Bears playoff takeaways: Williams’ final pick, defense steps up

Bears players packed up their lockers Monday, some still in a bit of disbelief that the season ended the way it did.

“You’re expecting to wake up the next day and come into the facility, watch the film and do all these different things,” quarterback Caleb Williams said. “You get into such a routine.”

The 2025 Bears played 19 games in the regular season and playoffs, winning 12. They created highlights that will last for years, and they came so close to continuing their Monday routine and getting ready for the Seattle Seahawks.

Before fully turning the page to the 2026 offseason, here are some takeaways from the 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.

Still lacking clarity on the final interception

Williams said he had not talked to wide receiver DJ Moore, but he reiterated that the two weren’t on the same page on Williams’ overtime interception, adding that the play could be a learning tool for the rest of the receivers as the offense continues to evolve.

“Small things like that show up in those moments that you may not have talked about, being on the same page, maybe you talked about it in Week 1 or Week 6, and it shows up in Week 18 or whatever week we’re in,” he said. “You know, it’s something to learn from for myself, a learning experience, it’s something for us to learn from as an offense and as a team. We’ll go do that at some time.”

Moore wasn’t available after the game and wasn’t in the locker room on Monday. We’ll continue to wait to hear his analysis.

“It was just a miscommunication,” Williams said. “Trying to just flatten him off on the safety. Since the other safety was down, I felt like we had enough space over there, so I tried to flatten him off. It was just a miscommunication. His route is to go deep and attack that angle, which he did. We thought we were going to go under the safety at that point. It didn’t happen that way.”

Head coach Ben Johnson and GM Ryan Poles are expected to talk later this week, and we could learn more from the head coach’s perspective.

Moore could’ve flattened his route. Williams could have made a different throw. He had plenty of time in the pocket and could’ve looked elsewhere, or even taken off to run. Johnson could have called a shorter-to-intermediate play, considering how close they were to field goal range.

That interception ended a would-be game-winning drive. Had Williams and Moore connected, it would have been a much different story.

Rome knows what he left on the field

In a game of missed opportunities for the Bears’ offense, Rome Odunze’s inability to haul in a touchdown pass on the opening drive is right up there.

“I was trying to make a play on it,” he said Monday. “Judged the ball wrong and didn’t end up with it.”

From Weeks 1-8, Odunze tied for eighth in the league in receiving touchdowns. He led the Bears in receiving at that point by 132 yards. Then came a foot injury, which he said will not require surgery this offseason — just rest.

Odunze played through it during the two playoff games.

“It was rough, man. It was rough,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I can barely — you know, it is what it is. We play through injuries. It’s part of the game. I’m not going to sit here and make excuses about the foot, but something I was dealing with.”

Odunze caught 48 of the 102 passes thrown his way this season and playoffs, a catch percentage of 47.0, down from 53.5 last season. Not all of that is on him, of course, but he also was tagged with five drops by Pro Football Focus.

Earlier Monday, he had his exit meeting with wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle-El.

“The biggest thing was just obviously making the plays that come to me, making the most of my opportunities,” Odunze said. “I feel like this season I had way too many opportunities I left out there on the field, and that’s not been the player I’ve ever been in my career, so just capitalizing on those opportunities. I’ve got to go into the offseason and put in the work to do those things.”

Odunze did have one of the game’s biggest catches, a 17-yard reception in the fourth quarter.

The decision-making checked out — the calls and execution, though …

The Bears finished 3-for-6 on fourth down, with one of those three going down as one of the craziest plays in team history. They had four fourth-down attempts in back-to-back weeks — in non-season finales, they had only one game in the past 34 years with six fourth-down attempts.

That’s the way Johnson has coached all year, but unlike the wild-card round, the data and situations backed the calls.

A fourth-and-2 on the opening drive from the Rams’ 21-yard line? That was a “go” per ESPN’s model. The Bears had two games earlier this season where they turned it over on downs to open the game, and yet they still won.

A fourth-and-1 from the Rams’ 33-yard line? In those weather conditions? That also made sense, but it brought to light the struggles in short-yardage situations that had plagued the team for most of the night.

Then came a fourth-and-goal from the Rams’ 2-yard line in the fourth quarter. Another strong “go” recommendation from ESPN’s analytics model, per Seth Walder. That close to the goal line, trailing by 7 points, the Bears had to go for it.

The problem with the latter two situations comes on third down, when the Bears couldn’t convert a third-and-1 or a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line.

