You can’t count out the Bears, but can you count on them in the last 6 games?

Sitting in Section 349, high atop the field, I was sure of two things: The Chicago Bears would take the lead in the second half, and the game would come down to the last possession.

I had told my son, a hopeful Steelers fan, that we’d leave early to beat the traffic if it were a blowout either way, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case. If I’ve learned anything about covering the Bears from the press box this season, it’s that you have to keep watching until the end.

For the most part, the endings to Bears games have been both exciting and exhausting, a welcome change from upsetting and exhausting.

And of course, I was right. The Bears did retake the lead in the second half, and they did hold on for dear life to claim a 31-28 win over Pittsburgh to improve to 8-3, keeping a loose grip on first place in the NFC North and cementing their status as a team you have to pay attention to.

The Bears aren’t good enough to put teams away, but this is the first team in a long time that you watch with a feeling of “Oh, they’re going to score here,” even with Caleb Williams occasionally struggling with accuracy issues. That’s the Ben Johnson Difference™. The Bears offense isn’t great, but a few times a game, everything clicks and you can see why this just might work out in the long run.

It was much earlier in the game, midway through the second quarter, when you felt the game turn in Chicago’s direction.

Pittsburgh didn’t get a fourth-down conversion in the second quarter on a “tush push” try and the Bears answered with a tying, 12-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that included a crafty Williams running play on fourth-and-1. Johnson schemed guys open throughout the drive and it ended with Colston Loveland’s touchdown catch.

The Steelers answered with a touchdown to take the lead, but the Bears got a field goal before the half to make it a four-point game. My son and I agreed the Steelers missed their opportunity to pile on points and that it would cost them in the end.

But I also knew we weren’t leaving early.

Late in the game, Chicago kept the door open for its visitors, allowing the Steelers two drives to try to win it. But unlike the Vikings game, the Bears didn’t need any special-teams heroics. With Aaron Rodgers watching Mason Rudolph instead of orchestrating a two-minute drill, the Steelers couldn’t score and the home fans left with giddy dreams of the playoffs and a future that was decidedly less bleak than the past.

The Bears aren’t perfect. They easily could’ve lost, much as they could’ve lost most of the games they’ve won this season. But they didn’t. This team has the confidence to know it’s in just about every game, regardless of who is on the field and how the quarterback is doing. It’s a beautiful thing when a football team finds itself winning regularly in the margins. A swagger has to be earned.

All season we’ve been debating the present and future of Williams, and it’s pretty clear he’s both a cause for hope and concern. On Sunday, he completed just 54% of his passes — and many were way off — but he also threw three touchdown passes. He didn’t throw an interception, only because the Steelers defensive backs dropped a few (one was negated because it came on a free play for the offense). His fumble in the end zone turned into a Steelers touchdown.

It’s not one of those Bears situations where the team is winning in spite of their quarterback. Most games, he’s doing just enough to win as he develops. That might not be good enough down the road if he doesn’t keep progressing, but for now it is, because the season is no longer just about his play. It hasn’t been for weeks.

Whether Williams gets to 4,000 yards passing — he’s on pace for 3,969 — or some other statistical benchmark is immaterial. The only thing that matters is being good enough on a week-to-week basis to help the Bears make the playoffs. That’s the goal.

Through 11 games, we know you can’t count out the Bears. But can you count on them to do more than play close games and beat up on bad or flawed teams (like the Steelers)?

We’re about to find out, starting with Friday’s game in Philadelphia. The Bears, who have won seven of eight, are 7-point underdogs. The week after that, they go to Green Bay. They’ll be underdogs there too.

Five of Chicago’s last six games are against teams with winning records. The other one is against a ferocious Browns defense and (likely) Shedeur Sanders. To make the playoffs, the Bears need to win at least two of those games, likely three. I think they beat Cleveland and win one of the Packers games. Other than that, it’s not going to be easy.

But then again, what has been about this season? Every week, the Bears are talked about as being the worst team with their record of all time. That’s better than the alternative of being another bad Chicago team. No one looks at this as a Super Bowl team, but making the playoffs is a worthy goal and an achievable one.

Can they win three more games to do it? If you play around with the probabilities, there’s a very good chance the last game of the season, at home against the Lions, will decide Chicago’s postseason fate.

And it would be so very fitting for this Bears season to go down to the very end.

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