BOBBY POSS WAS fuming. The A.C. Reynolds Excessive College Rockets had been up large at halftime, however the former varsity soccer coach on the Asheville, North Carolina, powerhouse sensed a letdown could possibly be coming.
“Someone get me a cellphone e book!” Poss yelled.
Certainly one of his assistant coaches retrieved the weighty listing from Poss’ workplace, and gamers gathered round their head coach, confused however intrigued.
“I checked out them, I’m going, ‘I do not assume you actually need to play arduous,'” Poss recalled. “‘I do not assume you need to exit within the second half and play such as you did within the first half. I believe you all are prepared to simply chill.’ I stated, ‘We’re not going to relax out.'”
With out hesitation, Poss ripped the backbone of the phone book in half because the locker room erupted. The Rockets gained that recreation handily.
Poss, 75, jokes that he cannot keep in mind his golf rating from the day earlier than, not to mention which group A.C. Reynolds beat and by how a lot after his cellphone e book stunt. However Poss’ motivational techniques made an influence, together with on his quarterback, Ben Johnson.
One other of Poss’ galvanizing techniques was a postgame chant the Rockets yelled after each win.
Good, higher, finest!
By no means let it relaxation
Until your good will get higher
And your higher will get finest
BIG. GREEN. MACHINE.
Quick ahead to 2025 and Johnson is teaching one of many NFL’s shock success tales. The Chicago Bears have gained 11 video games this season, and after every victory, Johnson arms out recreation balls after which performs an homage to his highschool coach.
Good, higher, finest!
By no means let it relaxation
Until your good will get higher
And your higher will get finest
Bears on 3 … 1, 2, 3, BEARS!
“I keep in mind being in that locker room, and that was simply the rallying cry at the moment,” Johnson stated. “And I believe there’s one thing to be stated when a bunch of males, they’re all believing the identical factor, they’re saying the identical factor.
“It is one heartbeat, one voice, and I believe our guys have loved it.”
If the Bears are chanting “Good, higher, finest!” on Saturday night time, it means they’ve notched their first playoff win since Jan. 16, 2011. The Bears (11-6) host the Inexperienced Bay Packers (9-7-1) within the wild-card spherical (8 ET, Prime Video). The Packers are 1.5-point favorites.
“It is one thing that caught fireplace inside us in our locker room, and I adore it,” quarterback Caleb Williams stated. “I am all the time proper there like somewhat child up there within the entrance of the classroom simply able to frickin’ increase my hand.”
POSS FIRST LEARNED the “Good, higher, finest!” chant when he was the dean at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp within the early Nineteen Nineties. Greater than 900 boys from throughout the Southeast got here to the nationwide convention in Black Mountain, North Carolina, the place Richard Bell, a former South Carolina head coach, was the visitor speaker.
“I stated, ‘Hey, Richard, you might want to actually deliver it tonight,'” Poss stated. “‘I would like you to get this bunch fired up.'”
Bell knew simply the mantra to unleash throughout the meeting. “Good, higher, finest!” was so impactful it caught with Poss.
When Poss reached A.C. Reynolds in 1994 and discovered the varsity did not have a struggle music, he kicked off a brand new custom for the Rockets with a chant that was handed down from one coach to a different.
A younger Johnson, whose father Don was on Poss’ employees, was the water boy for the Rockets. By the point he was the varsity backup quarterback as a sophomore, “Good, higher, finest!” was a well-known motto.
Chase Rice was a star linebacker and co-captain for the Rockets alongside Johnson. As a freshman, he could not wait to make the varsity squad to do the “Good, higher, finest!” chant.
“You knew you earned it,” Rice stated. “You knew that it was coming. It is only a factor on the finish of the sport like, yep, we did our job. We did what we had been presupposed to do.
“And also you get excited.'”
Rice is at the moment a profitable nation music singer who has toured throughout america. He roomed with Johnson after they performed on the College of North Carolina, and the 2 stay shut mates and would see one another every time Rice’s band was on the town.
Final summer time, Rice performed at The Salt Shed on Chicago’s north aspect. Johnson and his spouse, Jessica, frolicked with the singer earlier than he took the stage and witnessed the band’s pre-show ritual.
