Ben Johnson isn’t content with the usual Super Bowl talk heading into 2026. The Bears coach wants something bigger, and he said it plainly: he wants Chicago to chase the highest-scoring offense in NFL history.
That target belongs to the 2013 Denver Broncos, who averaged 37.9 points per game. Johnson knows the number, and he wants to beat it.
“You've got 31 other teams coming to training camp saying, 'Our goal is to win the Super Bowl,'" Johnson said, via The Athletic. "I want more than that.
I want to have the highest-scoring offense ever, which happens to be the 2013 Denver Broncos. I know how many points per game they scored (37.9), and I want to surpass them.
I want shutouts. I want blowouts."
That’s a huge ask, and the benchmark is no joke. The 2013 Broncos still sit at the top of the Super Bowl-era scoring chart, ahead of the 2007 Patriots at 36.8 points per game. The rest of the top 10 includes the 2018 Chiefs, 2011 Packers, 2012 Patriots, 1998 Vikings, 2011 Saints, 1983 Washington, 2016 Falcons and 2000 Rams.
Chicago has a long way to go to get there. The Bears averaged 25.9 points per game last season, which ranked ninth in the NFL. To pass the Broncos, they’d need to improve by more than 12 points per game.
That kind of leap is rare, even by NFL standards. The record for year-to-year scoring improvement belongs to the 2017 Rams, who jumped from 14.0 points per game to 29.9.
That was a 15.9-point surge. Only nine other teams have ever managed an increase of at least 12 points per game, including the 1999 Rams, 1975 Colts, 2013 Chiefs, 2010 Raiders, 2011 Panthers, 2007 Patriots, 1983 Washington, 1998 Vikings and 2016 Falcons.
The challenge gets even tougher when you look at Chicago’s roster situation. The defense is dealing with major injury problems, especially in the secondary.
Free agent addition Coby Bryant is out four-to-six months after knee surgery. Kyler Gordon has no timetable to return.
Cam Lewis and Tyrique Stevenson also either left or missed recent practices.
That matters because the Bears were counting on Bryant and Gordon to do a lot of the heavy lifting on defense this year. Instead, the offense may have to carry more of the load if Chicago is going to avoid a step back after winning so many one-score games last season.
Johnson already said earlier this offseason that the Bears are the league’s No. 1 regression candidate, but he’s not thinking small. He also wants the team to go after the record for most consecutive wins.
“Why can't we do that?" Johnson said, again via The Athletic.
"There has never been an undefeated season (since teams have been playing more than 14 regular-season games). The moon is the Super Bowl, but we're shooting beyond that, for the stars.
And I want these players to feel that each and every single day they come in.”
The Bears have plenty of excitement around them entering the season, with an 11-6 finish under Johnson in his first year, a playoff win over the Green Bay Packers and an overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round. Caleb Williams is viewed as an ascending quarterback, and the skill-position group featuring Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III gives Chicago real firepower.
Johnson clearly sees all of that and wants more. Whether the Bears can match those ambitions is another matter entirely.
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