The Bears have registered four straight wins, are the only NFL team that has scored at least 21 points in all of its games and lead the league with 16 takeaways.
Yet according to coach Ben Johnson, the best is yet to come.
"I don't think we've played a collective 60 minutes yet as a team, and I think it will be a beautiful thing when that happens, really in all three phases," Johnson said.
"Offensively, we've had times where the passing game has looked good. We've had times where the running game has looked good. But it just hasn't come together as an entire team or entire unit yet. It will be a fun thing to watch when that happens."
In preparing for Sunday's game against the Ravens in Baltimore, the Bears are focused on eliminating pre-snap penalties and negative plays. After not drawing any false start fouls in their Oct. 13 Monday night win over the Commanders, they were flagged five times for that infraction in last Sunday's victory over the Saints.
"Throughout the season so far, we've been behind the sticks quite a bit," Johnson said. "If we can just stay on schedule, stay on track, then this thing is going to come to life. We've got some really talented players in every position room.
"I would like to just be more efficient as an offense. I would like to throw more completions. And we have to be better in the red zone. That's the other Achilles' heel that we have right now. We're making it down there, but we're not scoring seven points. We're just settling for field goals the last couple weeks. If we do those things on offense, I think you'll see improvement."
The most positive news of late has been the emergence of a productive running game. After averaging 102.3 yards in their four games before the bye, the Bears compiled 145 and 222 yards versus the Commanders and Saints, respectively.
Asked what he's most proud of involving the rushing attack, Johnson said: "It's those combination blocks that I keep talking about. The guys up front, the more time on task we've had, the better the results have been.
"I always love after a game turning on the sideline view of all of our runs," Johnson said. "First thing I look for is what's happening with that line of scrimmage. Is it going forward or is it going back? And that's really on both sides of the ball. I like doing that for our defense as well because I do think that tells the story a little bit of physicality and what you're doing. You win and lose games up there."
The running game's improvement has been fueled by an offensive line comprised of left tackle Theo Benedet, left guard Joe Thuney, center Drew Dalman, right guard Jonah Jackson and right tackle Darnell Wright.
"It's good to have Darnell out there; he's a powerful human being," Johnson said. "Jonah's playing at a high level. Drew's getting more comfortable in this system. There's a lot we put on our center's plate from a mental standpoint to make sure that we're targeted correctly, and he's doing a great job with that. Thuney is just a stud; he's just a model of consistency. And then Theo is really powerful in the run game as well. We've got five guys up there right now that are just going to continue to gel."
In their quest for the passing game to become just as efficient, quarterback Caleb Williams is confident that the Bears are "extremely close."
"You go back and you don't throw the pick and you complete two or three of those on-the-runs, efficiency-wise it's up there with 70%," Williams said. "It comes down to super small things and it comes down to three completions with being able to be more efficient and keep the team on the field and making plays.
"It boils down to me being able to give the wide receivers a good ball, them catching it and creating space for themselves. It's a collective thing, but it starts with me. If we start hitting those on-the-runs … and big plays start happening, it looks a lot better."
