The final week of the NFL regular season and the Chicago Bears are playing for playoff seeding.

This seemed impossible one year ago, when they limped into week 18 against the Green Bay Packers on a 10-game losing streak.

But that upset left a good taste in fans’ mouths. Caleb Williams said, “And there’s a lot more coming.” He wasn’t wrong.

The calendar year 2025 was good to the Bears, and now it’s about continuing that momentum into 2026.

Chicago won 14 games under Matt Eberflus, 15 if you throw Thomas Brown’s interim tenure on there. Ben Johnson has a...

Note: Due to unforeseen New Years plans, play reviews won’t be done this week. I will be doing a deep dive into play reviews next week to make up for the lack of them the last two weeks!

First and foremost: Happy New Years to all of you Windy City Gridiron faithful! I hope 2026 brings you all the happiness and blessings you deserve!

I don’t think any Bears loss has made me feel as inspired as the loss we had on Sunday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers last week.

That’s a weird thing to say, thinking about...

The Chicago Bears (11-5) and Detroit Lions (8-8) close out the regular season on Sunday, and the Bears need a win to ensure the #2 seed in the NFC. They could still clinch the two if the Eagles lose, but head coach Ben Johnson and the Bears aren’t taking a passive approach, and they’ll go for the Dub.

On our latest special New Year’s Day edition of Bear Bones, Dr. Mason West is joined by Danny Meehan to preview the game, while touching on all the injuries from each team, some specific game matchups, key players, and so much more!...

1. Maybe it’s just the holiday falling midweek this year, but this extra week of the NFL season feels especially annoying right now. True, there are three winner-take-all division matchups to account for, but most of the slate, including Bears-Lions, doesn’t mean anything anymore. In fact, the Eagles care so little about increasing their seeding that they’re starting Tanner McKee against the Commanders. Just skip to the playoffs already!

2. The Eagles are trying to make sure the people get what they want, by the way. If they lose to the Commanders, it doesn’t matter what happens in the Bears-Lions...

The Bears are rolling, and much has been made about how the offense has taken a massive step forward. It’s hard to look at this success without acknowledging the contributions of their rookie class.

For your review:

• Round 1, Pick 10: TE Colston Loveland | 48 receptions, 622 yards, 5 TDs
• Round 2, Pick 39: WR Luther Burden | 44 receptions, 617 yards, 2 TDs
• Round 2, Pick 56: OT Ozzy Trapilo | 14 G, 6 Starts, Current starting LT
• Round 2, Pick 62: DT Shemar Turner | 5 G, 6 tackles, 2 TFL (Season endling...

THE DAILY SPONGIE SPECIAL

BEARSSSSSS

**Roster Moves: Chicago Bears place Noah Sewell on IR – ChicagoBears.com **Activated the following player from Practice Squad/Injured Reserve, Restored to Practice Squad: TE Nikola Kalinic

Bears seeking to secure No. 2 seed, create momentum in finale – ChicagoBears.com “We’re constantly improving; that’s the goal at least,” Johnson said. “We want to continue to get better. We’ve got a lot of young players where each week you do see growth. We’re going to stay true to our process throughout this thing. This is the next one.”

**[The Eagles have just gifted the NFC’s No. 2...

On Wednesday, the Chicago Bears placed linebacker Noah Sewell on injured reserve with the Achilles injury he sustained in Sunday’s game against the 49ers.

In 13 games (9 starts), the 23-year-old Sewell had 59 tackles, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. He played 409 snaps on defense and another 157 on special teams, where he made five tackles.

Chicago now has five linebackers on the 53-man roster: Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards, Ruben Hyppolite II, D’Marco Jackson, and Amen Ogbongbemiga, with two more on the 16-man practice squad: Ty Summers and Dominique Hampton.

Speaking of the practice squad, the...

Welcome to the latest episode of Bears Over Beers! This week, join our hosts Ryan Droste and Bryan Orenchuk as they as they get you ready for week 18 of the 2025 Chicago Bears season!

Join the Bears Over Beers crew as they start their New Years Eve right, talking Chicago Bears! We discuss the loss to the 49ers, look ahead to the Detroit Lions this Sunday, and of course the NFL Playoffs. Plus, some fun side conversations on New Years Eve and beyond.

Come hang out with us on our 2nd City Gridiron YouTube channel and get in on...

As the Chicago Bears prepare for their final regular season game of the year against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, the first official team injury reports for week 18 have been released.

The Bears had a walk-thru practice on Wednesday, so player participation listed on the injury report is an estimation. Just two players were listed as DNP (did not practice): DL Joe Tryon-Shoyinka (concussion) and WR Rome Odunze (foot).

Listed as limited were DB Josh Blackwell (shoulder), WR Luther Burden III (quad), DB Nick McCloud (illness), and OL Ozzy Trapilo (knee/quad). WR Olamide Zaccheaus (illness) was a full participant....

Welcome back to STEP Differential. STEP stands for Sack + Turnover(x2) + Explosive Play Differential. Make sure you’re flipping through pages 2-5 to see everything broken out by component and the overall performance of the STEP Differential in individual games. Infogram below:

Nearing the final results for 2025 and there’s plenty to like in the STEP Differential. The Falcons are going to end with a big positive number but miss the playoffs. They did, however, just beat the top STEP Differential team in the Rams on Monday Night Football to muck up a whole lot of stuff. The Falcons could...

The Bears have struggled significantly with generating pressure with their four-man rush in 2025. Just about anybody who’s watched them over the course of the season could tell you that.

Heading into Week 17 of the 2025 season, Chicago had generated the second-fewest pressures of any team in the NFL. They’ve paid top dollar for the defensive end tandem of Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. This offseason, they also shelled out big money to defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and used a second-round pick on Shemar Turner for the interior.

However, Odeyingbo was a disappearing act before going down for the...

Last year at this time, I was breaking down seven sacks that the Chicago Bears allowed to the Seattle Seahawks, which was the third time that I had to break down a seven-sack game in 2024. That wasn’t even Chicago’s worst pass protection performance, because in Week 10, they allowed nine sacks to the New England Patriots.

Caleb Williams was sacked in every game last season, leading to a franchise worst 68, but this year he’s only been sacked 23 times with one game to go.

On Sunday night in San Francisco, the Bears didn’t allow a sack for a...