Windy City Gridiron
The NFL season is an evolving state of affairs, and the final week of the 2025 season finds your Chicago Bears firmly atop the NFC North and locked in to the #2 seed in the NFC with a win. This week, Chicago hosts the defending NFC North champion Detroit Lions in a rematch of their week 2 battle in Detroit when the Lions won 52-21. The worst loss of the season by far for the Bears and one that former Lions Offensive Coordinator and current Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson would like to amend for more reasons than one.
In this weekly series, I’ll be featuring one player from each team on each side of the ball who I believe to be integral to their respective team’s success. It’s not always about the quarterback or superstar defensive players like Myles Garrett or Aidan Hutchinson. Importance is all relative, and while the “star” players are obviously important each week, this series will also highlight some of the other guys.
Because let’s face it, often, the unsung players are just as critical to the team’s success.
Here are the players that I will be keyed in on in this one.
In there first meeting, the rookie from Missouri had 2 targets with one reception and 5 total yards. Speaking of rookies, Loveland had 0 catches on 1 target, Monangai had 7 carries for 28 yards and Ozzy Trapilo didn’t even play. All four players will see significant time and continue to play significant roles on this Bears Offense, but it is Burden III who I expect to make the biggest impact. Not only is he coming off his best game as a pro in primetime this past week, but he once again will be filling the shoes of Rome Odunze in this one. Rome had 7 catches on 11(!) targets for 128 yards and 2 TD, which was Rome’s best game of his season. With the run game figuring to be paramount against a Lions squad with injuries all across their defense, I fully expect both former Lion D’Andre Swift and the aforementioned Monangai to set the tone early in this one, which should open up the play-action pass for the offense and the Mizzou rookie. If Burden III can build off his career performance last week, this one could get out of hand quick in Chicago.
Though not a rookie like Burden, Monangai, Loveland and Trapilo, CJGJ didn’t play a single snap against the Lions in week 2 either. The 7th year veteran, and former Lion was not yet on the Bears until week 9 of this season but has immediately made his impact felt. Especially with the loss of starting NB Kyler Gordon. This week against Detroit, CJGJ will have his hands full. In the run game, he will be tasked with tracking down speedster Jahmyr Gibbs and taking down bruiser...
