Bears got a ‘good slap in the face’ at the right time before the playoffs while still showing they’re a force to be reckoned with in the NFC
Sometimes it’s good to have a loss like that late in the season.
While it’s hard to carry momentum over from game to game in the NFL, something Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson admitted earlier in the week before the Week 17 loss, a good slap to the face can certainly help things get centered back on the rails.
I’m a firm believer that every playoff team should have a real wake up moment late in the season before the postseason starts to have the opportunity to step back and reassess things.
Carrying big win streaks into the playoffs with a full steam of momentum has paid off for teams before throughout NFL history, but getting the opportunity the Bears have now, coming off the loss on Sunday night to the San Francisco 49ers, is honestly a good thing.
Bears needed this loss in Week 17 to give the entire team a wake up call
“We can take some good out of this,” Bears rookie tight end Colston Loveland said. “Clean up the tape, obviously, and that’s a good slap in the face to give us a reality. We need to get back on track, tighten up the little things a little more and just be better.”
Entering Week 17, the Bears had won two straight games in wildly different circumstances. Week 15 was a blowout win over the Cleveland Browns and Week 16 was an emotional overtime win against the Green Bay Packers. In fact, before Sunday, the team’s only loss since October came in Week 14 on the final play of the game the first time the Bears and Packers squared off.
Losing, and losing in that kind of way, sent a message to the entire locker room that you can always get better, and need to get better, if you have any hopes of making a run in the postseason.
Bears proved, on offense, they can be a scary sight in the playoffs
“I think we’ve proven who we are,” quarterback Caleb Williams said. “We’ll fight and I think we’re a team to be reckoned with. I’m excited for this next game. I’m excited to go back and watch this film and figure out how we can do better, how we can put up more points and how we can be more efficient on offense for moments like this. Because we may see this team again and we may see other offenses again that are very similar and things like that.”
It’s interesting to hear Williams say that, especially the part about “how we can put up more points” after the loss. While it’s true more points were needed to win on Sunday, and critical points were left on the table with that last play, scoring clearly wasn’t the problem for the Bears.
Chicago’s offense was terrific on the road, scoring four touchdowns and playing a balanced game on the ground and through the air. The Bears proved, offensively, they can hang with any team in the playoffs and usually have more success in those game on the line situations.
What needs to be corrected is the defense, that’s the area that really got the good slap in the face. What Chicago showed defensively on Sunday night isn’t good enough, in fact, it’s far from it and everyone knows it. It’s time for that unit to take a good long look in the mirror.
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Bears defenders said the quiet part out loud after Week 17 loss, showing some of the frustrations inside Chicago’s locker room
The defense certainly let the entire team down on Sunday.
