Caleb Williams and the Bears heard it all during their early-season run to prominence in the NFC as they stacked wins amid a supposed cakewalk slate of games.
Things were destined to get tougher, with the real Chicago predicted to emerge for better or worse as the schedule toughened down the stretch.
The Bears tuned out that noise and instead focused on winning each week, and in doing so proved detractors wrong -- most recently via a 24-15 thumping of the reigning Super Bowl champions in which Chicago ran all over the Eagles on one side of the ball and repeatedly stopped them in their tracks on the other.
“I think every single game that we play is to make a statement," Williams said following the victory. "That’s just another game for us. Focus on being 1-0 each week. We keep doing that. We keep focusing on what’s inside, the noise inside the building. Honestly, the statements and all of that, it’s more of the outside noise. It’s more of the kind of stuff for y’all to talk about, the analysts and whoever to talk about."
Those outside the building are certainly talking now.
The Bears own a five-game winning streak, having won five games in a single calendar month for the first time since November 1959, per NFL Research. Since starting 0-2, they've lost only one of their past nine contests.
On Friday, it was nearly everyone, but most certainly running backs D'Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai that delivered a winning effort.
The duo combined for 255 yards and two touchdowns on 40 carries, becoming the first pair of Bears running backs to each have 100-plus rushing yards in a game since Matt Suhey and the great Walter Payton did so in Week 10, 1985.
“Can’t say enough about that running game," head coach Ben Johnson told reporters. "I don’t think we win that game if we’re not able to run the ball like we were. Both the backs, over 100 yards, it was just outstanding. You could feel decisiveness, you could feel them hitting it downhill. They turned on the gas and were lowering their shoulders, too.”
With wind affecting the passing game, Chicago took to the ground against Philadelphia. Each of the Bears' first three drives consisted of 11 or more plays, limiting the amount of possessions a slumbering Eagles offense would receive to wake up early.
Swift was as shifty as can be, racking up yards against his former team and logging the only touchdown of the first two frames with a three-yard score on the team's second drive.
It felt like a much more lopsided game at halftime, when the teams retreated to the locker rooms for intermission with the Bears only leading, 10-3. Things got tighter, still, when the Eagles sustained a 77-yard drive capped off by a Jalen Hurts touchdown throw to A.J. Brown. Jake Elliott's extra-point attempt went wide in the wind, allowing Chicago to keep a narrow lead.
The tides seemed ready to change, regardless, when four plays later pass rusher Jalyx Hunt intercepted Williams to put the Eagles 36 yards from pay dirt.
That's when Chicago's defense, already playing superbly, tapped again into its superpower. The Bears entered Week 13 leading the league with 24 takeaways. They left the victory with two more, the most impactful likely being Nahshon Wright's forced fumble and recovery on a failed Philadelphia tush push.
The Bears forced a third-and-1 two plays after their own turnover, normally a gimme for Philadelphia. Instead, as Chicago's defensive line held firm against Hurts' attempted sneak for a first down, Wright came around the corner and smartly punched the ball out.
"Shonny's fumble, I think that was one of the turning points of the game right there," Johnson said of the play. "They’re in scoring range and high-percentage play for them, and yet he was able to get the ball away from them."
As the Eagles were still reeling from a gaffe on their signature play, a failure emblematic of their recent struggles, Monangai busted out a 31-yard to begin the Bears' newfound opportunity. He added 42 more yards on seven additional carries during the rest of the possession, eventually punching one in from four yards out.
“Any time you start having explosive plays, and especially explosive plays in the run game, you start tiring out defenses," Williams said. "Their mental, I would say, gets tired. That’s what you typically see, but also physically you get tired. That’s kudos to our head coach and our offensive staff, and then also, like I said, the players.”
After the defense forced a three-and-out on the next drive and Williams responded by leading another long march and connecting on his lone TD pass of the game, a beauty to tight end Cole Kmet, the remainder of Philadelphia's comeback effort mostly amounted to window dressing.
What occurred on Black Friday was a complete dismantling to move the Bears up to the second seed in the NFC.
It took place even as Williams struggled with accuracy, again a byproduct of the game's conditions but something he both desperately wants to improve and sees reason for optimism in. While Williams, who went 17 of 36 for 154 yards, one touchdown and one interception for a 56.9 passer rating, shared his frustrations postgame, he acknowledged that if he and everyone else can fully click moving forward, there's still a whole lot more ceiling.
“We have such a talented group and special group, and we got guys that really care," Williams said. "So, we can do something special. Something special for Chicago. … That’s why I get up every day. We haven’t hit our pinnacle yet in the sense of a team and execution on offense and we’re still winning these games, so that’s really important. That’s why I’m extremely excited.”
The Bears entered the game against Philly with the lowest postseason probability (77%) of any NFC team currently in playoff position, per Next Gen Stats. The victory moved them to 79%, still the lowest percentage.
That's partly because of their difficult schedule to close the season and playing in a tough division, but it's also something doubters have clung to.
In recent games that could have exposed them, however, Sunday against the Steelers and Friday versus the Eagles, it's the Bears that have done the exposing. It's all part of Johnson's week-to-week, head-down mantra that has gotten them to this point.
“I think it’s the same message that we’ve been sending every week," the head coach said when asked what message Chicago's victory sends. "That we’re just gonna compete our tails off for 60 minutes. I think that’s what I know about our group. They’ve got a lot of belief in what we’re doing. They’ve got a lot of belief in themselves. They’ve got a lot of belief, I think, in this coaching staff. So, that confidence just starts to develop and continue to bubble over. I think we’ve got a really confident group, and we’re excited for the next five games.”
After Chicago's latest win, there will likely be quite a bit more belief beyond the locker room, as well.