It’s time to sizzle with this take.
It was 6:35 pm on Sunday, October 27th, 2024. Tyrique Steenson stood at the corner of the field, taunting fans and flexing. Jayden Daniels dropped back, he moved around
in the pocket, he stepped up and launched the ball as far as he could.
Stevenson rushed to the middle of the field at the goal line, he leapt towards the ball, got his hand on it, tipped it up in the air, the ball floated behind the scrum of players, and fell into the hands of Noah Brown, who caught the ball in the endzone as time expired, giving the Commanders an 18-15 win.
It was an improbable win for Washington. It was an impossible loss for the Bears. It was a loss that destroyed the Bears’ season.
Almost a year later, it’s time to say, thank you, Washington Commanders.
At the moment, a thank you was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind. Bears fans stood in disbelief, staring at the television with their mouths agape. How could a series of improbable events that led up to the Hail Mary possibly happen? How could the Bears’ head coach make those decisions? How could he defend them?
It was at that point of the season that everything changed. The Bears were about to be 5-2, but fell to 4-3. Would a 5-2 team have been no-shows against Arizona and New England? Probably not. Would the team have spiraled like they did if they were 7-2? Even if they finish 9-8 at that point, would they have fired Matt Eberflus? Doubtful.
But thanks to that loss, the Bears descended into a 10-game losing streak. Matt Eberflus was fired on Thanksgiving weekend, and the season collapsed.
As Bears fans suffered for over two months watching this team spiral, it certainly didn’t seem like any thank yous were in order, but they certainly are now.
Ask yourself this question: Would you rather have Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron (or perhaps another new offensive coordinator) captaining this ship, or Ben Johnson?
The Bears didn’t get from point A to point B like most franchises do, but somehow they got there. They landed Ben Johnson. They have him here to develop Caleb Williams. It’s what everyone wanted, and it happened thanks to the Washington Commanders.
The process was painful. The losses were brutal. The season was lost. But when you look at the Bears’ long-term outlook, no matter what happened last year, if Matt Eberflus were still this team’s coach, the outlook would be far more limited than it would have been with Ben Johnson.
The Commanders’ loss led to Matt Eberflus’ firing. The Commanders’ loss led to Ben Johnson.
If you wound back the clock to October of 2023 and you said, “Bill, what’s your best-case scenario for head coach and quarterback for the Chicago Bears moving forward?”
“Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams.”
We’re here. We made it. That’s exactly what we have. It was a little unorthodox how we got here; it was painful, in fact. But we’re here.
And we’re here because of the Washington Commanders.
So for that, Washington, there’s just one thing to say. Thank you.
