'We went out swingin': Takeaways from the Chicago Bears Divisional Round loss to the Los Angeles Rams

The Chicago Bears had nearly every stage of grief on display in their locker room postgame.

Jaquan Brisker sat at his locker, in full uniform, staring straight ahead with his hands clasped together. 

Some players were huddled together, quietly discussing specifics. Maybe there were things they could have done better here, or maybe a different thing there, to change the outcome.

Others had showered, dressed, grabbed their things and left before the locker room opened to reporters.

Everyone deals with the pain of loss in their own ways. After a season where the joy of victory presented itself in so many ways, the Bears were left with a 20-17 loss in overtime and the sting of one more loss as their season ended.

"Our guys are feeling it right now," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "They all believed, man. They all believed all year long that we could find a way to win each and every week. So it's disappointing like that. But I am proud of the group. It's a special group. I said that a few weeks ago. I believe that to my core, that when you're with a group of men for the last time in the locker room and you know it's just not going to be the same going forward."

Here are our takeaways as the Bears’ season ended with a loss to the Rams in the NFC Divisional Round.

There was no smiling because it happened, just pain because it ended

As Brisker collected his thoughts, he was asked if he could reflect on this season and eventually see the good they did.

That’s hard to do in the moment.

"No one expected us to be here," Brisker said. "We could hang our heads up high, but the losing part's tough."

Not many players were interested in moral victories. The locker room was full of players who wanted to keep playing. There was only one way this could end with happiness, and that was with a Super Bowl trophy.

"We knew we had to win four in a row to actually feel good at the end of the thing," Johnson said. "This is what happens. It ends abruptly."

Instead, the Bears were stunned. Understandably, they expected more. Winning has become the expectation in Chicago now.

When it doesn’t happen, the emotions are raw.

"Still just trying to wrap my head around it, honestly," linebacker D’Marco Jackson said. "What we had with this team, that locker room, the organization, it was all special. And I think coach Johnson and Ryan and everybody's doing an amazing job building a culture around here, the expectation of Super Bowls."

Jackson is one of the players who knows this better than anyone.

He stepped in as a starting linebacker when Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards went down with injuries, and did so again when Edwards was lost for the year last week.

There’s an expectation the Bears will succeed. That’s not something that’s permeated Halas Hall, and part of it is because of what the Bears have done and other parts of it are how the team truly believed it was going to win.

The seven comeback wins, the division title, the playoff spot and winning streaks were all facets of a season that convinced the Bears they could actually win the Super Bowl.

"We definitely feel like we were able, we were good enough to do what we need to do to get the dub," defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. "We were always ready to go out to Seattle, so nobody is…"

When Jarrett paused, the emotion sank back in.

Of all the good the Bears did this season, it won’t provide respite from the pain of Sunday’s Divisional Round loss.

"People hurtin’ today," Jarrett said.

One more insane Caleb Williams’ throw for the road

Wide receiver Rome Odunze said it last week about Williams when he made the unbelievable throw of 4th and eight to extend the game against Green Bay.

"It’s the best throw until he makes the next best throw," Odunze said.

How about a 14-yard touchdown that was anything but.

Williams, on an aborted play, tracked backwards to keep the play alive on fourth and four. This was the season with 27 seconds left in the game. He needed, at the very least, a first down.

Williams spun, avoided three Rams and backed to the Bears’ 40-yard line and let a pass fly to the end zone to tight end Cole Kmet. Touchdown. How in the world?

"Yeah, ridiculous. That's ridiculous," Johnson said. "You talk about that 4th and 8 from last week and how outstanding that was, and I think this one was probably even another level ahead of that. There's some things that you just can't coach."

According to Next Gen Stats, that pass to Kmet traveled 51.2 yards in the air. It had a completion probability of 17.8 percent.

Simply put, Williams did it again.

It wasn’t enough to win the game, but Williams has done more than enough to prove he’s got something that not many other quarterbacks have.

"It was cool in the moment," he said. "But I will say I can appreciate the organization, the city of Chicago. I can appreciate the sacrifice, the growth that we've had as a team, and I can appreciate the growth that I've had, the trust that I've built with Ben and my other teammates and things like that. Those are probably the things that I can appreciate."

This was the defense the Bears wanted all year long

The emotions on Sunday night were difficult to balance.

There was a lack of turnovers from a team that prided itself on bunches of them. The Bears led the league in takeaways and finished zero in two playoff games.

But, they came awfully close. Don’t let that overshadow the fact that the Bears’ defense, the much-maligned phase of the team that was an afterthought after the loss to the 49ers and at halftime after giving up three scores to Green Bay, was the best part of the Bears in the Divisional Round.

The Bears sacked Matthew Stafford four times. They recorded six tackles for loss. They forced two fumbles, broke up seven passes, limited Los Angeles to a 31 percent conversion rate on third downs and held the Rams to 4.4 yards per play.

A big reason for this was the way Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker and CJ Gardner-Johnson were consistently making plays near the line of scrimmage.

Gordon and Gardner-Johnson rotated at nickel cornerback. The two were sent on blitzes and were defending well in coverage. Brisker led the Bears in tackles with 14 total stops. He also made Stafford’s life difficult with blitzes.

The aggression was part of the plan.

"Be aggressive, having disciplined eyes," Jackson said. "They have a lot of movements and things like that, so we were just trying to just create pressure and keep them on their heels."

The Bears’ defense did more than that. They were the reason the Bears had a chance to win in overtime, as the unit forced a three-and-out at the start of the extra period.

This was what the Bears wanted from their defense all season long. It emerged when the Bears needed it most against one of the best offenses in the NFL.

It wasn’t enough to propel the team to the NFC title game.

"We went out swinging," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. "Just proud of the effort, proud of the group. Went toe to toe with the MVP quarterback."

What’s next

Johnson was clear that any talk about 2026 will have to wait.

"Honestly, I don't even want to talk about next year yet. There will be a time and a place for it," he said. "We're still hurting."

The Bears will have their locker room cleanout day this week, perhaps as soon as Monday morning.

That’s when some of the harder questions come. Players on expiring contracts, like Braxton Jones, Jaquan Brisker, Nahshon Wright and more, will get a chance to talk about what they want their futures to look like.

Some will give us an update on where they are health-wise and how they’re approaching the offseason at hand.

It’s the official start of the offseason. We’ll soon start with reflections on the season that was.

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