Chicago Bears eye NFL’s worst-to-first journey in 2025

The Chicago Bears will attempt to join a long list of past NFL teams that’ve made the difficult worst-to-first divisional jump in 2025. And while there are plenty of questions that second-year QB Caleb Williams and first-time head coach Ben Johnson must answer, they aren’t the only big names facing unknowns in the NFC North.

ESPN’s Ben Solak published the top storylines for 2025 NFL training camps, and the Detroit Lions topped the list.

“The Lions are transitioning from a rebuilt upstart to a bona fide force, and that means they must combat brain drain,” Solak wrote. “This is Campbell’s first crack at replacing key staff departures, and getting it right is critical to completing the total team turnaround.”

Johnson is one of those key staffers. The former Detroit Lions OC deserves much — if not most — of the credit for the Lions’ incredible turnaround. He flipped QB Jared Goff into an MVP candidate and let an offense that averaged a remarkable three points per possession (let that sink in) in 2024.

But Johnson isn’t the only critically important coach who jumped ship. The Lions also lost defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who is now the head coach in New York with the Jets.

The list of lost assistants goes on from there, with many joining Johnson and Glenn’s staffs.

As much as Dan Campbell is a beloved football guy, he leaned on his coordinators hard.

Vikings join Lions as team facing big questions in 2025

And what about the Minnesota Vikings, who won 14 games with Sam Darnold in 2024? This season, the offense will be handed off to J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie year with an injury.

Sure, McCarthy has first-round pedigree, but so did Caleb Williams and Drake Maye. We know how their seasons turned out.

McCarthy has a division-winning and Super Bowl-contending supporting cast, which puts as much or more pressure on him than any other starting quarterback in the NFL.

“The Vikings are in a competitive division and harbor deep playoff aspirations,” Solak wrote. “They only have so much leash to give a rookie, especially when you consider how easily Kevin O’Connell has made veteran quarterbacks shine in this offense. McCarthy’s health and confidence are about as big of a July storyline as you get in the NFL.”

Assuming both the Detroit Lions experience some struggles with new coaches in place, and the Minnesota Vikings go through the highs and lows with a first-year starter, the NFC North will be ripe for the taking.

And the Chicago Bears will be ready.