Bears star CB warns teammates about falling victim to their own hype

Chicago Bears star cornerback Jaylon Johnson has heard it all before.

He knows what kind of effect words like “potential” and “upside” can have on a team hopeful to break the cycle of mediocrity heading into a new season.

This is why the 25-year-old is trying to temper expectations for himself and his teammates while much of the national media are picking the Bears to be surprise playoff contenders following the roster moves the team made this offseason.

"It's about action at this point, so the projections, the energy, the enthusiasm all feels good in the beginning because everybody, every team, every fan [says], ‘Oh this is our year, this is our year,’ so I'm not on that type of time as far as, ‘Oh yeah, this is our year,’” Johnson said , via ESPN. “Nah, we got to go out here and we got to prove it and I think that starts with Day 1, starts with today. But that's something that's going to carry on from now until the end of the season whenever that is, if that's playoffs or not.”

Johnson heard a lot of the same things last offseason when several analysts predicted the Bears would show marked improvement from their 3-14 season the year before heading into Justin Fields' third season as the starter.

The team finished 7-10, which was a four-game improvement in the win column but still an underwhelming season by most standards.

The over/under on Chicago’s 2024 win total is 8.5, per BetMGM . That’s the team’s highest projected win total since the 2019 season (nine). The Bears haven’t won more than eight games since 2018, when they went 12-4 and won the NFC North. In fact, Chicago has won more than eight games just three times since 2010.

NFL.com also gave the Bears -120 odds to make the playoffs in 2024, something they’ve only done six times since 2000.