Kyle Monangai had four carries on third- or fourth-and-1 — he converted two but never gained more than 2 yards. D’Andre Swift was stuffed for no gain on two separate third-and-short spots.

Interestingly, the ESPN model did not support Johnson’s decision to punt at the start of the fourth quarter when the Bears had a fourth-and-2 near midfield.

Another decision that drew conversation on Monday was Johnson’s call to kick the game-tying extra point instead of going for two after Cole Kmet’s touchdown catch with 18 seconds remaining. The aforementioned short-yardage miscues played a role.

“Thought about it, yeah. Thought about it,” Johnson said after the game. “Probably what played a little bit of a factor was our goal-to-go situations hadn’t gone very clean. Our inside-the-5 plan hadn’t worked out quite like we had hoped. Just felt better about taking our chances there in overtime.”

In the end, the Bears had the ball at midfield in overtime, where a field goal would have won it. It just didn’t go their way.

The offensive line shake-up worked against the pass rush

In a surprising move, the Bears put Joe Thuney at left tackle for the first time all season in place of the injured Ozzy Trapilo, instead of going with Theo Benedet, who started eight games during the season. Thuney had a first-team All-Pro season at guard, but they wanted him on the edge to help against Rams defensive end Jared Verse.

According to Pro Football Focus, Thuney allowed zero QB hits and only two pressures.

“A big part of that was predicated on, you get going in the tape and you see a guy like Verse on their side and the type of rusher that he is,” Johnson said postgame. “He’s very powerful. He’s very violent. He was that way coming out of college. That’s translated to the NFL, and it showed up all over the tape where he’s taking tackles and just driving straight back on the quarterback’s lap, and we just thought Joe had a great anchor, and he was going to be able to help us in that regard. Credit to him. Of course, he’s done it, and he’s willing to do whatever is necessary to help the team win. Got a great group like that.”

The trickle-down effect at left guard meant Jordan McFadden, who had played one snap all season and hadn’t started a game since 2023, would get the nod on the biggest stage the Bears have had in 15 years.

PFF also charted only two pressures allowed for McFadden and no QB hits. The Bears as a whole allowed zero sacks against the No. 10 team in the league this season in sack rate. The Rams had four QB hits on Williams, their fewest in a game since Nov. 30.

“Joe, that’s astronomical by him to go from left guard to left tackle,” right tackle Darnell Wright said Monday. “The player he went against as well was very good. Jordan, he balled out. He had some things he was playing through. He was tough as hell for that. Proud of that.”

Considering the Bears’ inability to get 1 or 2 yards when needed most, it is worth wondering about the impact of the new-look offensive line. Benedet’s top trait is his run blocking, but the Bears put a higher priority on making sure Verse wouldn’t wreck the game with sacks, and they accomplished that.

Credit is due to Dennis Allen’s defense

The Rams went 85 yards in 14 plays, collecting six first downs on their way to a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

At that moment, it seemed difficult to envision the Bears putting together the performance they did on defense.

The Rams punted on seven of their next eight possessions over the second and third quarters, and they had only five first downs. Matthew Stafford had his lowest completion percentage of the season (47.6). His 67.4 passer rating is the second lowest in his career among 117 games without an interception.

“That’s part of the shame. Our defense played their tails off,” Johnson said. “They did. I thought they did a great job. That’s the number one offense in football, both yards and points, and I thought Dennis and the defensive coaching staff, they had a great plan. (The Rams) got weapons all over the place on the perimeter, but also that running game is very efficient, and it can wear on you. They pose a lot of problems, and yet our guys did a nice job taking the plan, bringing it to life. I thought they played with great emotion. I thought they played hard throughout that game, and they certainly had us in it the whole time.”

Star Puka Nacua was held to five catches on 10 targets. The Rams went 5-for-16 on third down.

Allen constantly changed up the personnel, such as rotating nickel corners Kyler Gordon and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, employing several dime package defenses with six defensive backs and sometimes using three down linemen or going with four and then one linebacker.

Back to the missed opportunities, though, the defense couldn’t make the necessary stops at the end. The team that led the NFL in takeaways couldn’t either.

“I think we were really good on third downs,” safety Kevin Byard said. “Like I said, kind of changed up the looks a lot as much as we could. Hats off to them, though. They ended up making plays when they needed to. And obviously, (the Rams’) defense got three turnovers, and we got none. So I think that was probably the biggest difference in the game.”

© 2025 The Athletic Media Company. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by New York Times Licensing.