How the Chicago Bears are Winning the War on History using Modern Psychology

I'm a Cowboys fan. I was raised watching the cowboys win during the 90's and have fond memories of sitting with my father as he taught me about the game. I'm also a licensed mental health professional with more than a decade of experience who has trained all over the world, and I'm telling you... Ben Johnson, the Chicago Bears Head Coach, is changing the game. Good, Better, Best is quickly becoming the chant of a team that knows where they're headed and I'm here for it. On Saturday, December 20ᵗʰ, 2025 my husband and I sat in a bar called, The Wing'd Nutt in Richardson, Texas. We drove an hour to get to this place because it was the only Chicago Bears bar we could find. Before we left the house, my husband said to me, "wear this," and tossed me his Payton jersey. So we sat together in our Bears jerseys having arrived early enough to procure a table next to one of the TVs. We sat with our cold fries and warm beers staring at the screen. This place was packed. We were shoulder to shoulder in a sea of blue and orange. My husband was born and raised in Chicago. He has fond memories with childhood friends and family about sports games and sports teams. He’s told me about legends in their own rights, teaching his generation lessons that only titans could pass down as their legacy.

This was the second time in 2025 that Chicago would play the Green Bay Packers. Their rivalry was unknown to me until earlier in the year when I attended the Cowboys vs Bears game at Soldier Field in Chicago. As my husband and I walked under the bridge a chant began to break out among us and it was loud. They yelled, "Green Bay sucks! Green Bay Sucks!" and it was a call unlike anything I'd experienced thus far. I turned to my husband and precisely pointed out that the Bears weren't even playing Green Bay and yet they were chanting, “Green Bay sucks.” My husband smiled and said, "It doesn't matter who we play, Green Bay sucks." The Bears went on to defeat the Cowboys that game.

I started to pay close attention to Ben Johnson and some of the techniques he was using that were recognizable to me in my own clinical practice. I started to hear sports casters say things like, "Hope is a dangerous thing,” and they’re right. Charles Snider published a theory in 2002 that he aptly referred to as Hope Theory. This idea was that with the inclusion of agency, being confidence in one's own ability, and the inclusion of pathways like someone's plan can achieve a desired outcome. Hope is simply the motivational state by which we learn to believe. If you believe good or bad, it started with the experience of hope.

Ben Johnson's philosophy is hinging primarily on hope theory. There's a strategy to building the team’s confidence based on their individual strengths. "Good, Better, Best! Never let it rest, until your good gets better and your better gets best!" This hype chant is said in the locker room after the Bears play. I love it. As a solution focused brief therapist I ask during my intakes, "What are your best hopes from coming to see me?" Then, I work with my clients based on their current strengths and resources to help them go from good to better to their best. Therapists like me use the ideas of neuroplasticity and muscle memory to refine and then practice our thinking. Goals always move forward.

I sat next to my husband in a crowded bar an hour away from my home in the 4th quarter of a game the Bears were losing. The disappointment was so thick in that bar. Fans had all but lost hope in their team, and then something of beauty began to unfold. I watched the quarter back, Caleb Williams, begin to throw himself through lines picking up yards and inspiring his team mates. His team mates rallied to him continued peak performance as the Packers made mistakes they could not recover and eventually in overtime the Bears beat their rival and the fans went wild in that bar. My husband practically lost his voice and we had so much fun. It was a night I’ll never forget.

I am unclear how the NFL uses psychology research if at all, but I can say, Ben Johnson is doing it right. He's giving that team agency and a pathway to a stated, measurable goal that builds from each win. He's allowed these players to lean into their God given strengths with uncanny results. He gave fans a renewed sense of hope and life.

And this trauma therapist from Dallas, Texas is here for it.

I genuinely believe our country needs men who will start good, and do better until it is their best. We need men who are able to accept failure with dignity, but know they can be better. We need men to accept a win with humility giving credit where credit is due and then remembering they can be even better.

I can't wait to see how this season ends, and I hope Jerry Jones is taking notes...