Bear & Balanced: The Chicago Bears Will Be Back

Like most fans, I wasn’t ready for the Chicago Bears’ season to come to an end.

This has been an incredibly fun ride full of ups and downs, and the Divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams provided more of the same.

Watching the replay today stung because there were so many missed opportunities for the Bears in that game.

They were right there, and while hindsight needs context, and isn’t always a fair indication when playing the What If game, there were some unfortunate drops, mistakes, and questionable decisions that the Bears will need to study and learn from this offseason.

A lot of Chicago fans are comparing this Bears season to the Cubs’ 2015 season, when manager Joe Maddon, in his first year in Chicago, led them to 97 wins and the playoffs, but had a disappointing end. Many felt the Cubs were a year early that season, and we all know what happened in 2016.

For a Bears parallel, this season felt like 1984 or 2005, with the Bears falling short of their ultimate goal before reaching the Super Bowl the following year.

I know there are no guarantees that the Bears can get back to the postseason, but with Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams just beginning their partnership, Chicago’s championship window is wide open.

Join JB and me live for our latest Bear & Balanced at 6:00 p.m. CT in the embed right here, or head over to our YouTube channel to join in on the show.

Podcast version right here:

Here’s our usual bullet point outline of Bear & Balanced.

• Intro: We’ll both share some general thoughts about the game.
• Trench Tribute: This is our weekly pick for the best Bears lineman.
• Caught up in a numbers game: This segment features one number or statistic from the game that we found interesting.
• Sweet Tweets: We’re both active on social media — so be sure you’re all following us at @gridironborn & @wiltfongjr — and we highlight one Twitter interaction/Tweet each week. We’re both on Bluesky here and here as well.
• The Caleb Corner: We talk about quarterback Caleb Williams before we take our commercial break.
• The 3 Bears: You all know the story of the Three Bears, don’t you? In this porridge-themed portion of the show, we give our picks for the Bear that was hot, the Bear that was cold, and the Bear that was just right in the game against the Rams.

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