theathleticuk
Chicago Bears fans are over the moon about their head coach and quarterback.
Welcome to 2026, a new normal in town for now.
Its the NFL, and Ben Johnson is the first one to remind us how difficult it will be for the Bears to remain a contender, but after the excitement of the 2025 season, you cant blame fans for being giddy.
Advertisement The results of our seventh annual 2026 Bears fan survey drew a record number of responses, reflecting optimism about Caleb Williams, Johnson and the teams projected record this fall.
Where things seemed like the same old Bears is when the stadium came up, and thats where respondents had a chance to vent.
Nearly 3,500 fans responded, and heres what they said.
I changed the goal for Williams from be a star to be a top-10 quarterback by the end of the 2026 season.
The results are likely similar.
What stands out most is the decrease in the doubters.
Last summer, 30 percent of respondents selected 3 to reflect their confidence level.
That dropped to 13.7 percent, as many fans saw enough last season to feel better about where Williams is headed in his career.
Interestingly, last years selection of areas of improvement for Williams didnt include accuracy.
There was so much that went wrong in his rookie season.
This summer, its pretty obvious that Williams ball placement has to get better, and the fans agreed.
For all of Williams incredible fourth-quarter comebacks, many fans know the starts of games can be better.
Williams was 28th in the NFL for his first-half passer rating (84.4).
Meanwhile, he had a 94.5 rating in the second half and was ninth in the league in EPA (expected points added) per dropback after halftime (0.14) per TruMedia.
Several of the write-in comments included consistency and taking the checkdown more often.
I wonder what the Madden question would have looked like with a cross section of the age of respondents, as nearly as many voters said they didnt care as those who said it was awesome.
A few of those who selected other enjoyed seeing a player on their team grace the cover of the signature game.
Well, Bears fans finally have a head coach they love.
A striking 80.1 percent of respondents selected the highest level of confidence in Johnson.
Only 61 voters out of nearly 3,500 selected anything but 4 or 5.
We saw a nearly two-and-a-half-times jump in those who chose 5.
We didn't have the survey in 2019 to see what Matt Nagy's numbers would've looked like after winning the division, but I'm sure Johnson's playoff win among other things would have had him well past the former coach.
The results here surprised me.
Heres a franchise that has been mired in offensive mediocrity forever, and in comes Johnson, and the Bears have their best rank in yards gained (sixth) since 1983.
But it wasnt the play calling that ran away with the vote; it was how players responded to him.
Maybe thats a bit of a reaction to the Matt Eberflus era, and the viral nature of Good, Better, Best, but that does matter when leading a football team.
We saw how well the players took to Johnson.
Advertisement Several voters chose to write in all of the above, including one who added, I have to pinch myself sometimes that he wanted to be our coach.
No shock here that Coby Bryant, the top prize of free agency, was the clear winner.
I do wonder whether Garrett Bradbury would have gotten more votes if the Bears hadn't drafted center Logan Jones.
And kudos to the 63.8 percent of voters in last years survey who correctly identified Joe Thuney as the top impact newcomer.
This city loves centers.
From Jay Hilgenberg to Olin Kreutz to Roberto Garza, the position has had its stalwarts, and the position has eluded this front office.
That was probably on the mind of the plurality of voters who went with Drew Dalman as the biggest loss, especially considering the shock of his retirement coming off a Pro Bowl appearance.
Wide receiver DJ Moore came in second, a vote that might have been offset by the hype for Luther Burden III.
I thought we might see more love for safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, if for no other reason than that they became voices for the team, but fans are understandably excited about the new safeties.
Speaking of the new safeties, first-round pick Dillon Thieneman dominated this category.
Now, if the Bears went with an edge rusher, like many fans wanted, in Round 2 or 3 instead of a center, tight end and receiver, maybe it wouldnt have been so lopsided.
It might be tough to get too enthused about a No.
3 tight end, but considering how often the Bears are expected to be in 13 personnel, I thought wed see some better numbers for Sam Roush.
Outside of Thieneman, itll be fascinating to see next summer who ranks as the most intriguing heading into Year 2.
The ceiling for Zavion Thomas is high, as well as Malik Muhammad, considering his position.
Had left tackle Ozzy Trapilo not torn his patellar tendon, this would have been a three-horse race.
Instead, Colston Loveland gets the nod over Burden.
Im guessing fans have a little more confidence in the tight end after what he did as a rookie, but Burdens final two months were also sensational.
For the third time in four years, edge rusher is the top concern for Bears fans.
It makes sense coming off a season in which the team ranked in the bottom third of the league in several pass-rushing categories, and little was done to upgrade it.
The team is high on Montez Sweat, and we saw major flashes from Austin Booker late in the season.
