PHILADELPHIA — An exuberant Kyle Monangai returned to the locker room underneath Lincoln Financial Field with a silver platter stacked with gourmet sandwiches.
The Prime Video postgame crew rewarded Monangai and D’Andre Swift with the sandwiches during their appearance Friday night after the Chicago Bears bulldozed the Philadelphia Eagles 24-15 to improve to 9-3 on the season, the second-best record in the NFC.
Monangai was looking to feed his offensive linemen, the guys who paved the way on a historic rushing day for a franchise with great history running the ball. The Bears had come in and gotten the best there was to serve in Philadelphia, and they were ready to eat after beating the Eagles at their own game — being the bigger bully.
10 thoughts on the Week 13 win on Black Friday.
1. Tucked away in one of the lockers behind Drew Dalman was a game ball.
Bears center Drew Dalman (52) snaps the ball to Caleb Williams against the Eagles in the first quarter on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Ben Johnson gave one to each of the offensive linemen after they cleared the way for 281 yards rushing as Kyle Monangai (130 yards, 22 carries) and D’Andre Swift (125 yards, 18 carries) became the first pair of Bears running backs to top 100 yards since Walter Payton and Matt Suhey combined to do so against the Detroit Lions on Nov. 10, 1985.
It was a throwback game for the Bears, something they’ve gotten very good at under Johnson, 25 days after they ran for 283 yards in a 47-42 victory at Cincinnati. For perspective, there was a 281-yard rushing game early in the 2022 season with QB Justin Fields, and prior to that, the last time the Bears ran that well was in 1984 behind an elite offensive line the team was building toward a championship run the next year.
“Really?” Dalman said when informed about how long it had been since the Bears had two 100-yard rushers. “Nice. That’s cool.”
Dalman isn’t much of a quote machine. He’s an old-school offensive lineman who deflects credit, talks about the unit as a whole, says he’s going to need to look at the film, and is constantly talking about ways to improve. It’s what you would expect from a guy who played at Stanford and grew up around the game. His father Chris was a lineman for some elite San Francisco 49ers teams in the 1990s.
But Dalman is at the center, literally, of the offensive line rebuild general manager Ryan Poles did in the offseason. For all of the questions about whether Poles, a former lineman himself, could get it right when building a powerful and cohesive unit, it appears the Bears have a resounding answer.
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No team’s offensive line has gotten more attention, and deservedly so, in the last decade. Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland is one of the few men coaching the position who is a household name for football fans. The Bears’ unit, led by Dan Roushar, left tracks all over the backs of a really good Philadelphia defensive front. That was the second-most rushing yards the Eagles have allowed since 1973. Tampa Bay ran for 283 in a game here in 2015.
“It’s a culmination of a lot of weeks of effort,” Dalman said. “Focus and all those kinds of things. You are hoping to stack those every week to be better this week than we were last week and so on. Good defense. Played well and everything. It was a good job by the whole unit.”
On a short week, the Bears had a detailed plan to attack the Philadelphia defense, directed by Vic Fangio, who worked at Halas Hall the last time a Bears team had any success approaching what this year’s team is putting together.
Bears running back Kyle Monangai finds a hole in the defense in the third quarter of a game against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Nov. 28, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears knew Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis on the inside, a pair of first-round picks, were going to be a load at defensive tackle. They knew the inside linebackers Nakobe Dean and Zack Baun were very good. The Eagles edge defenders have not been great against the run this season, so the Bears had to craft a strategy to account for the interior. That started with getting them moving laterally.
They had a lot of motion. They trapped them. They had a lot of offensive zone, which got the interior linemen moving left or right off the snap and not upfield. The Bears offensive line matched them, and a lot of the big plays — there were five runs of 17 yards or more — were bend-back runs where Monangai and Swift pressed the front side and read the linebacker flow. The Bears carried the Eagles linemen and washed down the front, and when they bent it back, there was daylight — a lot of daylight. They moved them up front.
The Bears and Johnson did a good job scheming this but, at the end of the game, this was the offensive line just whipping the Eagles. They mauled a good defensive front.
It was a worst-case scenario for Fangio, whose scheme is built on being able to stop the run with a two-high shell. Think back and that’s exactly how the Bears, in a different scheme, were constructed under Lovie Smith. It requires elite talent, which the Eagles have and the Bears, for much of Smith’s run, were blessed with.
Philadelphia wants to play in a two-high shell and when the front can win with split safeties, the Eagles can take away everything over the top. It is hard to beat them that way and it’s almost impossible to create explosive plays when they’ve got two safeties over the top. If you cannot run the ball, you’re done. The Bears ran the ball from the start.
