-3 and earned the No. 2 seed with what he called two miracle wins, then "got our butts kicked against the Eagles" because they weren't ready for a playoff-caliber team.

His fear for this version is specific. "We're going to beat up on the bad teams and lose to the good teams," Carl said. He sees too many toys in the toy chest for Ben Johnson, not enough money going to the defense, and a team that could turn into the Bengals or the Cowboys: great in the regular season, overmatched by playoff defenses.

Rich respected the pedigree. "You sound like a die-hard Bears fan. You've been through the wars. You're mentioning Tuffy Rhodes to me," he said. But he had a question back. "Doesn't this look different to you, though? How many times have you been waiting for your quarterback to be a difference maker?"

Last season, Rich conceded, sometimes felt like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, with the defense covering some warts through turnovers. His point was that the foundation is different now. Everyone talks about Caleb and the passing game, but "the running offense with Swift and Monangai is top-notch, and that can get you through the cold of January."

Then there is the coach. Rich called Ben Johnson "1,000% the man, it feels," and pointed out the irony of the moment. The narrative in Detroit now is that Johnson was the secret sauce all along, which Rich called disrespectful to Dan Campbell, but it also means the thing Detroit wants back is in Chicago.

"He didn't go to Vegas. He didn't tell Tom Brady, 'I'll take your job,'" Rich said. Johnson chose Chicago, a tough place for a high-flying offense, with annual trips to Minnesota and Detroit and the Packers coming down the toll road.

Rich's advice to Carl was to enjoy it. "Let's not be concerned about what's going to happen in January," he said. Rich reminded him how close Chicago already came last year, with one bad throw in overtime standing between the Bears and the NFC Championship Game in Seattle.

He drew a contrast with the old days of hoping. Bears fans once thought Jay Cutler was the guy who might finally deliver a Michigan Avenue parade. Instead, it was Caleb Hanie who almost got them there while Cutler strolled down Rodeo Drive the next day. "What do you think Ben Johnson would have done with that information?" Rich asked.

"If I'm a Bears fan, I'm out of my gourd," he said.

Rich has changed his own tune, too. Asked whether the Bears were a Week 1 lie in the truth-or-lie segment the crew did with Colleen, the desk said no. Rich went further: "Hell no." He has done a 180 on them and admitted he now feels silly for picking the Lions to win the division, just two weeks in.