Silvy: The end of this Bears season leaves us with much different feelings than usual

Did you have a tough time deciphering between the heartbreak and disappointment over the finish of the Rams game while being grateful for the joy ride we experienced during the 2025 Bears season?

How should we process one of the greatest plays in Bears history when Caleb Williams hit Cole Kmet for a miraculous touchdown to tie the game, but moments later, they found a way to lose the game after the Williams/DJ Moore miscommunication?

How will you handle championship Sunday, as we will be Bearless for the first weekend since early October?

This answer is with fondness.

It’s a much different word than we’ve used to describe the Bears in the past several off-seasons, and I’m thankful for that.

For me the 2025 Bears season will be remembered for restoring my faith in an organization that I’ve loved since I was a young child. It’s a season that my children could finally brag about their favorite football team. It taught them a life lesson about never quitting, even when the outcome looks bleak. It’s a season when Bears fans made Soldier Field a true home-field advantage again. It’s a season that will never be replicated.

While I hope there will be better Bears teams going forward, including Super Bowl teams, we will never witness the number of impossible comebacks. Remember when we thought the Cincinnati game was one of the greatest wins in Bears regular-season history? That’s child’s play now.

Williams upstaged himself week after week. First, the walkoff throw to DJ Moore to beat the Packers in the regular season. Then the throw of the year to Rome Odunze on fourth-and-8 that led to eliminating Green Bay from the postseason. And finally, the throw of the century, when a 14-yard TD pass actually traveled 45 yards in the air to tie the game, and Soldier Field was up for grabs.

This isn’t me just settling for a playoff appearance but more appreciation of the process that led to substantial progress.

We were conditioned to think that whatever could go wrong, went wrong under Matt Eberflus. In 2025 not only did the Bears reverse the trend to whatever could go right went right, but even when things could go wrong, they went right.

It wasn’t dumb luck either. Even in losses, the cardiac Bears would make things as interesting as possible, nearly pulling out wins in Green Bay and San Francisco and at home against Detroit.

The bigger the moment, the better Williams gets, prompting Ben Johnson to say, “I am Caleb Williams’ No. 1 believer.” His nickname, the Iceman, has truly been earned.

Before the season, many of us just wanted to know if the Bears got the coach and quarterback right, and whatever the record turned out to be, would be viewed as secondary. Instead, the Bears took us on a thrill ride Six Flags would be envious of.

The Bears didn’t just get the coach right; Johnson is a superstar who gives his team a schematic advantage, develops players and is a dynamic culture setter.

Williams has grown exponentially as the season progressed, can make plays that very few quarterbacks can make, adapted to being coached hard, and understands the weaknesses he must improve this offseason.

The best analogy I can come up with for this season is that we were invited to the cool kids’ party. For years, we would stay in on the weekends while other fan bases had the most fun. We now have a chance to drink from the keg, enjoy late-night shots, and dance with the prettiest girl. And just like when we were young, sometimes the party would get broken up earlier than expected by the police, or we got sick from drinking too much, but we have stories to last a lifetime. There will be other parties, but none quite like this one.

Midseason, I wondered if the Bears were actually a “good” football team. They answered with a resounding yes. Down the stretch they continued to get “better.” And I can finally comfortably say that the “best” is yet to come.

• Marc Silverman shares his opinions on the Bears weekly for Shaw Local. Tune in and listen to the “Waddle & Silvy” show weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on ESPN 1000.