The Bears had 84 yards rushing in the first quarter, taking a 7-0 lead on Swift’s 3-yard touchdown. They went ahead 10-3 midway through the second quarter on a 30-yard field goal by Cairo Santos on a drive stalled out at the 12-yard line after three consecutive pass plays. Quarterback Caleb Williams finished 17 of 36 for 154 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The numbers were not great but, once again, he made some big plays in crunch time.
“It’s that balancing act,” Johnson said. “If you hang with something a little bit too long, then all of a sudden, you’re looking at a third-and-long and wondering why the drive stalled. And so, I look down, I see 36 (pass) attempts and I’m like, ‘Well shoot, I probably threw it. I called too many pass plays this game.’ Especially with how we’re running it. So that’s an area that I can be better at too.”
The Bears have been running the ball well. They entered the week second in the league on the ground, so there was confidence with the plan installed with just one day of practice on Wednesday.
Bears running back D’Andre Swift runs the ball against the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
“Short weeks are always different beasts because you’ve got to rely on what you do well,” tight end Durham Smythe said. “Can’t really install a bunch of new stuff because it’s two days less of practice and we know we have to run the ball well. We can run outside zone very well. We kind of leaned on that going in and with the weather the way it was, we really had to lean into it. It worked out.
“I think it was early that we felt it. End of the first quarter or early second quarter. The score was still within a (touchdown), but we felt like every time we got the ball we could run it and get positive yardage — 5, 6, 7, a bigger one. At that point, we kind of knew, we can rely on this.”
From there, the Bears kept rolling. After cornerback Nahshon Wright stripped Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts on a third-and-1 tush push at the Bears’ 13-yard line late in the third quarter, Johnson called five consecutive run plays for Monangai. The first was a 31-yard gain. After four more, the Bears were at the Eagles’ 46-yard line. The drive ended on Monangai’s 4-yard touchdown run that made it 17-9 with 12:49 remaining.
“It all starts up front,” Monangai said after trying to hand out nourishment to his blockers. “They had a great game. We knew we were going to run the ball and we said we’re going to win this game behind them and their effort. And they showed up to the task and they dominated, so me and Dre were able to do what we do best.”
A few things travel for teams in the NFL. The old adage is that defenses and running games can do that, and the Bears have done some of their best work on the ground in away games. It’s one thing to trample an undermanned and badly struggling Bengals defense. This was an entirely different challenge against a much more talented unit and with potential postseason seeding on the line.
“We saw some things that we could take advantage of,” right tackle Darnell Wright said. “I think we executed them well. Shout out to the running backs as well and tight ends and wide receivers blocking. Everybody played a role.”
It will be something Dalman can look back on one day, maybe when he’s explaining the significance of this particular game ball. When told it was one of the best days on the ground the Bears have had in 40 some seasons, his eyebrows raised.
“Really?” Dalman said. “Nice.”
2. It’s truly wild how much has transpired in exactly one year.
Bears coach Ben Johnson prepares for the game against the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
On Black Friday a year ago, the Bears couldn’t even get the firing of Matt Eberflus right. The coach had to go after the disastrous Thanksgiving Day loss at Detroit. Trust had been broken with players before that, long before that game in a lot of ways.
But the Bears allowed Eberflus to conduct a press conference and two hours, later they delivered the news to him: It’s time to go.
“We understand how imperative the head-coaching role is for building and maintaining a championship-caliber team, leading our players and our organization,” president/CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement. “Our fans have stood by us and persevered through every challenge, and they deserve better results. Our organizational and operational structure is strong, focused, aligned and energized for the future.”
A press conference the following week with Warren and GM Ryan Poles didn’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence. Warren did most of the talking, admitting the club wished it had done things with Eberflus’ exit because, well, appearance matters. Poles looked defeated for much of the time. But Warren expressed confidence in him, and when the GM emerged at the end of the awful season after the Bears snapped a 10-game losing streak in the season finale at Green Bay, he came across as much stronger, in control and prepared to execute a search.
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Week 13 photos: Chicago Bears 24, Philadelphia Eagles 15
Fast forward to Friday night. The Bears finished off their best in-season victory, their biggest win in a meaningful season since maybe Week 14 in 2018 when they throttled the Los Angeles Rams 15-6 in prime time at Soldier Field. It was a signature performance for Vic Fangio’s defense and, as it turned out, one Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots would borrow from to defeat the same Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
That was a massive regular-season win for the Bears. Another from the memory bank was in Week 12 of the 2010 season. The Bears came into a matchup with the Eagles at Soldier Field at 7-3 with questions about how good they were. Jay Cutler threw four touchdown passes and the Bears defeated Michael Vick and the Eagles 31-26 in a game that was 31-13 entering the fourth quarter.
