The Chicago Bears have bucked the odds all season, but they outdid themselves during Saturday’s 22-16 overtime win against the Green Bay Packers.
Their 10-point comeback tied their largest rally in a fourth quarter (Week 10 against the New York Giants).
The defense held the Packers to 0-for-5 in the red zone.
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Bears’ win probability dipped as low as 0.5% before Josh Blackwell’s onside kick recovery sparked an improbable rally.
And what are the chances that Aaron Rodgers (the Bears’ old nemesis) would lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a wild, controversial win against the Detroit Lions (coach Ben Johnson’s old team) to help the Bears secure a playoff spot for the first time since 2020?
For once, the Bears have odds in their favor: The Bears now have an 89% chance to win the NFC North division, according to ESPN and The Athletic.
After getting to 11-4, “step two is we want to win this division,” Johnson said. “We want to have at least one home playoff game. And then step three would be (to) clinch a No. 1 seed.”
The Athletic gives the Bears a 14% chance of winning the No. 1 seed, which comes with a first-round bye; ESPN, 11.4%
“So, there’s a lot of things still out there to play for,” Johnson said. “Our guys know that. We talked about it a few weeks ago, just a big picture view of where we stood in relation to the last five games of the season and what we needed to accomplish to achieve those goals. So they get it.
“Not a whole lot needs to be said about it, but those goals are still out there, and we continued pressing forward.”
The Bears can clinch the division by beating either of their final two opponents — the San Francisco 49ers or the Lions — or if the Packers lose one of their final two games against the Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings.
Earlier in the season, Johnson said he wanted the Bears to be playing their best football in December, and certainly, the Packers game had the tone of a playoff game.
But the coach admitted Monday that the Bears aren’t “necessarily playing at the level that we’re capable of yet.
“That’s the beautiful thing about this season, and we’re all still getting better at what we’re doing.”
Having stakes to play for in the final two games provides a fertile training ground for a roster that has several key players who have never been to the playoffs.
Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds played in four straight postseasons with the Buffalo Bills before joining the Bears in 2023, so he knows what playoff football is about.
“Even these games coming up now, all these games are playoff games,” he said. “Just the importance of how you take care of yourself on and off the field, the mindset, the preparation, those are the things that take you over the hump.
“For the guys that haven’t been to the playoffs yet, luckily for us, the way that our schedule has been, these last couple games we’ve been playing have been giving them that (playoff) feel.”
Here are five things we learned from the Bears on Monday.
1. How much of an advantage is Soldier Field?
Chicago Bears fans cheer during overtime against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 20, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Dating back to 2001, the Bears are 3-4 in playoff games at Soldier Field, including two losses in their last three home playoff games.
Still, for this season’s Bears, it’s about home feel.
They certainly felt the wind at their backs from howling Bears fans at Soldier Field during high-stakes games against the Cleveland Browns and Packers.
When Bears wide receiver DJ Moore was told by a reporter after Saturday’s rematch against the rival Packers that Soldier Field’s attendance was a season-high 60,152, he squinted as if to say, “That can’t be right.”
“Yeah, it’s not a big stadium,” he was told.
“Felt like a big stadium,” Moore replied.
Ben Johnson agreed.
“I felt that crowd and I was so blown away by the impact that they had on Saturday night that I think that we all want to be playing a playoff game in front of them so they can have that same impact there,” he said Monday. “So that’s going to be our focus. We’ve got to win this division (and) earn that right to play a home playoff game.”
As a playoff veteran of six Bills playoff games, three on the road, Tremaine Edmunds gave his Bears teammates the opposite perspective.
“The easiest thing for me even communicating that is telling guys, ‘Hey you remember how that Green Bay game felt, right?’” he said, referring to the hostile reception the Bears received at Lambeau Field during a 28-21 loss to the Packers in Week 14.
“That was a playoff atmosphere this past Saturday” at Soldier Field, Edmunds said. “Guys are going to understand what it feels like. Guys are going to see the atmosphere, the emotion, everything that goes behind it.
“It should motivate you.”
2. Tremaine Edmunds comes up with a big play in his return.
Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright (26) and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (49) celebrate the overtime win over the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 20, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Edmunds, one of the Bears’ top two linebackers, missed four games while recovering from a groin injury.
In his first game back Saturday, he had 10 tackles and he recovered Packers running back Josh Jacobs’ fumble, stripped by cornerback Nahshon Wright, in the third quarter.
“From the time the injury took place until now, it’s been a long four weeks for me in general, just not being out there and just wanting to be out there helping my guys whatever way that I could,” Edmunds said. “I can’t take all the credit, a lot of it goes to the training staff and just the program they have me on.”
He credited trainers for pushing him while being “smart about it.”
