The Chicago Bears closed out the season with a fun upset of the rival Green Bay Packers.
And as hallow as that victory was (with Jordan Love sitting out most of it and the fact that the Packers didn’t have a ton on the line and the Bears had four wins coming in). It was nonetheless worthy of celebrating.
The Bears tried to be their worst version of themselves at different points in the game. But they overcame their worst tendencies and sprinkled in some ‘pull-out-all-the-stops’ plays to get the win.
So before we head off in to the long offseason and the coaching search and everything else, let’s relive one final victory.
Stock up
Cairo Santos, K – It was so fun to see Santos get redemption. After his potential game-winning kick was blocked at Soldier Field, it was fitting that the Bears were able to get him back to that position. And I think it’s telling that he wanted to be that position. He’s a competitor. Good for him.
Caleb Williams, QB – Say what you want. He took a ton of bad sacks this year. He wasn’t the best rookie QB in the class. Whatever else. Sunday was the payoff for all of the times earlier this season that Caleb put the team in a position to win only be let down by coaching, the defense, special teams, whatever. He was money when he had to be and even when other factors were fighting against the team (DJ Moore’s fumble, the illegal shift, a near-sack) he fought and set them up for the win. Oh and he set it up by recognizing what the defense was doing and communicating with Moore to make sure they could execute. He played QB in the biggest moment of the game.
Kevin Byard, S – Maybe because this season was such a lost cause, we haven’t talked about Byard much. But he was one of the better signings of Ryan Poles’ tenure and probably the best signing of last offseason (or right up there with D’Andre Swift). His sack-fumble on Malik Willis was a huge play. He finished the game 14 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF and 1 QB hit.
Stock down
Thomas Brown, HC – His audition really didn’t go how he wanted, but somehow the overall operation seemed worse. There were still some questionable time management things and head-scratching decisions. Two sequences on Sunday come to mind; their attempt to go for two, the Packers get called for a hold, but then they elect to kick a field goal to go up two. And earlier when the Packers burned a timeout (or maybe there was a stoppage, I can’t remember) but then the Bears immediately had to call a timeout because the play clock almost expired.
Tremaine Edmunds, LB – The splash plays are just too few and far between with him. He gets a lot of tackles, but there were large parts of the game on Sunday where I didn’t even notice him on the field.
Rome Odunze, WR – I still think his future is bright and overall that he had a better rookie season than some want to admit, but he was not part of the game plan in the final two games. He had just three catches for 33 yards against Green Bay and Seattle. I know the offense was a mess. And I know that most of the play calls were screens and passes behind the line of scrimmage, but still, not sure how he wasn’t involved more. His 15-yard catch on the final drive was huge though.
Who is on your up and down list this week? Who are you excited to see more of in 2025?