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The Chicago Bears ended their magical 2025 season on Sunday night in Soldier Field. Chicago lost an overtime thriller with Los Angeles, falling 20-17 in head coach Ben Johnson’s first playoff loss with the Bears. Now the Rams will advance to the NFC Championship and the Bears will be left thinking about what could have been.
Give the Bears credit for going toe to toe with the Rams for more than 60 minutes. Caleb Williams deserves credit for getting the team to overtime. He completed a miraculous touchdown pass to Cole Kmet in the final seconds of regulation.
Unfortunately, Chicago still fell short in overtime.
“Our guys are feeling it right now,” Johnson said after the game, per the Associated Press. “They all believed, man. They all believed that we could find a way to win each and every week. And so it’s disappointing like that. I’m proud of the group. It’s a special group.”
So what went wrong for the Bears on Sunday? And who is most to blame for blowing the team’s shot at making the NFC Championship?
Below we will explore the Bears who are most to blame for the team’s crushing Divisional Round loss to the Rams.
Williams can be a stressful quarterback to watch because of his chaotic playing style. Both the highs and lows were on full display last night.
Don’t get me wrong, Williams did make some incredible plays. His fadeaway jumper to Kmet is the most obvious example. But Williams also made several other key plays to keep the Bears in the game.
However, the second-year quarterback also made some key mistakes that held the Bears back.
Williams ended the game 23-of-42 for 257 passing yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Those turnovers ended up making the difference in the outcome of this game.
The worst of the bunch was Caleb’s overtime interception that took away Chicago’s chance to kick a game-winning field goal.
Ultimately, Williams gave a very measured response to his mistake-riddled performance after the game.
“In these moments you feel that you let your team down, you feel this and that,” Williams said. “It’s a good lesson learned for us, first time being in this situation for me and for us as a team. I’m excited for what’s to come, but obviously going to go back and watch this and see how I can be better.”
It is good to see that Williams does look like the answer at quarterback for the Bears. But that doesn’t remove the frustration of the Bears blowing yesterday’s huge playoff game.
Chicago’s pass catchers could have done more to help Williams out throughout the game.
Some of their drops may not appear like that on the stat sheet. But in the NFL, especially during the playoffs, receivers need to come down with the ball if it hits them...
