O’Donnell: Ben Johnson deserves patience, but what about the rest of Bears culture?
IMPATIENCE IS AN OPTION ONLY for Bears fans who want to court nightmares, stomach upset and roiling empty acres in Arlington Heights.
In terms of expecting indigestion on any handy fall calendar, the weekend around Halloween is a place for blue-and-burnt-orange Pepto-Bismol people to checkmark.
In the seasons 2022-24, the McWastrels were 9-14 building up to the eve of All Saints’ Day, 6-22 after.
BEN JOHNSON AND HIS UNPREDICTABLES will take their 4-3 record into Cincinnati's Paycor Stadium Sunday (noon, CBS). They are 2½-point favorites and wavering, in large part because the Bengals (3-5) have been battered by injuries with greater impact.
If Johnson had any doubt before he accepted his current position, victories and only victories soothe his jumpy fan base. Anything else is Whisker Lickin's for the tailgate cats and concept-starved sports talkers.
Left out of many analyses is that Johnson was hired because of his upscale offensive mind. That'd be high I.Q. stuff that isn't necessarily quickly assimilated, especially by line dancers coming off a 5-12 season.
FOR NOW, JOHNSON IS BUYING INTO Caleb Williams as QB-1 because that's what's there. Williams gutted through a wasted rookie season but remains a key to the future of Ryan Poles as GM of the Bears.
Game-day general in that evolved Lake Forest vertical is Johnson. In the end, he can only coach what Poles has given him and can't tether the snap jumpers within.
A QUESTION TO CONSIDER during the countdown to kickoff:
On opening day of training camp 2028, who among Poles, Johnson and Williams is most likely to retain their current status with the Bears?
Perfect progressive harmony is such a Hallmark goal.
Just not a reality in the ways and history of Halas Hall.
STREET-BEATIN':
Billy Donovan's red-carpet Bulls faces their toughest obstacle yet at New York Sunday vs. Jalen Brunson and Co. (6 p.m., CHSN, AM-670). Some Knicks media already has the sharp spikes out for first-year coach Mike Brown. …
The Bears defense appears to be more effective without the overpriced Grady Jarrett. Dan Hampton of WGN-AM (720) has suggested Jarrett lacks trench toughness. Who wants to argue the other side? …
Ancient CIN QB Joe Flacco first skimmed the edge of regional sports radar when he led Delaware to a 20-17 win over Southern Illinois in a 2007 FCS national semifinal at Carbondale's dank McAndrew Stadium. Surviving the Tower of London locker room was probably tougher than beating the Salukis …
Into the weekend, audience numbers for the World Series on Fox were OK, averaging close to 12M viewers per game. (That's still peanuts and Cracker Jack by NFL standards.) Three keys: 1) the multinational fan base of the Dodgers; 2) the fear-no-payroll competitiveness of John Schneider and the Blue Jays; and, 3) the dueling “Wonderboy” bats of Shohei Ohtani and Vlad Guerrero Jr. …
For perspective on those World Series numbers, Sunday's Chiefs-Bills game will likely average about 32M viewers (3:25 p.m., CBS). A curious sidebar is that Patrick Mahomes is so high-profile while Josh Allen has an off-field image that starts to fade west of Erie, Pa. Worst news for America is that Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will be calling the contest. …
Bruce Wolf — still one of the four funniest men in the last half-century of Chicago sports media — notes that any on-air pontificating about the latest NBA gambling scandal has to be tempered by the fact that ad revenue from gaming interests has been a key savior of many sports talk formats. (The counselor is correct.) …
On the threshold of Breeders' Cup weekend 2025, Northwest suburban-based Larry Rivelli saddled his 2,000th winner at Hawthorne Thursday. For those who remember when “High Strike” was getting his start on the Arlington Park backstretch, that's a laudable achievement. (He dedicated the win to Tom Morgan, the late jockey agent.) …
For after-midnight figger filberts only: There were 609 pitches in that 18-inning Game 3 marathon between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. And Fox's gabby John Smoltz seemed to analyze every one. …
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.