It's a good thing for the Chicago Bears that ugly wins count all the same as dominant wins. Their undeserved Week 9 win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday was about as ugly as it gets, and some fans and NFL analysts may be tempted to see it as a sign of worse things to come. The Bears finally got exposed by a good defense, so the doubters say, and others will simply duplicate that formula.

First of all, that's not going to happen. Not every team has a defensive genius like Todd Bowles calling the plays, or a game-wrecking defensive tackle like Vita Vea. You can also bet your bottom dollar that Caleb Williams' career-worst four picks in that game won't be repeated any time soon.

Second, head coach Ben Johnson received a message earlier this week that should resonate throughout the Bears' locker room and even the fanbase. While speaking to NFL analyst Danny Parkins on the First Things First sports show, Johnson said that his dad shared a quote with him after they beat the Bucs: 'Only mediocre people can be at their best all the time.'

The Bears weren't built for mediocrity

There's a quiet brilliance in that quote that takes a moment to reveal itself. What Johnson's dad is really saying is that those who chase greatness will routinely fall short while those who are comfortable with mediocrity can coast along without much effort. That's what we saw on Sunday night from the Bears, or Caleb Williams in particular. Williams was chasing greatness, as he has before, but this time he failed. It's going to happen, and he's going to bounce back.

This message harkens back to arguably the most famous quote from the greatest athlete in Chicago sports history (for now), Michael Jordan, who said, "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

As a matter of fact, Caleb Williams referenced this Michael Jordan quote after last year's Week 14 loss to the Green Bay Packers, when he had a chance to throw a go-ahead touchdown but threw an interception instead. Two weeks later, Williams responded by throwing an iconic game-winning touchdown to DJ Moore to beat the Packers in overtime.

This team was not built for mediocrity. General manager Ryan Poles could have played it safe in the past and drafted a different quarterback, one who didn't occasionally trust his arm too much. He could have hired a merely competent head coach, one who didn't take so many gambles on fourth-down. But he didn't. Poles pushed all his chips into the center of the table, betting on ambitious men to chase greatness, chase perfection even, and one day achieve it.

The Bottom Line

Sunday was a bad game for Williams and the Bears' offense, no doubt about it. And while fans never want to see bad games from their quarterbacks, it's going to happen. Even seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady has six four-interception games to his name. Falling flat on your face goes hand in hand with the pursuit of greatness.

That's the message that Ben Johnson's dad wanted to convey to him, and it's something that the entire team can take to heart. It's okay to fail on their quest for a Super Bowl title, especially if their failures still end up in the win column. That's the mark of a truly great team, and now it's on them to come back in Week 11 after their bye week and prove to the world that there is no formula to beating the Bears. You can only hope they'll beat themselves.