Following an unexpectedly successful 2025 season, the Chicago Bears face some strong headwinds in 2026. From a brutal late-season stretch to an expected regression in last-minute wins, many believe that the Bears can't possibly improve from last year. However, the 2026 Bears could very well be following the blueprint laid down by the Los Angeles Rams in their 2018 season that ended with a Super Bowl berth.Chicago Bears RB Kyle Monangai runs the ball against the Los Angeles Rams. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn ImagesThe Bears' tough 2026 schedule conceals a nugget of hopeZachary Pereles, a senior NFL writer for CBS Sports, listed the Bears as one of five playoff contenders facing a brutal 2026 schedule, and he's not wrong. The Bears' tough schedule even has some analysts making comparisons to the Washington Commanders and their major regression this year. But nestled amid Pereles' gloomy projections for the Bears is an uncanny resemblance to the 2018 Rams.When listing teams that went from five or fewer wins to 11 or more wins in one season since 2015, as the Bears did in 2025, Pereles listed seven teams, six of whom either regressed or stagnated in the season following their breakout. The one exception? The 2018 Rams. In 2017, they made the jump from four wins to 11 wins, and then improved to 13 wins the next year, the year that they went to the Super Bowl.But that's not all that makes this comparison to the Bears so interesting. Remember, 2017 was the year that the Rams hired a young, hotshot offensive coordinator named Sean McVay as their new head coach. In McVay's first season, the Rams' quarterback, the first-overall pick from the prior year, took a huge step forward in his development. And at the end of the year, the Rams broke a 14-year drought without a division title. That series of events should sound pretty familiar to Bears fans.Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson addresses the media at Halas Hall. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesCan Ben Johnson be as good as Sean McVay?Pereles probably noticed these striking similarities between the Bears and Rams, too. He concludes his review of the Bears' schedule by saying, "Maybe Ben Johnson is the next coming of Sean McVay, and the Bears just keep going up. But add in Chicago's projected sixth-hardest schedule, and it's a tall task."Once again, he's not wrong. It is a tall task to improve upon 11 wins and clinching an NFC North championship. But if Ben Johnson is the head coach he was billed to be before the Bears hired him, then the next coming of Sean McVay is exactly who he is. McVay took a Rams team that averaged just 14 points per game in 2016 to the top-scoring team in his first year. Johnson closely mirrored this feat, bringing the Bears from a bottom-five offense into the Top 10 in his first year on the job.Remember, that was just Year 1 of the Ben Johnson era in Chicago, and Caleb Williams had to unlearn a lot of bad habits from the previous Bears' coaching staff and his college days. The 2025 version of this offense is likely the worst that it will be under Ben Johnson, and it was still a Top 10 unit.Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson looks on during warmups before a game. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn ImagesBears fans have good reason to expect improvement in 2026Many analysts pick the Bears as prime regression candidates for two main reasons: takeaways and luck. The Bears led the league in takeaways in 2025, which almost certainly dooms them to a regression in that category in 2026. Meanwhile, their series of improbable comeback wins, culminating with an incredible Wild Card win over Green Bay, earned them the nickname Cardiac Bears, but it is unlikely to be repeated in 2026.These are both fair points, but here's why they don't matter. No, the Bears aren't going to take the ball away nearly as much as they did last year, but they shouldn't have to live and die on turnovers again, either. The Bears' defense was decimated by injuries last year, and those starters should all be back to full health in 2026, which would mark a significant improvement without needing to make any roster additions. Plus, another year in Dennis Allen's system should help the Bears put up more of a fight on defense. Don't forget that the Bears gave up the fourth-most yards and 10th-most points in 2025, and only six teams had fewer sacks than the Bears.As for luck, that argument is overblown. Including the playoffs, the Bears went 8-5 in one-score games, which is about as even as a team can get. There's almost as much room for improvement in one-score games as there is for regression. The idea that they had the kind of season that's impossible to repeat just doesn't hold water. They're not the 2022 Vikings, who went 11-0 in one-score games and finished as the first NFL team ever to win 13 games with a negative point differential.Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams throws a pass against the Los Angeles Rams. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | Matt Marton-Imagn ImagesThe Bottom LineEvery comparison of NFL teams is always a bit of an apples-to-oranges situation. Every team is different, and even the same team can undergo significant changes from season to season. But the similarities between the Bears and the 2018 Rams are too striking to totally ignore, and it bodes well for Chicago's future. If Ben Johnson can be even just a store brand version of Sean McVay, then the Bears' success in 2025 will prove to be just a taste of the glory to come.Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears NewsletterAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow