6 Bears players with a lot to prove in regular season finale vs. the Lions before turning the page over to the playoffs
Chicago is playing to win in Week 18 and these players have a lot to play for on Sunday.
The Chicago Bears are getting set the regular season finale this weekend against the Detroit Lions and this time around have much more to play for with the No. 2 seed in the NFC still up for grabs.
The thought of hosting a divisional round game at Soldier Field (saying you win in the wild card round) is enticing enough for head coach Ben Johnson to make the decision everyone expected.
The Bears intend to play their starters in Week 18 and will be playing to win against Detroit to avenge the Week 2 blowout suffered the last time these two teams faced off. With that decision made, this will be an important game for six specific players before turning the page to the playoffs.
QB Caleb Williams
The team’s QB1 doesn’t really have a lot to “prove” at this point. He’s proven enough that he can be the leader for this team for years to come and is knocking on the door of being a top quarterback in this league based on the way he’s played recently.
What Williams does have to play for on Sunday is becoming the first Bears quarterback in franchise history to throw for 4,000 passing yards, a goal but he and Johnson laid out over the summer. Williams needs 109 passing yards to break the single-season franchise record and 270 passing yards to hit the 4,000 threshold, coming off a game in which he had a season-high 330 passing yards.
LB Tremaine Edmunds
The Bears starting middle linebacker is coming off one of the worst games of his career and it’s worth asking if the groin injury is still bothering him. Edmunds allowed seven receptions for 55 yards and two TDs while playing 99% of the defensive snaps on Sunday and looked far from the Pro Bowl caliber player the Bears were getting prior to his injury.
His play sparked legitimate concern in Week 17 and bouncing back against the Lions can give the team more confidence in him going into the postseason. Beyond that, Edmunds holds a $17+ million cap hit in 2026, so his performance will be closely monitored over these final few games.
CB Nahshon Wright
Wright has been a nice story for the Bears this season, leading the NFL in total takeaways and making the most of his opportunity in 2025. Many believed Wright’s play was worthy of Pro Bowl, or even All-Pro, recognition for the way he’s played against the run and taking the ball away.
The other side of the coin shows a player that is a real liability in coverage. Sunday alone, Wright was targeted seven times, allowing six receptions for a team-high 101 yards. This season, he’s allowed seven touchdowns in coverage. If he wants a second contract and significant pay raise to stay in Chicago, he’ll need to tighten up the coverage this week. The last time he faced Detroit, Wright allowed a big 44-yard touchdown. He can’t afford to do that again.
S Jaquan Brisker
The team’s 2022 second-round pick has one regular season game left on his rookie contract, but also one final game left to check a major box of the front office’s “prove it” sheet. By playing on Sunday, Brisker will have played all 17 games for the first time in his career.
Availability is the one thing that held the Bears back from extending Brisker over the summer, coming off a season in which he missed 12 games due to a concussion. Brisker came back with the same energy and fiery play-style with 85 tackles and three QB hits this season. One last big game can be the difference between a new extension or hitting the market.
DT Grady Jarrett
Outside of the veteran leadership, Jarrett was a major early disappointment for this team and proving a lot of people right outside Chicago who were hesitant to give him a big contract in free agency.
In Jarrett’s defense, he’s played the majority of the season banged up and dealt with some significant knee issues earlier in the season. Jarrett believed he was heating back up at the right time, yet he totaled zero pressures on Sunday. He needs to prove that was just a minor step back.
DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson
Another player looking to make one final regular season impact is Gardner-Johnson, going up against one of his former teams as well. He’s been a great mid-season pickup when asked to play his style of football in place of Kyler Gordon.
The Bears are hoping to have Gordon back for the playoffs, but that shouldn’t impact Gardner-Johnson’s play time a whole lot. I believe his play has warranted another one-year deal with the Bears and Sunday feels like the kind of game he can go crazy to really justify it.
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