The videos started to blow up on social media on Monday morning.

As Chicago Bears fans woke up and checked their phones a day after their team’s thrilling win over the Cincinnati Bengals, videos displaying different angles of a play from Sunday’s game popped up all over their feeds.

They showed a fourth-and-1 play late in the first quarter. Quarterback Caleb Williams received a snap and handed it off to rookie running back Kyle Monangai, who went to his right and picked up five yards to get the first down.

But that’s not the point of the videos. Look at what happens ahead of Monangai.

Bears right tackle Darnell Wright jumps right off the line as the ball is snapped and pushes his body toward Bengals rookie defensive end Shemar Stewart. Stewart loses his balance as soon as he’s hit. Wright controls him throughout the play and pushes him down the yard line to the ground, taking out Bears wide receiver DJ Moore along the way.

“I call him the unicorn for a reason,” Bears head coach Ben Johnson said at Halas Hall in Lake Forest earlier this week. “He does some things that are pretty extraordinary. We have to continue to highlight what he can do with or without the ball himself. He’s playing really good football right now.”

The videos were just the latest to show up on social media recently on the days after games. Over the past few four games since Wright returned from an elbow injury that kept him out of the Bears’ Week 4 win against the Las Vegas Raiders, videos have shown Wright dominating opponents and creating open rushing lanes.

For fans, the videos are signs of progress that Wright is living up to his full potential as a former top-10 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. For Wright, it’s business as usual, other than maybe that block on Stewart.

“Well, that specific block was a good block,” Wright told Shaw Local News Network. “I’ll say that was a good block. But, like some other things are just normal. I feel like I do it all the time. So whatever reason people are noticing.”

Wright might not think he’s doing anything different but the results prove otherwise. He’s had three of his top-four showings this season in three of the Bears’ last four games. Pro Football Focus awarded Wright some of his best blocking grades of his season, especially in the last two games against the Baltimore Ravens and Bengals.

He earned a 78.8 overall blocking grade, 70.7 pass blocking grade and 85.3 passing blocking grade against the Ravens in Week 8. Those numbers moved to 94.1, 95.5 and 79.7, respectively, against the Bengals. Wright went into Week 10 with an overall score of 82, the sixth-best amongst all tackles in the NFL.

The Bears have featured his strong play in the run game over the past four games. According to Next Gen Stats, a majority of the Bears’ leading rusher’s carries have been behind Wright at wide right during that time.

“He’s a tremendous, athletic kid,” Bears running backs coach Eric Bieniemy told Shaw Local News Network. “He brings a lot to the table. I think that [offensive line] coach [Dan] Roushar and [assistant offensive line] coach Kyle Devan has done an outstanding job of getting him to understand exactly what is expected of him and he’s doing a heck of a job.”

It wasn’t always like that. Roushar critiqued Wright during training camp when he said that Wright was too inconsistent up to that point. Roushar said there were moments when Wright lost focus or fatigue started to fit in, which led to that up-and-down play.

But as the Bears coaching staff learned more about Wright, they understood how he likes to be coached. Johnson started to clearly lay out what he wanted from each offensive lineman for each game, including Wright.

That helped make things click more as the season progressed.

“He makes us feel, ‘offensive line, you don’t score touchdowns, but you do play a pivotal roles,’ ” Wright said. “I think he does a good job making it clear to you, even though obviously you have to do your job, you are the pivotal piece of this play. I’m like a dog, I need a mission, I just need an assignment. So he does a good job doing that.”

Wright’s play, along with the offensive line’s, has improved since the start of the year. Williams has been sacked four times in the past three games, an improved pace after teams sacked him a team-record 68 times.

In the four games since he’s started playing with a brace to protect his elbow, Wright hasn’t allowed a sack or a quarterback hit, according to Pro Football Focus. Teams have forced three hurries against Wright and three pressures during that span.

The discipline improved too once he understood his mission each week. Wright had six penalties in the first three games of the season. He hasn’t committed one since.

Roushar credited Wright more than the coaching staff for his improvements. Wright continued to ask questions in meetings and is actively trying to get better to reach his full potential as a top right tackle in the NFL.

“It’s more so him than anybody,” Roushar told Shaw Local News Network. “I think he’s starting to see his abilities, and I think he’s gained confidence demonstrating what we’re asking him to do. So I think as he continues to do that over and over and over, we’re going to see a player that can get better and better and better. ... There’s a lot of room for him to improve, and he’s doing a lot of really good things.”

The Bears will need more of this type of Wright starting Sunday when they start the second half of the season. Chicago will try to stop a talented defensive line that features plenty of stars, headlined by linebacker Brian Burns.

“I call him the unicorn for a reason. He does some things that are pretty extraordinary. We have to continue to highlight what he can do with or without the ball himself. He’s playing really good football right now.”

—  Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears head coach

A good indicator if he continues that success will be if more of those highlights start to pop up Monday morning. While Wright’s happy fans are excited with his growth, he’s proud of himself for the level he’s reached this season.

“I think I’ve gotten consistently better each game,” Wright said. “I’m happy that people think I’ve gotten better because I think I have, so it’s good.”