Daily Herald opinion: Bear down, lawmakers: It’s time for officials to make like Ben Johnson and get something done

Last week, the Bears moved the ball up and down the field in a historic season opener at Carolina.

A 59-37 win that set franchise records for points in a road game and for a points season opener should have fans optimistic about the rest of the season.

On Sunday, coach Ben Johnson and his high-flying Bears open their home slate against the Minnesota Vikings. Fans in Arlington Heights and Hammond will gather Sunday to cheer on the orange and blue at Soldier Field.

When Johnson talks, there’s a sense of urgency and focus.

“We want to be the highest-scoring, we want to have the most wins, we want to win Super Bowls,” Johnson said. “That’s what we do. We didn’t get into this profession trying to be mediocre, average.”

The last sentence of Johnson’s quote really lands — not just on the playing field but also on the political debate over where the field should be.

We didn’t elect lawmakers in Illinois to be mediocre or average. We elected them to lead. We elected them to get big projects done. When it comes to the Bears at Arlington Park, they're failing us.

We've seen zero movement toward any resolution since the spring session ended.

Two very different plans to keep the Bears in Illinois came out of the House and Senate. Gov. JB Pritzker has said it’s up to the Bears to decide which parts of those bills they want in a final bill. That’s not leadership. That’s punting the ball on second down.

With an election coming up, lawmakers clearly have their eye on campaigning and getting reelected. That’s what politicians do.

Standing up to the Bears might score political points ahead of the election, but losing the Bears to Indiana might come back to haunt them later. It will be yet another sign that Illinois isn’t as business-friendly as other states.

It’s been a month since Bears President/CEO Kevin Warren and Chairman George McCaskey took the stage and repeated what we already knew: Indiana has a viable site and is working hard to get the Bears to move there.

The only public movement we’ve seen from lawmakers here since then is Arlington Heights renewing a $5,000-a-month contract with a lobbying firm working to keep the Bears in Illinois.

The Bears appear willing to wait for Illinois to get something together, but how much patience can we expect?

We’ve written multiple times demanding urgency from lawmakers. We’ve yet to see it.

Maybe Illinois lawmakers will put a plan together during the veto session in November. Right now, that seems like a Hail Mary.

Maybe Johnson can take over the Illinois political process, too. The clock is ticking, and we know the man knows how to find paydirt.