It’s a thin list of marquee regular-season wins for the Bears over the last 15 seasons, and Friday night’s victory applies for a lot of reasons. The Bears are assured their first winning season since 2018. Those who have been curious about the team’s ability to handle big games against good opponents got an eye-opener after the Bears throttled the defending Super Bowl champions in their house. If the playoffs were based on the current standings, the Bears would be the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
“Best win for a long time,” said cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who returned from injured reserve to play for the first time since Week 2. “I think right now you can see we’ve come a long way. It’s a question (how far the organization has come in one year) that we’ll have to really see after the season. Definitely being in a better place feels good. We’re not satisfied. We know where we can go and what we can do.”
Said nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon, who also came off IR to play in only his third game this season: “We’ve come a long way. Beating Green Bay at the end of last season, all that motivation and all that want to getting a new head coach, to a new staff, a five-star staff, to new teammates, old teammates coming together to a new mindset. So many different pieces have come together. That’s everybody. You gotta want it this bad to get to where we are.
“The NFL can kind of be like that. You go through some adversity and the guys that came in, the guys that are still here from the coaches to the players, everyone kind of bought into this year and I think we’ve really lived that. We understand that we want to reach great heights this year and this was a win on our way to go do that.”
It’s interesting because I couldn’t find players particularly interested in reflecting on the passing of an entire year, from the miserable and confusing lows to where the franchise is now.
“It’s a big win because it’s the next win,” Daniel Hardy, defensive end and core special teamer, said. “I appreciate the reflection. But you know, I just think it’s a testament to the grit of the dudes on this team. Especially going from a season where we had 10 straight losses. Not to take anything away from the coaches … even they say, this is a player-led team. So, really it’s the guys in the locker room stepping up — our leaders being leaders and helping turn the culture around.”
This was a culture win when you think about it. The Bears had a belief they could come in and impose their will on the Eagles and, at the same time, handle an offense with a plethora of highly skilled performers.
“That sends a message across the league,” said defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, a newcomer and member of last year’s Eagles championship team. “But this sends a message to ourselves that we can do this to anybody.”
Maybe that’s the takeaway. For as much as has happened to the Bears, there are much larger goals out there.
3. The return of Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon provides defensive coordinator Dennis Allen with a huge boost for the playoff push.
Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon warms up to face the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Johnson started at outside cornerback and Gordon was primarily used in the dime package at the beginning, but it was fluid. The Eagles ran only 51 offensive plays as the Bears dominated time of possession — controlling the ball for 39 minutes, 18 seconds and running 85 plays. That’s the most offensive plays run by the Bears in a non-overtime game since a 48-22 loss at Washington on Oct. 31, 1999, when they had 92. The Bears have only four non-OT games since 1964 with 85 or more snaps. It’s also the most snaps in a non-OT game by any team since the New Orleans Saints ran 87 on Oct. 19, 2023.
Back to Johnson and Gordon. By my unofficial count, Johnson was on the field for 35 snaps and Gordon had 36. When the Bears first spelled Johnson in the second quarter, they used Gordon as an outside cornerback. Near the end of the game, Gordon played as a dime back and Nick McCloud was on the outside in place of Johnson, getting nine snaps.
“It was huge,” coach Ben Johnson said. “Third down was when they were all out there together for sure and then other times we’re kind of platooning those guys, but it was just great to get their feet wet. I’ll be curious to see what that tape looks like. There’s a couple good receivers for Philly out there on the field, so I can’t wait to see how tight that coverage was. I think it’ll be a good stepping stone for us to build upon going forward here.”
It looked like Johnson fell for a fake on the first play of the second quarter. It was third-and-3 from the Eagles’ 42-yard line and Jalen Hurts found DeVonta Smith for a 30-yard gain that set up Jake Elliott’s 44-yard field goal. But Hurts finished 19 of 34 for 230 yards and two touchdowns, and this is a case where that portion of the box score doesn’t accurately reflect the game. A.J. Brown caught 10 passes for 132 yards, but 69 of those yards came on Philadelphia’s final two possessions.
The next thing is seeing how Johnson and Gordon feel coming out of the game on Saturday and in the coming days with their recovery.
“Little sore,” Johnson said. “Keep building up the endurance. Just everything I have been working through. When you get out there in live action, it’s a little different. Just trying to remain healthy and strengthen my body back up the best I can.”
Johnson’s long layoff, which included surgery to repair a core muscle injury, included a lot of looking inward for the two-time Pro Bowl selection.