Edmunds also shared credit with Wright for his first fumble recovery and fifth overall takeaway this season.
“(Wright) did a good job of pulling the ball out, and I was in the area and was able to find a way to come up with it,” Edmunds said.
3. In retrospect, Ben Johnson would have managed the clock better.
Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson walks the sideline in the first quarter of a game against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field in Chicago on Dec. 20, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
If not for Cairo Santos’ onside kick and Josh Blackwell’s recovery, the handling of the preceding series could have bit the Bears in the end.
They were trying to get off Santos’ 43-yard field goal, which drew the Bears within a 16-9 deficit, before the two-minute warning to preserve that natural timeout. But the operation bogged down and there was 1:59 at the conclusion of the kick.
Johnson didn’t blame special teams, but his own playcalling and coaching.
“I don’t want to put our field goal unit in that position to start with, with the clock running like that,” he said. “Ideally, that third-down throw (Caleb Williams to DJ Moore for 5 yards on third-and-9) is either past the sticks or it’s clearly going to be out of bounds, to where we’re not having a running clock and we’re forcing our field goal unit out there.
“I can do a better job communicating that we need to kick that thing as soon as we possibly can.”
He also noted that getting a “K-ball,” one of the balls specially prepped for kickers, contributed to the delay.
“At one point that thing was fumbling around on the ground, and the umpire stood over the ball for a longer period of time than I had hoped for,” Johnson said. “And so we weren’t able to get the kick off nearly as quickly as I had foreseen in my head.”
4. A rash of penalties flashed back to earlier in the season.
Chicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker (94) tackles Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) in the first quarter of a game at Soldier Field in Chicago on Dec. 20, 2025. A roughing the quarterback penalty was called on Booker on the play. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
If the Bears hadn’t rallied to an overtime win, one of the biggest storylines would’ve been the 10 accepted penalties (offense and defense combined) they committed for 105 lost yards.
The Packers had four penalties for 40 yards.
For the Bears, it was their most accepted penalties since 11 for 79 yards on Oct. 26, and the second-most in lost yardage since committing 12 infractions for 127 yards in the season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Bears defense gave up three first downs and the offense had four stalled drives due to those penalties.
In fact, the game started with D’Marco Jackson’s 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty (the first of two by the Bears) for jumping onto a pile during the opening kickoff return.
Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams and safety Kevin Byard III place among Pro Bowl’s top 5 in fan votes
Ben Johnson said his players being amped up for a rivalry game “might’ve had something to do with it. And we talked about (how) you get in these big games and you can get a little bit emotional because it’s a division rival and you want to make an impact.
“We don’t want to shy away from that. We want to play aggressive and we want to be a very physical team. But at the same time we can’t hurt the team and that happened a number of times. It’s not OK. Those 15-yard penalties, they really add up.”
Defensive end Austin Booker had a couple of controversial roughing-the-passer infractions, the second of which sent Jordan Love into the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion midway through the second quarter.
Love didn’t return.
Johnson said, “That’s 100% a flag where he ends up getting concussed, and that’s not what anybody wants.
“But at the same time that one is a more difficult one to coach just from a technique perspective, just because we’re trying to go after the quarterback and it’s a bang-bang play like that.”
5. Jahdae Walker has no shortage of cheerleaders.
Bears wide receiver Jahdae Walker catches a touchdown against the Packers in the fourth quarter on Dec. 20, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Walker caught a touchdown pass on fourth-and-4 with 24 seconds left to tie the game 16-16 with Santos’ extra point.
Walker received a game ball in the locker room, but his night didn’t end there.
“I couldn’t actually sleep,” he told reporters via Zoom on Monday morning. “My phone was ringing all night. My family — we’ve been on the phone almost until now.”
Teammates relish the energy he brings and his love for football.
Blackwell likened him to “a little kid on the playground,” and Walker himself said every day during camp “felt like recess.”
Walker, an undrafted rookie free agent from Texas A&M, pushed former 2023 draft pick Tyler Scott for a roster spot.
Johnson said, “You’re intrigued when you acquire him, by the size and speed combination. And he ended up being mentally really, really sharp. And so he’s able to pick up the offense quicker than I think some rookies usually do and that’s encouraging.
“He’s a willing participant in special teams and in blocking, so that raises his value right then and there. I wasn’t sure. What’s he going to become in this league? That’s still a little bit unknown.”
But the Bears front office didn’t want to expose him to other teams by placing him on the practice squad.
“I think he’s got a really high ceiling and he’s got a chance to really develop into an excellent receiver and be a meaningful player for a long time,” Johnson said. “I think (general manager) Ryan (Poles) felt the same way, we all did as a staff, and it was just when you find guys like that you don’t want to lose them.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/chicago-bears-green-bay-packers-what-we-learned/
