Chris Simms didnât sound cautious. He didnât hedge. And he didnât try to soften his words.
Sitting on Radio Row, speaking with Jarrett Payton, the former NFL quarterback-turned-analyst offered an assessment of the Chicago Bears that felt less like analysis and more like a warning to the rest of the league.
Ben Johnson, Simms said, is a âpsycho.â
In the best way possible.
Simms wasnât using the word casually. He meant obsessive. Detail-driven. Unrelenting. The kind of coach who never shuts it offâand never lets anyone around him do so either.

For Simms, that edge is exactly why Johnson works, and exactly why Chicago might be closer to something big than people realize.
âHeâs wired differently,â Simms explained, describing Johnsonâs approach to preparation and problem-solving. Not reckless. Not emotional. Just consumed.
That mindset, Simms suggested, is already bleeding into the Bearsâ identity.
And then came the quarterback conversation.
Despite months of debate, hot takes, and second-guessing across NFL media, Simms didnât hesitate when asked about Caleb Williams.
âIâd still draft him No. 1 overall,â he said.
No caveats. No re-ranking. No walking it back.
Simms acknowledged the noise around Williamsâcomparisons, expectations, stylistic critiquesâbut framed them as distractions rather than flaws.
What matters, he argued, is impact. And Williams, in his view, has already delivered that.
The Bears didnât just improve with Williams under center. They changed posture. Opposing defenses couldnât relax, even with late leads. Games didnât feel over anymore.

Chicago became relevant againânot because everything was perfect, but because something was dangerous.
Thatâs the word Simms kept circling back to.
Dangerous.
The connection between Williams and Johnson, Simms believes, is what accelerates the timeline. A quarterback with creativity and confidence paired with a coach obsessed with structure and answers creates tensionâbut also balance.
One pushes. The other contains. Both demand more.
Itâs not always comfortable.

But Simms made it clear: comfort doesnât win in January.
The boldest moment of the interview came when Simms looked beyond the present altogether. Asked about the Bearsâ trajectory, he didnât just talk about playoffs or progress.
He mentioned the Super Bowl.

Specifically, he said it wouldnât surprise him if Chicago was playing in it next year.
That kind of statement usually comes with qualifiers. Simms didnât offer any.
Instead, he framed it as inevitability meeting alignment. A coach obsessive enough to squeeze every edge. A quarterback talented enough to exploit them. A roster learning how to expect more of itself.
Simms has been around enough locker rooms to recognize patterns before they fully form. And what he described wasnât hypeâit was familiarity.

The early stages of something that doesnât look polished yet, but feels dangerous because itâs honest.
Ben Johnson being a âpsychoâ isnât a red flag in Simmsâ eyes. Itâs the point.
Caleb Williams still being the No. 1 pick isnât stubbornness. Itâs clarity.
And the Bears being mentioned in Super Bowl conversations isnât predictionâitâs recognition that the league may have overlooked whatâs quietly taking shape in Chicago.

The rest will sort itself out.
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