“Really just having a lot of time to talk to God,” Johnson said. “I went on a fast. Really just being able to hear and talk to Him. For me, it’s not listening to what everyone has to say about me but listening and being committed to what the plan He has for me. I was just staying on my own timeline, pushing myself everyday.
“Even though I am back out here, still a process to push and build myself up. I feel like I am going to peak at the right time when it’s really go time.”
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson is unable to stop Eagles wide receiver Devonta Smith from catching a pass in the second quarter of a game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Nov. 28, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Gordon, who was initially injured in the first week of August, suffered a setback before Week 1 and then landed on IR after the New Orleans game on Oct. 19.
“Mentally, that is really my first test,” he said. “Being out so long, I have never been out that long in my career. So, just mentally stay confident. It was part of the process.
“Yes, I want to be on the field. It was killing me inside badly. The success of others around me, I was so happy all of us are feeding off it and everyone is getting a little piece of it. If I can come in and do my thing too, I am going to do that.”
Soft-tissue injuries have plagued Gordon, who has been dealing with calf, hamstring and groin issues since August, in offseasons. But he’s never missed time like this.
Chicago Bears activate cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon from IR for Friday’s game
“I really don’t think it had anything to do with my offseason (training) or how I came into the season,” he said. “If anything, I did more than ever. Not in a bad way as far as overtaxing my body or stuff like that. I did a lot this offseason to really prepare, so I just think it was bad luck. It’s by chance. That’s all I can really break it down to. But I am definitely going to target those areas (this offseason).”
As Johnson and Gordon get stronger, and assuming Tyrique Stevenson, who missed the game with a hip injury, is in the mix, it will be interesting to see what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen comes up with on a weekly basis. C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been a tremendous addition. Nahshon Wright continues to make plays — more on him in a bit — and the Bears have a lot to sort through.
“That’s the beauty of it as a coach,” nickel cornerbacks coach Cannon Matthews said. “It allows you to get creative a little bit. Still want to try to utilize the guys to the best abilities that they have. The big thing for us now as we try to get some of these guys back is that we’re not going to rush them back into a full plan. Just try to ease them into it. That allows us to be creative with different packages that we could potentially use.
“The beauty with DA’s system is he’s said from Day 1, ‘We’re just trying to get the best 11 out there.’ We’ll see how creative we can be and it just depends on the week. If you teach the technique, they’re really just X’s on a page. If we do decide to go a certain way, it won’t be the first time they’ve heard it. Now we just kind of slide people in and it’s not the first time they’ve heard something.”
4. Caleb Williams has completed 60% of his passes once in the last nine games — and the Bears have lost just one of them.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams celebrates the win over the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
This marked the first time the quarterback was under 50% on the season as he completed only 17 of 36 passes for 154 yards with one touchdown and an interception when outside linebacker Jalyx Hunt snared a screen attempt.
Williams’ completion percentage for the season dipped to 58.1, and only Houston’s Davis Mills (58.7%) and Minnesota’s J.J. McCarthy (54.1%) are ranked lower. It was a windy day in Philadelphia — there was a steady 18 mph wind with gusts even higher — but Williams’ footwork isn’t locked in on a lot of the misses.
“Off the cuff, it felt like the wind got the better of us on a couple throws,” coach Ben Johnson said. “He made some huge (passes) down the stretch there. That (touchdown) throw to Cole (Kmet) was enormous. It’s a struggle there. You’re trying to not become just solely run-oriented because then the defense is going to adjust. You want to keep that element of a pass threat over the course of the game.
“I was hoping we’d hit a couple more just to loosen them up a little bit more and keep that run game going. So overall, I thought he did a good job just keeping the operation going. That was something that we were really harping on this week, was just making sure we were getting in and out of the huddle clean.”
William’s upside is clear and it’s really evident late in games when he continues to make plays, including the 28-yard touchdown to Kmet with 6:19 remaining.
Late in the third quarter, Williams connected with tight end Colston Loveland on fourth-and-5 for a 7-yard gain. Five plays later, Kyle Monangai’s 4-yard touchdown put the Bears up eight.
“(Loveland) was one-on-one, the safety (Reed Blankenship) rotated down and they’re a match team,” Williams said. “So he ended up basically being one-on-one and I just tried to give him a good ball. He ran a great route, the defender fell down. Those are moments, key moments where you have to give your guy a shot, and he ran a great route and it was an easy completion.”
Carl Williams watches his son, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, warm up to face the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
On the next possession, third-down conversions to DJ Moore and Olamide Zaccheaus moved the sticks before the Kmet touchdown.
Late in the game, Williams kept the ball around left end on third-and-3 and gained 4 yards to keep the clock moving.
