Just like the Bears started the regular season, they ended it with two straight losses. Still, they will host their first playoff game at No. 2 Saturday night for the first time since 2018, against the Green Bay Packers, with a different feeling, as if they have something to prove, knowing the performance they gave on Sunday was a letdown. 

Chicago’s 19-16 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday in the regular season finale was the fewest points scored this season, tied with their loss in Baltimore in week 8. The Bears finish the regular season 11-6, their best since 2018, but with a 2-4 record in the NFC North and swept by the Lions. 

Despite the loss, Chicago held on to the No. 2 seed after the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Washington Commanders 24-17, and will now face Green Bay for the third time this season. 

The loss was a dejected one, as Chicago was held scoreless until the fourth quarter, scoring 16 in the final period. From coach Ben Johnson to Caleb Williams and the entire Bears roster, a feeling of disappointment for not walking away with a regular-season finale win, but instead two last-second moment losses. 

“We can’t dig ourselves in a hole like that, and I was disappointed with the offense as a whole, let those guys know that, and we will be better for it,” Johnson said. “We’ll address it. We’ll get those things cleaned up.” 

Since week 13, Chicago has averaged just eight points in the first half, and twice, against the Packers, has scored three and zero points. 

Johnson group has been reliant on the fourth quarter, where they have scored a league-best 148 points and have had the NFL’s most six comeback wins in the final two minutes. 

It is worth noting that when Chicago started the season, 0-2, they bounced back to win four straight, but Johnson said that at the beginning of the season, the team was racing to improve and find themselves, and now three and a half months later, playing an opponent whom they know very well should have the team motivated knowing what is at stake on a short week. 

While those performances have shaped Chicago’s identity this season, the playoffs are different, offering teams a chance to approach a win-or-go-home scenario with a different mindset. 

Getting back to 1-0

Slow offensive starts and the defense giving up either 400 yards of offense or explosive plays have led to losses for Chicago. 

“We will make our corrections and then quickly turn the page,” Johnson said. “We don’t have time to sulk on what happened (Sunday), and they understand that. We talked about that at the end of the game. We are going to be good turning the page, but the things that need to get cleaned up, we’re going to clean up.”

There aren’t a whole lot of players on the roster with playoff experience, and as much as Johnson can try and feed to his team about what it takes to go 1-0 each week and survive, from his playoff experience with Detroit, he said that having the players go through a playoff game firsthand is the only way for those experiences to grow.

“When the stakes are higher, I think you gotta focus on the little things a little bit more. Catching the football when it’s coming your way, making sure you’re tucking it properly, making sure that we play with good pad level, making sure that we are tackling well in space, all those things once again aren’t necessarily the most fun to talk about to the casual observer. Those tend to get even highlighted more in the playoffs, in my opinion,” Johnson said. 

A handful of Bears veterans on defense talked about making sure the unit learns from Sunday’s loss, but at the same time, erases it quickly from their memory and uses the frustration and the fact that they didn’t play to their standards as motivation for Saturday. 

“As a competitor, you don’t want to lose,” Jaylon Johnson said postgame. “Use that competitive edge, the anger that we have from this week, and push into next week and use it as positive fuel.” 

“Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, we wanted to finish out strong, get the win. Came up short, but you know, when things happen in life, you know, you going to take a loss, you have to make it a lesson,” Grady Jarrett said. “Do what we got to do to get better and keep pressing forward.”