Windy City Gridiron
The dream of a season for the Chicago Bears carried on another week with their toughest test on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams. For many fans, basking in the glory of one of the most impressive comeback wins in recent memory was enough to get them through the week and into Divisional Round Weekend. In many ways, the stories wrote themselves. After finding themselves down 21-3 heading into the half last Saturday night, the Bears dramatically staged another improbable comeback with a 25-point fourth quarter performance. The headlines grabbed from that game (and the events following it) were enough to give the NFL world plenty of ammo throughout the week.
No matter how last weekend went and who they beat, the need to turn the page was apparent once the team returned to practice. For as exciting as this season has been, the job was far from done in the divisional round with quite possibly their toughest test of the season. Much like every game in the playoffs, both teams faced a win-or-go-home scenario. Unfortunately for the Bears, it was their time to go home, after a late-game comeback wasn’t completed in overtime in a 20-17 loss at Soldier Field. For as incredible as the season has been, the minor details in a very winnable game simply were not there. Their lack of experience showed, and they once again lost the turnover battle.
Regardless of how disappointing the end of the season might feel in the moment, there’s plenty of reason for optimism moving forward. For more on this game and what’s to come, let’s jump into another postseason edition of 10 Bears Takes.
If you’ve been following this team all year, you’re probably used to them going into the half down on the scoreboard. On Sunday evening, the game started with an impressive offensive drive, but ended in a fourth-down interception. A few plays earlier, second-year receiver Rome Odunze dropped a wide-open pass over the middle that would have resulted in the touchdown. Instead, it went for no points and led to an 85-yard touchdown drive from the Rams’ offense.
The old familiar feeling of being down early in the game came back, but the way the Bears responded on both sides of the ball felt different. On the next offensive drive, Chicago went down the field on a 12-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a Caleb Williams’ three-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore in the back of the endzone. Once the Bears got on the scoreboard, the defense tightened up. Over Los Angeles’ next three drives, they totaled just 16 yards on 13 plays. That included three sacks on Stafford and plenty of incompletions.
Although I’m not sure I would classify the Bears’ start as “hot”, they kept themselves in the game heading into the second half, where historically, they’ve been...