There will be plenty the Bears want to tighten up and Williams’ accuracy issues are a constant thing the coaches are working on with him in practice. But you’ve seen it all season: he makes plays late in ballgames. He is a natural playmaker.
“I want to maximize every single thing,” Williams said. “That’s why my frustration comes about. I have such a talented group, whether it’s the whole team, really special teams, defense, but speaking on offense, we have such a talented group and special group and we’ve got guys that really care.
“We can do something special for Chicago. The frustration comes in just because you want to maximize. You don’t want to waste time, you don’t want to waste a year or anything like that and that’s why we get up every day. That’s why I get up every day. So we haven’t hit our pinnacle yet in the sense of a team and execution on offense, and we’re still winning these games. That’s why I’m extremely excited. But, you go watch the film, you see all these explosive plays and you see all these small details that show up that are awesome to learn from after the game. But in the moment you want to hit those, you want to have these moments and just hit on all cylinders. That’s coming and we’re going to show our best ball here soon.”
5. It’s been a long time since the Bears have gotten better value from a one-year, $1.1 million contract than what they are enjoying with cornerback Nahshon Wright.
Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright (26) celebrates his fumble recovery against the Eagles in the third quarter on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
His strip of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts on a Tush Push with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter was a pivotal point in the game. The Bears were leading 10-9 and Caleb Williams had just been intercepted by Jalyx Hunt with Philadelphia taking over on the Bears’ 36-yard line. The Eagles were poised to take the lead, and Saquon Barkley ripped off a 15-yard run on their first play. Two more Barkley runs set up third-and-1 at the 12, and the Eagles went into the formation they’ve made famous, a play the Bears voted to outlaw during the offseason.
“Does it become an explosive play ever?” coach Ben Johnson said in the offseason when I asked for his thoughts on the play. “Have you ever seen a Tush Push become an explosive play? I like explosive plays. I like big plays. So, I’m not a big Tush Push guy myself.”
The Bears stuffed Pittsburgh’s version on the Steelers’ first try last Sunday at Soldier Field. The next time, Kenneth Gainwell took a little pitch off the formation and sped for a 55-yard gain.
This time, with Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert pushing Hurts, who appeared to have enough to move the chains, Wright crashed in from the defensive right side with the pile kind of stalled.
“Once I cleared the Tush Push, he was kind of just holding it out there,” Wright said. “Just kind of like he knew he was going to get it. I saw the ball and I was able to get underneath him and rip it out. From there, just get on it and fight for the ball at the bottom of the pile.”
Said defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who was trying to push Hurts back: “Great effort by (Wright). Highly aware play. It was a big play for our team. We had a sudden change and we went out and flipped the momentum back to our side. Nahshon made a great play and he is having a wonderful year.”
Wright said it was just instincts — seeing the ball there — not something the Bears had actually drawn up as a method to attack a play they knew they would encounter. It was his first forced fumble and third recovery in a season that also includes five interceptions.
Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen celebrates cornerback Nahshon Wright’s fumble recovery in the third quarter on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears offense responded with an 87-yard, 12-play drive for a touchdown to take control, cashing in another takeaway.
“That was one of the turning points in the game right there,” Johnson said. “They’re in scoring range and a high-percentage play for them, and yet he was able to get the ball away from them.”
Said Hurts when asked if ball security is an issue with the play: “It’s been like that for a very long time.”
Wright was the cornerback in coverage on A.J. Brown on his 33-yard touchdown reception midway through the third quarter. Brown ran an out-and-up and Wright struggled a little to recover before missing a chance to make a play on the ball at the end, a tough matchup against a strong, physical target.
“I thought I had the ball and then he kind of hit me by (the play),” Wright said. “Good play by A.J.”
Wright has had a quick memory after plays like that and keeps finding ways to show up in big moments. It’s the reason why coaches have been adamant that he will have a role in the secondary when the Bears are at full health.
Now, he’s got the memory of the first game ball in his career. “I am going to hang it up somewhere,” he said.
Wright will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. The next five games are huge for him, just as they are for the team.
6. The good news the Bears were waiting for in terms of getting injured players back might have arrived sooner than initially expected.
Bears fans celebrate in the fourth quarter against the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
When Jaylon Johnson went for core muscle surgery after the Week 2 game in Detroit, the team didn’t put any kind of loose timeline on a comeback, but what you heard whispered was December. So to get him back with six games remaining in the regular season was a boost.
Injuries to the defense have kept Dennis Allen scrambling, no doubt, but an overall discussion of the team’s health has to highlight the fact the Bears have been in really good shape on the other side of the ball.