The Bears coach smiled.
For the previous 13 years, earlier than Rice and his band took the stage, the group gathered for a three-minute chant that began with “Good, higher, finest!”
Little did Rice know that months later, Johnson had a plan to introduce his group to the rallying cry that meant a lot to each of them.
Following a 38-0 preseason win over the Buffalo Payments on Aug. 17, Johnson gathered his group contained in the locker room at Soldier Subject.
He instructed gamers to repeat after him.
Good, higher, finest!
By no means let it relaxation
Until your good will get higher
And your higher will get finest
“It was type of tacky somewhat bit, to be sincere,'” security Kevin Byard III stated. “The primary time it was type of like, ‘What’s he doing? Like, what is that this?’
“After some time, it was like we simply type of purchased in. It is simply enjoyable.”
AHEAD OF THE playoffs, the Bears commissioned Grammy Award-winning artist and Chicago native Widespread to relate a hype video across the group’s slogan. Widespread weaved in traces reminiscent of:
“Good is popping 5 [wins] into 11
higher is popping the D-linemen into pancakes
finest is but to come back”
The Bears’ official web site sells shirts and sweatshirts that includes the slogan, they usually have been worn by gamers, coaches and assist employees all through the season.
The very best is but to come back. 🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/LE3q4saKIK
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 8, 2026
One other manner the group engages its followers is by posting movies on social media from its locker room after wins. And there have been viral moments.
On Nov. 29, the Bears went into Philadelphia and defeated the defending Tremendous Bowl champion Eagles 24-15. It was Chicago’s fifth win in a row and marked the longest win streak of the season. It legitimized the Bears as playoff contenders.
“I do know you guys are hungry for extra, proper?” Johnson requested his gamers as he slowly paced forwards and backwards within the locker room. “Let me inform you one thing, town of Chicago is hungry, too.”
After eight seconds of suspense, Johnson flung his shirt off and the guests locker room inside Lincoln Monetary Subject erupted. What adopted was a raucous rendition of “Good, higher, finest!” with a shirtless Johnson.
The Bears are the primary group in NFL historical past to win six video games in a season whereas trailing within the last 2:00 of the fourth quarter. For some, “Good, higher, finest!” tends to hit somewhat more durable after these come-from-behind wins. Johnson has been seen strolling into the locker room after a few of these wins with the strict look of somebody able to deal with the right way to get higher fairly than to have a good time.
“It is who [Johnson] is,” defensive finish Montez Sweat stated. “He is by no means happy. He all the time desires to get higher every week, and simply telling you that the nice isn’t ok. It is acquired to get higher.”
And whereas the Bears escape “Good, higher, finest!” solely after wins, its message has additionally resonated after losses.
“I believe that is type of the mantra of that complete deal, and guys have actually embodied that, you realize?” tight finish Cole Kmet stated. “I believe we have now all been capable of put our egos apart come Monday morning or Tuesday and be capable to take a look at the movie with a essential eye and get higher from it.”
GOOD. BETTER. BEST. pic.twitter.com/IeLAKvyf9T
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 2, 2025
Poss acknowledges the teenage quarterback who helped him win his second state championship in 2002 within the locker room movies that get despatched to him after each win. He sees a lot of himself within the 39-year-old coach as a result of he is aware of the place that keenness was cultivated.
“When he yells ‘Good, higher, finest!’ to the gamers, you may inform it is deep down inside, he is bringing it from inside,” Poss stated. “And that is Ben’s emotional outburst proper there. He stays all certain up throughout the ball recreation.
“He is letting all of it go simply as a lot as anyone else proper there. When he lets out ‘Good, higher, finest!,’ the veins in his neck are protruding. His emotion is ripping. And that is about as large an emotion you will get out of Ben Johnson proper there in that locker room when he will get that ‘Good, higher, finest!’ chant going.”
There’s only one different factor Poss desires to see.
“I simply need to problem Ben to see if he can take it to the next degree and tear a cellphone e book in half,” Poss stated. “I stated he can take his shirt off, however I need to see him tear a cellphone e book.”
If Johnson can one way or the other lead the Bears to their first Tremendous Bowl title because the 1985 season, something is feasible.