Theres potential for this group to figure it out.
Advertisement Defensive tackle came in second, earning four times as many votes as the offensive line, a longtime winner of this category.
The left tackle uncertainty is likely at the top of those minds.
To see a plethora of positions get so few votes also speaks to the team's depth.
The tight ends group of Loveland, Cole Kmet and Roush is one of the best in the league, so it makes a lot of sense as the position of least concern for fans.
Seeing quarterback, in this city, rank No.
2 is a big deal.
Since 2022, when the survey first included a least concerned question, the high-water mark for quarterback was 12.8 percent in the summer of 2023, coming off some highlight-reel moments from Justin Fields in 2022.
This year, Williams nearly tripled that.
Enough of the jubilation over Williams and Johnson.
Weve now entered the Oh, yeah, that stadium debacle part of the survey, starting with chairman George McCaskeys report card.
From 2025 to 2026, his F share more than doubled, his D vote went up, while his A and B totals decreased.
Coming off the franchises first playoff win in 15 years, the best explanation for this is the ongoing stadium situation.
The decision-maker drawing most of the ire from fans, though, is president/CEO Kevin Warren.
A whopping 38.8 percent of voters selected F, a plurality and more than six times last years "F" share coming off a playoff win by a resurgent team.
But Warren is the Bears face of the stadium saga.
Last year, 43.9 percent of respondents selected A or B.
This year, that plummeted to 11.3.
The number of voters who selected D doubled from 2025.
Former president Ted Phillips was never in this survey, so we dont have that comparison, but he rarely had the best approval ratings in town.
Based on this survey, Warren is in that territory, despite the on-field success.
This question has been on the survey for a few years, but I pushed the date back to 2034, the year after the Bears lease in Soldier Field ends.
Thats a sign of how long this has dragged on.
In 2025, 73.5 percent of respondents said Arlington Heights Indiana was not among the options.
That number was 60.8 percent in 2024, a few months after the team shifted its focus to building downtown on the Museum Campus even then, there were doubts.
When the question asked, Do you believe the Bears will build in Arlington Heights? in 2023, the percentage selecting yes was 88.
Despite the board of directors voting to advance stadium development in Hammond, most fans arent buying it.
They still think (or hope?) the Bears will eventually move to the northwest suburbs.
Only 128 voters out of nearly 3,500 said theyd be more likely to attend games in a stadium in Indiana.
While a geographical cross section of voters would help offer some context, thats still an incredibly low percentage (3.7).
The Bears would probably highlight the 50.6 percent who said it wouldnt affect their attendance, though Id be curious how many of those voters would say that they dont go to games anyway.
Either way, were seeing in a few questions how the teams shift to Indiana is being received.
One year ago, 22.4 percent of voters selected 1 to describe their lack of frustration.
That dropped threefold to 7.2 percent, while those who chose 5 more than doubled, another glaring example of how fans feel about the stadium.
A lot has changed in a year from a posturing standpoint.
Fans had to read open letters and statements and hear from politicians in the past 12 months, but there still isnt a shovel in the ground.
The Bears might have to ramp up the PR machine if only 16.1 percent of respondents blame politicians for the uncertainty about the Bears future home.
For the first time in the surveys history, a fourth quarterback has entered the best-Bears-quarterback-of-all-time conversation, and he finished in second.
Williams sensational plays in the teams comeback wins, plus a playoff victory, have already cemented him in the minds of some fans and I wouldnt be surprised if his votes skewed younger.
Then again, Im not sure how many respondents watched Sid Luckman play live, but he wins this one for the fifth year in a row.
Advertisement I'd be curious why Jay Cutler dropped below Jim McMahon for the first time, and by a pretty decent margin.
Maybe several younger fans who had been voting for Cutler, the winner of this poll in 2020 and 2021, shifted to Williams.
Overall, Cutler's vote share dropped from 31.4 percent to 13.6 percent, while McMahon's went down only six points.
The quarterback with the most write-in votes? Rex Grossman.
Shout-out to the reader who wrote in: Josh McCown versus the Cowboys in 2013.
While a good chunk of fans already think Williams is the best QB in franchise history, only 2 percent had him as their favorite player of all time then again, thats a lot more than most current players have received in this poll.
Its another dominant win for Sweetness.
The top five remain in the same order as last year.
I do like seeing Mike Brown as a mainstay in the top 10.
For that generation of Bears fans, he was special.
Unsurprisingly, this is the most confident fans have been in the surveys history as far as season record goes.
A majority see the Bears going 10-7, showing somewhat tempered expectations, and nearly 80 percent have them in the double digits.
Only 34 people saw this team collapsing.
It rounds up the survey nicely as long as its not the stadium, Bears fans feel quite optimistic about where this thing is going.