Heading into their bye, the Bears view what happened Sunday night as reaching a new level of play following the 27-24 win over Tampa Bay.

This isn't to mock them, which would be easy after a victory so tainted. Rather, coach Ben Johnson sees what happened as a type of natural progression. The bye week now lets them reset to tweak issues from the second half of the win, or simply to get players back healthy and they feel they have been through about everything as a team.

"I think that's the next evolution of this team, not just that we win but the manner in which we play," Johnson said. "So, we've got to continue that."

The Bears dominated early, controlled play but then squandered everything they'd built through a series of turnovers before finding a way to win in the end. It was a different scenario than anything they had previously done this year or last year.

The final turnover allowing for the tie wasn't really a mistake as much as a mishap. Luther Burden III didn't lose the ball as much as he lost consciousness from a hit and released the ball. After the defense had fought to keep the lead for that long, giving it away at their own 17 was one final flaw they couldn't cover. The entire process only showed the team that they can't let teams back in games when they have chances to put it away.

Lesson learned and where they go next

It was a win teaching a lesson without the cost of a damaging loss in the NFC North standings. It left room to improve with a free lesson learned.

“One hundred percent, 100%, because a lot of guys know it's a lot of meat on the bone," safety Cam Lewis said.

Ultimately, they did show they still know how to turn on the last-drive magic Caleb Williams displayed last year.

"I think it's unique because we haven't been in that situation a lot this year," Johnson said, thinking back to seven game-winning drives last season. "And I hate to keep drawing back to last year, but maybe it's that confidence from a lot of those familiar faces still being a part of this team that we're going to be at our best when the pressure is the highest. And it just felt like we were back on the bike, and we were riding that bike again."

The next step by Johnson's way of thinking, and the players, is to play consistently like they did against Seattle and New England.

"We've got some time now," Johnson added. "I think there's a great opportunity at hand just to look at these first nine games and come away with what we're doing well and what we can lean on going into the last stretch of the season and certainly some areas of improvement that we need to get better at moving forward.

"This will be a fun dive over the next few days as a (coaching) staff just to make sure that we're aligned properly to get better here.”

The evolution of the Bears doesn't call for revisiting what they went through Sunday or even worse, with something similar ending in a defeat.

The real next step for the Bears after hitting a mile marker by surviving a scare is winning over divisional teams, because the NFC North teams have been their remaining problem. They don't get to take that step up until Thanksgiving in Detroit.

By then, the entire NFC North picture could look much different than it does now, with the Bears in first place and other teams scrambling to solve problems through trades.