Bears coach Ben Johnson, QB Caleb Williams rated by Sun-Times voters

Midterm grades are here!

Some of us just got the shakes. Bad, bad memories.

In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on the social platform X, we asked you to grade Bears coach Ben Johnson on the first “half” (eight games out of 17) of his debut season.

Given the Bears’ 5-3 record, it’s no surprise the marks were quite good.

“To glue together so many changes on offense and turn that into a strength, and with the amount of improvement on in-game decisions — schedule be damned — it’s an ‘A’ from me,” @Bearlissimo1 commented.

But @63champs pumped the breaks, writing, “The Bears have not beaten anybody good. That’s just a fact.”

Next, we asked if Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is in the top half or the bottom half among NFL starters.

“Middle of the pack, but with a bullet,” @RonaldVoigt4 wrote.

“Caleb is still a work in progress,” @JeffreyCanalia observed. “Have some patience.”

Last, we asked for the winner of Sunday’s Bears-Giants game at Soldier Field. The Giants are 2-7. You can probably guess how the vote turned out pretty accurately.

On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Bears coach Ben Johnson is off to a 5-3 start in his first season, which is just about half over. What midterm grads are you giving him?

Upshot: Of course, Johnson hasn’t faced the Packers yet. Those games are what’s known as final exams.

Poll No. 2: Would you rank the Bears’ Caleb Williams in the upper half or the lower half among NFL starting quarterbacks?

Upshot: The middle? That means 16th or 17th, right in there. In Bears World, that’s called major progress.

Poll No. 3: The 5-3 Bears host the 2-7 Giants Sunday at Soldier Field. What’s your pick?

Upshot: Beating a bad opponent won’t prove anything. Losing to one, on the other hand, would be damning. Ah, but what are we even worrying about? Totally not gonna happen. Ahem.