The Chicago Bears have proven a lot this season. After being doubted early on for their last-second wins and poor opponents, the Bears have shown they can hang with the best the NFC has to offer as the regular season comes to a close.
Sunday night provided more evidence that was the case, as Caleb Williams turned in arguably the best game of his careerin a 42-38 lossto Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers. With time winding down, Williams nearly led yet another game-winning drive, coming up just short on a pass to the end zone as time expired.
It was a disappointing result, but Williams andthe Bears' offense can still hold their heads highafter dropping 38 points.
The defense, however, can't say the same thing. After the loss, safety Jaquan Brisker shouldered the blame, saying the defense "let the offense down" in the shootout, per ESPN.
"We let the offense down," Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said. "I'm going to say it. We let the offense down, period. I feel like Caleb and them, they gave us enough points to do what we had to do to win. The defense didn't."
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It didn't look like that would be the case early, as the Bears picked off Purdy on the first play of the game and ran it back for an early touchdown. After that, Purdy diced up the Bears' defense, completing 24 of 33 attempts for 303 yards and three passing touchdowns. Purdy also added two rushing touchdowns, giving him five scores on the day.
While Bears coach Ben Johnson didn't take things as far as Brisker after the game, Johnson admitted the Bears' defense didn't do enough to "affect" Purdy in the pocket. The Bears registered just one sack in the contest, and rarely disrupted Purdy's rhythm and timing on pass plays. Though the Bears' defense forced two punts — something no other defense has done against the 49ers in December — giving up 42 points proved to be too much for the Bears' offense to match.
But it nearly got the job done. After a slow start, which saw the Bears go three-and-out on their first two drives, Williams put points on the board in five of the team's last seven drives. In doing so, he looked like the franchise quarterback Bears fans have been dreaming of since the days of Sid Luckman. Williams connected on multiple high-level throws in the contest, with two long touchdowns to rookies Luther Burden and Colston Loveland — both of whom also turned in standout performances — and a handful of accurate, chunk gains to keep the chains moving when the Bears needed it the most.
Williams finished the contest 25 of 42, throwing for 330 yards and two scores in the loss. He nearly had a third touchdown as time ran out, but a possible game-winning pass fell short of wideout Jahdae Walker in the end zone on the game's final play.
Williams took responsibility for the miss, saying he "can't dirt the ball" in that situation. Though the Bears lost, Williams said the game proved the Bears are "a team to be reckoned with" ahead of its first playoff appearance since 2020.
If Williams can continue to play the way he did Sunday night, his statement could be proven right. As the regular season comes to a close, Williams appears to be trending in the right direction with the playoffs looming.
The Bears' defense, on the other hand, needs to find a way to regroup over the next couple weeks. For as well as Williams and the offense performed Sunday night, giving up 42 points in a game is rarely going to result in a win and the opponents are going to get only more difficult in the postseason.
