​The 2026 NFL season will end at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., the host of Super Bowl LXI.That’s the final destination for two of the 32 NFL teams. Training camp has already started for the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals, and the rest of the NFL will follow suit next week. Of course, some teams have a more realistic shot than others. I can almost guarantee you won’t see the Miami Dolphins and Cardinals playing past Week 18, let alone on February 14 for the big game. Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr shared the 14 teams he believes have a legitimate chance to make the Super Bowl. The last three teams left off his list were the Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. Those are three teams that have plenty of talent scattered throughout each respective roster, and seeing the Chiefs not listed among the 14 teams was definitely was a surprise. “Again, I want to be as open as possible when it comes to the Chiefs in particular, as it may look like a “troll” of some kind to leave them off this list,” Orr wrote. “As I said earlier, I believe the story of the 2026 season is going to be told through versatile defensive fronts and offenses that are set up to create consistent explosive plays in the running game.”Orr’s statement about consistent explosive plays in the run game applies perfectly to the Chicago Bears and Ben Johnson’s offense. The Bears finished with the third-most runs of 10 yards or more last season (67). That’s one reason Chicago is listed as one of the 14 teams that could make the Super Bowl this season. “The Bears thrived amid the largest question that, I felt, plagued the team going into Ben Johnson’s inaugural season: Could he create explosive plays as efficiently with the Bears as he could with a star-studded Lions’ offense,” Orr wrote. “The answer was a resounding yes. Even when dependent on some rookies and a fleet of free agents, the Bears were sixth in yards per game and fifth in plays of 20 yards or more.”Orr also highlighted the Bears’ league-best plus-22 turnover margin and ability to win close games. He added a subtle dig, noting that only three of Chicago’s 11 wins came against playoff teams, including a Packers squad without Micah Parsons. “Given all of that, I still think Johnson is one of the league’s elite play-callers, who will be setting the pace for what is schematically possible this season,” Orr wrote. “Because of that, sometimes one-score wins represent less of a fluke and more of a fact that Johnson is simply calling better plays in bigger moments than other offensive play-callers.”The Johnson-Williams combination mixed with an elite running game and versatile pass catchers makes the Bears a dangerous team heading into the 2026 season. It’s the defense that still has plenty of questions and could be the reason why Chicago isn’t the NFC representative in Inglewood, Calif., for Super Bowl LXI.