There has not been a single offensive starter who has missed more than one game, and continuity on the offensive line has been particularly impressive, especially in light of how injuries kept a revolving door moving in the trenches over the past several seasons. Right tackle Darnell Wright and left tackle Theo Benedet each missed one game. Braxton Jones has been on injured reserve since Oct. 25 with a knee issue, but he was hurt in practice and that was after Benedet replaced him in the starting lineup.
Running back D’Andre Swift, tight ends Cole Kmet and Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden all have missed one game. Running backs Travis Homer (6 games) and Roschon Johnson (5) are the only other offensive players to miss more than one game and they are primarily core special teams performers.
It’s a different story on defense. Johnson missed 10 games and Kyler Gordon missed nine games. This was the seventh game middle linebacker T.J. Edwards (hand/hamstring) has missed and now weak-side linebacker Tremaine Edmunds has missed two games. The only potential new injury that’s known of is nose tackle Andrew Billings, who left the game to be evaluated for a concussion.
Here are the number of games missed by defensive starters:
CB Jaylon Johnson: 10
CB Kyler Gordon: 9
MLB T.J. Edwards: 7
WLB Tremaine Edmunds: 2
DE Dayo Odeyingbo*: 4
DT Grady Jarrett: 3
CB Tyrique Stevenson: 2
Here are the number of games missed by defensive backups:
DE Austin Booker: 7
LB Noah Sewell: 3
LB Amen Ogbongbemiga: 8
DE Shemar Turner*: 5
DE Dominique Robinson: 3
CB Josh Blackwell: 2
CB Jaylon Jones: 1
LB Ruben Hyppolite II: 1
*-On injured reserve and will not return this season.
While Booker has started, he’s not listed with the top group as he’s been a fill-in for Ogbongbemiga. I didn’t include Sewell with the starters because the defense has leaned so heavily on sub packages.
The charts provide a glimpse of the trickle-down effect special teams coordinator Richard Hightower has faced on a weekly basis with so many changes on the back half of the roster. Ben Johnson said he’s hopeful Edmunds, who must miss at least two more games, will return before the end of the regular season. I’m curious for an update on Edwards and you have to wonder if he’s encountered some type of roadblock since suffering a fractured hand at Cincinnati on Nov. 2.
A good number of teams have been hit with many more injuries than the Bears. Off the top of my head, the 49ers, Buccaneers, Giants, Chargers and Bengals come to mind. You can make a case that the Eagles have had more injury woes and then you have the Packers, who the Bears will tangle with next on Dec. 7 at Lambeau Field.
7. The Bears are one of the fortunate teams that haven’t had to start a second — or third — quarterback because of injury or performance.
Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent warms up before a game against the Giants on Nov. 9, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Caleb Williams ran his consecutive games started streak to 29 on Friday. In the Super Bowl era, only Bob Avellini has a longer streak for the Bears: 42 straight games.
The team feels really good about backup Tyson Bagent, so much so that it went to him early with a contract extension during training camp. The Bears wanted to reward him and wanted teammates to see him rewarded as well.
To improve during the regular season, Bagent gets about two or three snaps per week in a competitive period. That’s it, and that’s standard across the league. There simply aren’t enough reps in practice to give the No. 2 guy more.
So to build on his game, he has to do so while directing the show team against the starting defense. That led me to ask Bagent which opposing offense has been most fun for him to simulate so far?
“The most fun week was the Commanders just because we were so worried about Jayden Daniels’ legs that there was a lot of stuff out of the pocket and a lot of QB runs,” Bagent said. “Nobody is reinventing the wheel. There’s always a three-level progression, a layered progression, maybe there is a pure progression, maybe there is a yes/no with a pure progression off of it. And then obviously you’ve got your keeper games too.
“Nobody is creating anything new, especially when (the defensive coaches) are holding a card up. It would be hard to run a very complex play. It gets to the point where there are like five dotted lines on there and I’m like, ‘I don’t know what the hell is going on.’”
Bagent did his best imitation of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts in practice this week to prepare the defensive starters. Where he gets tested is when he gets the card of the play to run in the huddle and — as fast as you can snap your fingers — he has to translate the picture on that card to a call that teammates in the huddle will understand. There’s no cheat sheet the night before or morning of, listing which plays he will be tasked with operating.
“I get them 10 seconds before we run the play,” Bagent said. “They’ll hold (the card) up and I’ll be like: ‘Oh, OK. Hey, guys, we’re going to go Yakka Dixie Right F-Dash Shaw Stormcat.’ Or, ‘Hey, guys, we’re running Sail, pass to the left.’
