Sun City’s resident football expert, Mike North, a Chicago Bears fan since 1961, knows the turning point in the 2025 Bears’ season.
“I think this season has been the most surprising, and I’ve been a fan since 1961,” North said. “It was the seven comeback wins, and the win in Week 11 over Philadelphia,” North said. “I thought going into the season, they would end up with seven wins.” The Bears came up with the stop of a “tush push” play by the Eagles in a 24-15 win.
Sixty-five-year-old Bears fan Mike North is co-host of ESPN Chicago’s The Odds Couple. (Photo provided)
North and Carmen DeFalco co-host “The Odds Couple,” which is broadcast on ESPN Chicago, WMVP 1000, from 7-8 a.m. Saturdays. The show is available via podcast 24-7. North also has a podcast on Barroom Network, “Somebody Big Just Died”, which is produced occasionally when someone important has passed away.
The Bears were denied their Super Bowl bid by Los Angeles Rams, a 20-17 overtime defeat in the NFC divisional round. The season with many highlights included the NFC North championship plus a 25-point rally to beat rival Green Bay, 31-27, (one of two wins over the rival Packers) in the Wild Card round that will be memorable of the 11-6 regular season, 12-7 overall.
“I think head coach Ben Johnson is definitely the MVP of the team, and quarterback Caleb Williams improved a lot, and he was well-coached. Last year, Williams was sacked 68 times and the offensive line was very porous and they improved it. The defense had the most takeaways in the league, and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, had guys play great, but it was more than one guy who stood out, which reminded me of the 1985 Super Bowl Champions.
“We’ve been chasing Green Bay for 25 years, when they had Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and now Jordan Love (at QB). Winning the NFC North was great,” he said.
Chicago standouts of course included Williams, running backs D’Andre Swiftand Kyle monangai, wide receivers DJ Moore and Rome Odumnze. North noted the key play of tight ends Cole Kmet
and Colston Loveland. Johnson used two tight ends in Detroit, and a lot of teams do that now.”
Defense was led by defensive end Montes Sweat, Austin Booker, linebackers Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards and secondary men Jaylon Johnson and Nashon Wright.
North spoke during Super Bowl’s promotion week, and recalled some memories of The Big Game, in fact, the day after the Bears’ 46-10 win over New England, 40 years earlier.
“I went to Super Bowl week for 16 years, spent a week there, but always watched it from home,” he recalled. “The ’85 Bears were definitely built through the draft, which is hard in this free agency time. The key is keeping the coaching staff together,” North said. “Like after the 1985 season, when they let (defensive coordinator) Buddy Ryan go. We thought that team would win two or three Super Bowls, not just one.”
North mentioned one trend that may be coming, less use of going for a first down on fourth down due to metrics.
North is happy to talk about any Chicago sports team. The Bears, winning or losing, top the Chicago sports franchises, he noted, followed by the Cubs, Bulls-Blackhawks and White Sox.
With Major League Baseball’s Spring Training soon grabbing some of the limelight with the end of the NFL season, North commented on Chicago baseball hopes.
“I like the Cubs’ signing of Alex Bregman (third base), but the Brewers still have Pat Murphy as manager. With the White Sox, we hope for development of their young players,” he said.
North, 73, lives with his wife BeBe, is in his thirty-fifth year in the sports media business. He was one of the first personalities on the sports radio station AM 670, The Score.
“Every day is a blessing,” North said. “It’s not about the money, but working hard and that will take care of itself.”
