Bears should embrace Johnson’s scoring-record ambition — but not be ruled by it

Lead

Ben Johnson’s scoring-record challenge is exactly the kind of public standard the Chicago Bears can use in 2026, but it is an unwise benchmark for judging the entire season because it requires a dramatic rise from last year’s scoring level. Source 1Source 3Source 4

Evidence

Johnson, the Bears’ head coach, has said that he wants Chicago to become the NFL’s highest-scoring offence in history by surpassing the 2013 Denver Broncos’ average of 37.9 points per game. Source 1Source 3

That is not a vague pledge to improve: the 2013 Broncos hold the record for 606 points in a 16-game regular season, giving Johnson’s declaration a precise historical standard. Source 1

The Bears do enter the campaign with substantial evidence that Johnson’s programme has already produced results, after going 11-6 and winning the NFC North in his first season in charge. Source 1Source 4

That division title was Chicago’s first since 2018, so the team has already converted progress under Johnson into a meaningful achievement rather than merely a promising narrative. Source 1

Chicago scored 441 points in 17 regular-season games in 2025, an average of 25.9 per game, while conceding 415 points. Source 4

The central difficulty is therefore plain: Johnson is asking the Bears to move from 25.9 points per game last season to more than 37.9, not simply to preserve the level that delivered the division title. Source 1Source 3Source 4

There are also tangible offensive building blocks, with Caleb Williams recording 3,942 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2025, alongside a 90.1 passer rating. Source 5

D’Andre Swift supplied a 1,000-yard rushing season as well, carrying 223 times for 1,087 yards at 4.9 yards per attempt and scoring nine rushing touchdowns. Source 5

The counter-argument

The case for taking Johnson’s target literally begins with the Bears’ immediate success: an 11-6 record and an NFC North crown are a stronger platform than a team seeking its first signs of direction. Source 1Source 4

Chicago’s 441 points also exceeded its 415 conceded by 26, showing that last season’s division-winning record came with a positive scoring balance. Source 4

Williams’ passing production and Swift’s output give the Bears proven 2025 contributors in both the passing and rushing game, which makes an aggressive offensive objective more credible than empty rhetoric. Source 5

Johnson has also deliberately framed his ambition as more than the conventional aim of winning the Super Bowl, saying that he wants to surpass Denver’s mark and pursue shutouts and blowouts. Source 1

The schedule offers an early opportunity for Chicago to establish what its offence is capable of, beginning away to Carolina on 13 September before home fixtures against the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles. Source 6

Why our verdict holds

Still, a division title and productive individual seasons are not the same thing as evidence of a record-level scoring pace. Source 1Source 4Source 5

The relevant comparison remains uncompromising: Chicago averaged 25.9 points per game in a 17-game 2025 regular season, while the 2013 Broncos averaged 37.9 and accumulated 606 points in 16 games. Source 1Source 4

The Bears’ positive 26-point season scoring margin supports the claim that they were successful in 2025, but it does not erase the distance between their output and the historic figure Johnson has chosen. Source 1Source 3Source 4

Williams’ 27 passing touchdowns and Swift’s nine rushing touchdowns justify optimism about the offence, yet those figures are better read as a base for improvement than as proof that Chicago should be expected to set an all-time record. Source 1Source 3Source 5

That is why Johnson’s declaration works best as an internal standard of aggression and intent, rather than a pass-or-fail demand placed on a team whose latest scoring average was well below the stated target. Source 1Source 3Source 4

Closing read

The Bears should treat the record chase as a useful lens for following their offensive development, because Johnson has made the target specific enough to measure throughout the season. Source 1Source 3

But the more grounded reading of 2026 will begin with whether Chicago can build on its 11-6, division-winning season and raise the 25.9-point-per-game output it posted in 2025. Source 1Source 4

The first evidence arrives at Carolina on 13 September, with home games against Minnesota and Philadelphia following on the scheduled opening stretch. Source 6

If the Bears make meaningful progress towards Johnson’s stated standard, the ambition will have served its purpose; if they do not reach Denver’s mark, the supplied 2025 baseline shows why that outcome alone should not settle the verdict on their season. Source 1Source 3Source 4