Rams-Bears: Why the Bears may deserve more attention entering the 2026 NFL season

The Los Angeles Rams have drawn most of the offseason attention, framed as a club built to contend again in 2026. Against that backdrop, the Bears’ recent momentum has a way of getting overlooked, despite the fact that Chicago already proved it could hang with the Rams in the postseason and exceed expectations in a way that forced national conversation to catch up.

According to Yahoo Sports’ season preview framing, the Bears “surpassed all realistic expectations” last season and gave Los Angeles “a run for their money” in the playoffs. Even without turning that statement into hard specifics like a final score or season record, the key takeaway is clear: Chicago did not just play spoiler energy, it challenged a contender when it mattered most.

That matters because preseason hype tends to follow prior headlines, not late-breaking evidence. When one team is consistently featured as the standard-bearer, the rest of the division can be treated as background, even if it has already demonstrated the ability to compete. In this case, the Bears are positioned as the type of team that can turn overlooked status into a stable identity, not a one-time anomaly.

There is also a roster-building logic behind the attention question. If a team can make a playoff run after being underestimated, it suggests coaching, roster depth, and game planning are operating above the level the market expected. That doesn’t guarantee another deep postseason, but it raises the baseline for what opponents should prepare for in September and October, especially in divisional matchups where familiarity can turn small advantages into longer drives and fewer stalled possessions.

For Los Angeles, the counterpoint is that being labeled a favorite can be both a report of quality and a trap. The Rams may indeed be entering 2026 with more national confidence, but the more that attention solidifies, the more Chicago’s style of play and recent playoff confidence becomes the kind of test that determines whether that favoritism translates into repeat success. In other words, the Rams’ ability to avoid complacency will be measured against teams that already know they can compete.

Heading into 2026, the storyline to watch is whether the Bears’ postseason credibility becomes routine preparation for opponents rather than an exception. If Chicago is able to maintain its competitive level across the regular season while still carrying the threat implied by last year’s playoff showing, the conversation will shift from “Could they be legit?” to “They are who they are, and everyone has to plan accordingly.”

For the NFL’s title picture, that distinction is more than branding. Contenders do not only emerge through offseason headlines; they hold up under repeated stress. If the Bears can keep up the standard that sent them into the postseason and challenged a favored Rams team, the NFC landscape in 2026 is likely to look more compressed, and every divisional game takes on extra weight.