After watching the painful unraveling of Matt Eberflus’ tenure with the Chicago Bears over the last three years, it’s hard to go anywhere but up with Ben Johnson now running the show. Apparently, ESPN thinks so, too.

The Worldwide Leader’s preseason rankings of NFL coaching staffs puts the Bears at 22 out of 32 teams, which is a step up from their 25th-place position last year under Eberflus.

Being at the top of the bottom 10 might not seem like much to write home about for the Bears. But when you take a closer look at the reasoning for putting them there, it actually reads more like a compliment than anything.

“I would usually hesitate to stick a first-time head coach this high,” writes Ben Solak, “but I can’t look you in the face and say, ‘I’d rather have the Cardinals or Panthers

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