Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw
If you think about every relationship you’ve ever had, they all have one thing in common — the first impression.
That applies to romantic relationships.
That applies to friendships.
That applies to coworkers.
That applies to business contacts.
It applies to everyone everywhere.
A good first impression can get your foot in the door and start a positive relationship.
A bad first impression can crush any chance of growth.
With the NFL, Week 1 is the first impression for fans of their teams.
The supporters of a team love that team, but they understand full well that every season is different and every team supplies its own first impression each year.
The Bears and Colts offered their fan bases two very different feelings after their first games of the 2026 season.
For Chicago, Coach Ben Johnson very boldly announced that he had set a goal for the Bears offense to score more points than any team in the history of the National Football League.
Well, 59 points is a heck of a start, isn’t it?
They racked up over 500 yards of offense and 26 first downs in the process of winning at Carolina.
They ran the ball. They passed the ball. Quarterback Caleb Williams passed it when he should have and ran it when he should have.
He was tremendous.
When someone makes a promise at the beginning of a relationship, and then delivers on that promise, it’s a huge confidence booster for the other half of that partnership. That confidence builds trust, and it’s trust that forms the foundation of all good relationships.
Why? Because the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.
Good or bad, what you’ve done in the past is going to define you for others moving forward.
Does it mean that the Bears will go undefeated and score a touchdown every time they get the ball? Of course not. But, just like our friendships, marriages, and partnerships, the mistakes and missteps don’t seem as bad when you know what the reputation of the person or business is.
The Bears gave us a perfect picture of what we expect them to be this season.
The Colts picture was not nearly as pretty.
The Colts offense showed up with flowers on their opening drive, cruising down the field and scoring the first time they had the ball Sunday against the Ravens.
And then they coughed on them for the next three hours without covering their mouth once.
The Colts were uncompetitive from that point forward. They fell behind by two scores pretty early in the game, which immediately shut down Indy’s running game featuring one of the premier running backs in the league.
They fell behind because Baltimore’s offense came ready to rock-and-roll at Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday, and the Colts defense looked like they had another week of preseason practice.
Baltimore ran it and threw it like the Colts were two or three defenders short of a full squad.
Remember, the Colts front office went out and made a few moves on that side of the ball. But their personnel, specifically their linebacking corps, didn’t do anything on Sunday to make you feel confident that they will improve from last weekend to this coming one.
Colts fans let the team know what they were feeling about it all. They booed, and it was a loud chorus of boos. Booing sends a message, and the Colts fans’ collective boos Sunday carried the message “we have seen this before and we are not going to put up with it anymore.”
And they are right about that.
The Colts have started the year 0-1 in 11 of the last 13 Septembers. In a 17-game season, that means your margin for error shrinks significantly. To get above .500, the Colts have to win at Kansas City this weekend and then beat the Texans at home the following week. It’s quite possible the Colts start 0-3, and if that happens, organizational changes will be necessary, and fans will be reserving time slots with their therapists.
Colts fans will have one foot out the door of their next home game if this continues, and when they stop booing it will be because they will have given up.
And when one side gives up on a relationship, it’s a relationship that needs change.
The next two games will tell us a lot about where these two relationships are headed.