“(Assistant offensive line coach) Kyle DeVaan does a really good job with the line. He’s in the huddle with us, too, and he calls out the protection: ‘Hey, fellas, this is Gully protection,’ or whatever it is. We tag-team that and we have been pretty successful in giving the defense a look, which is really what we’re trying to do. Give a great look.
“Clean, in and out of the huddle, be good with the cadence and there is an element to how athletic the quarterback is. Then two weeks ago, ‘Hey, I’ve got to mix up the cadences because you know (Aaron) Rodgers is going to do that (if he plays).’ Just little stuff like that.”
Bears quarterbacks Caleb Williams (right) and Tyson Bagent warm up for a game against the Raiders at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sept. 28, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The mental challenge of calling out the play quickly, combined with then executing it, gives Bagent stuff to work on as he tries to sharpen his game in the event he’s needed.
“It’s probably a good exercise for him being able to regurgitate how we communicate it,” passing game coordinator Press Taylor said. “You get a concept and you’re talking to young receivers in the huddle who may not know our playbook well enough, and you have to try to get it into a language they will understand.
“There’s some times it doesn’t fit and they’re telling you: ‘Run it exactly as it is on the card. This is what it looks like.’ It’s a good exercise for a quarterback to see a concept and name it. But it’s what we do all day long, so he’s good at it.”
Bagent joked the biggest challenge sometimes is deciphering the play designs on the cards.
“Yeah, it’s defensive guys drawing offensive plays,” Taylor said. “They probably look at our offensive cards and think, ‘This is terrible.’”
Bagent has the biggest job of any show-team player in preparing the starters each week. It’s a task he takes seriously. With as many backups who have been pressed into action this season and responded, Bagent would like to think he’s ready if called upon.
“That’s why scout team is important,” he said. “It is nice to stand behind Caleb and go through everything and think about what I have done and the decisions I would have made. But there is an element to getting the snap, having the ball in your hands and actually having to operate the play.”
8. The NFC playoff race is going to be a thrill ride for the Bears, who answered questions about their ability to handle better competition in grand fashion.
Bears running back D’Andre Swift celebrates the win over the Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Here are the current conference standings with each club’s remaining strength of schedule based on current standings:
1. Rams 9-2 (.456)
2. Bears 9-3 (.593)
3. Eagles 8-4 (.400)
4. Buccaneers 6-5 (.368)
5. Seahawks 8-3 (.574)
6. Packers 8-3-1 (.638)
7. 49ers 8-4 (.518)
———
8. Lions 7-5 (.605)
9. Cowboys 6-5-1 (.404)
10. Panthers 6-6 (.564)
1. Rams: The league has a doozy of a matchup to open Week 16 when the Rams travel to the Seahawks on Dec. 18. It’s a short-week game that could decide which team wins the NFC West — and the outcome could significantly impact the race for the top two seeds. Four of Los Angeles’ six remaining games are on the road, beginning Sunday at Carolina.
2. Bears: They will ride a five-game winning streak into their Dec. 7 game at Lambeau Field. With two games against the Packers in a three-week stretch, it’s fair to say those games will be pivotal in more than just the NFC North race.
3. Eagles: The Black Friday game was helpful for Philadelphia as it now has a long week to ready for a cross-country trip to face the Los Angeles Chargers. The Eagles play the Raiders the following week and have two games with the Washington Commanders in the final three weeks.
4. Buccaneers: They have the easiest remaining schedule of the bunch and it’s not particularly close. Tampa Bay faces Carolina (6-6) in Weeks 16 and 18. The rest of the schedule is filled with Arizona, New Orleans and Miami. But the Bucs have lost three straight games and have been hit hard with injuries. The next three of their games are at home.
5. Seahawks: The Seahawks have the second-lowest strength of victory for teams in the playoff hunt in the NFC at .352. That trails only the Cowboys (.338) and is below the Bears (.364). In the final four weeks, Seattle hosts the Colts and Rams, and Week 18 is at San Francisco.
6. Packers: The Thanksgiving Day victory at Detroit was the beginning of a pivotal stretch. Green Bay’s next four games are against teams at .500 or better. The only remaining opponent with a losing record is the Vikings (4-7) in Week 18, and sandwiched between the Week 14 and 16 games vs. the Bears is a trip to Denver (9-2).
7. 49ers: San Francisco is at Cleveland on Sunday before its Week 14 bye. The final three weeks will be tough with a trip to Indianapolis followed by home games with the Bears and Seahawks.
8. Lions: Detroit has lost three of its last five and needs to rally quickly to not fade. The Lions host Dallas on Thursday before a trip to the Rams and then a home game against Pittsburgh.
9. Cowboys: Who thought Dallas would be relevant in the second half of the season after the way the first month went? The schedule isn’t too daunting the rest of the way, and if the Cowboys can win at Detroit, they’ll really be in the mix. They close out the season with road games at the Commanders and Giants.
10. Panthers: With two against the Buccaneers and the Rams and Seahawks looming, Carolina probably will not remain on this list much longer.
9. How about Caleb Williams’ 28-yard pass to Cole Kmet for a touchdown that put the Bears in firm control of the game?
The first thing that struck me was that it was a terrific touch throw, which is one of the things Williams has really struggled with. He hung it up there for Kmet on a corner route and gave the tight end the perfect amount of space to run under it as safety Reed Blankenship trailed.
It was a boot concept to the non-throwing arm side, a three-level flood. Kmet runs the top part, the corner route. The crosser — at the second level — was DJ Moore and he was closely covered by cornerback Quinyon Mitchell. Running back D’Andre Swift, the primary target on the play, ran a flat route right in front of Williams with safety Sydney Brown closing in on him.
Usually, the top part of the play — Kmet — is an alert. You really aren’t supposed to throw that because that is the clear out route. But that is the alert, so Williams’ eyes should go there first. He had the throw because Blankenship was coming from inside out and there was no one on the outside third. That’s an open throw with Kmet working away from leverage. It was a perfect, off-platform throw with touch in the wind.
“That’s the fun part about playing quarterback,” Williams said. “It is dealing with the conditions and then finding ways to calculate where you need to put the ball and how much air, especially when you have such weird gusts that we had. There would be no wind and then at random points there’d be super heavy gusts.
“That play we haven’t really practiced too much, just especially this week with a short week. So it was something that we trusted, something we believed in ourselves as a team, as an offense, and as players and Cole ran a great route. They kind of dropped him, saw a defender trying to catch up to him, just wanted to lay it out there, let the wind kind of push it back to him and Cole made a great catch.”
10. Kevin Byard III ought to be heading to the third All-Pro selection of his career.
Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard III (31) celebrates his interception against the Eagles in the third quarter Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
His interception of Jalen Hurts early in the third quarter was his league-leading sixth of the season. That’s the second-highest figure Byard has had in a 10-year career. He made eight for the Tennessee Titans in 2017, his second season in the league.
It was just the second interception Hurts has thrown this season and sixth in his last 27 games. Defensive linemen Andrew Billings and Chris Williams flushed Hurts out of the pocket to his right and he threw for A.J. Brown even though Kyler Gordon had him pretty close in coverage. Byard, seeing the play as it developed, covered a ton of ground to make the play.
Column: Plenty for Chicago sports fans to be thankful for — from Ben and Bananas to Bedard and Byard
“I saw Kevin coming over and I knew there was a chance he was going to be able to make a play on the ball,” Hurts said. “Just was trying to give him a chance and throw it to the sideline where A.J. could try and make a play on it and I wasn’t able to connect with him.”
Byard has been a glue guy on the field and in the locker room and even considering his age — 32 — it would be surprising if the Bears don’t strongly consider extending him with his contract expiring. He’s remarkably durable too.
10a. Maybe the wind was a factor on Jake Elliott’s missed extra point for the Eagles in the third quarter. He pulled it left, his first miss on an extra point in 31 attempts this season. Bears’ Cairo Santos described the conditions as “gnarly.” Elliott’s miss changed the complexion of the game, leading coach Nick Sirianni to call for a 2-point conversion that failed later. Elliott, a Lyons Township product, missed wide left from 52 yards at the end of the game as well.
10b. How rare was the win? Eagles’ Nick Sirianni was 11-0 against NFC North foes in his career, including a 16-9 win over the Lions on Nov. 16 when Philadelphia throttled the Detroit offense. The Eagles were 14-1 in their previous 15 home games. After the game, Sirianni faced questions about potentially firing offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. The honeymoon period after a Super Bowl parade doesn’t last very long in Philadelphia.
10c. Going back to the start of the 2015 season, the Bears are now 6-28 in games where they are a 7-point underdog or more. They’ve won two of those in a row, though, including the Week 18 triumph at Green Bay last season.
10d. Probably should have found a spot to mention the run defense — especially with D’Marco Jackson and Amen Ogbongbemiga starting at linebacker — much higher up. Saquon Barkley was limited to 56 yards on 13 carries, a heck of an effort for a run defense that entered the game 28th vs. the run.
10e. The Fox crew of Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will call the Dec. 7 game against the Packers at Lambeau Field.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/29/chicago-bears-brad-biggs-10-thoughts-week-13/
