Bears defense tries to rebound
after struggling against 49ers
[December 30, 2025]
By GENE CHAMBERLAIN
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson left no
uncertainty with his former team, the Detroit Lions, coming in
Sunday to Soldier Field to close the regular season.
“We’re playing to win this week,” Johnson said on Monday.
Not that the Bears should be coasting yet, even against Johnson’s
former boss Dan Campbell and a Lions team now out of the playoff
chase. The Bears still have the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs to
lock up with a win, and with it home field for the divisional round
should they win their wild-card round playoff game at Soldier Field.
It will be difficult to do with defensive production like they had
in Sunday night’s 42-38 loss at San Francisco.
Although they gave up a season-worst 496 yards, Johnson almost
seemed to be trying to lift the confidence of the defense.
They did get a pick-6 on the game’s first play from scrimmage by
linebacker T.J. Edwards, the first time this happened in an NFL game
since Week 2 in 2023. They also forced the first punt by the 49ers
since the end of November.
“It always comes back to fundamentals and so it’s gap integrity in
terms of the run defense,” Johnson said of stopping the 49ers. “You
know, we were playing a really good offense right now. So I think
that needs to be stated because they’re averaging 35 points over the
last five weeks. And so they’re hot.
“I didn’t feel like our offense did our part in the first half. We
did not possess the ball. We had a couple three-and-outs. You look
at our defense and they got a pick-6, they got a couple punts, and
if we bow up in the red zone I think we feel better about (the
defense’s) performance and that’s not to take anything away from San
Fran, they did a great job, but there are certainly things
fundamentally that we can improve on and we’re going to look to
address this week.”
Maybe the most troubling aspect for the Bears was red zone defense.
Green Bay went 0-for-5 at scoring touchdowns in the red zone in Week
16. The 49ers went 5-for-5.
“Each week is a little bit different,” Johnson said. “Every offense
has a different red zone story to them. They simply executed better
than we did with their plan.”
They’ll hope to improve this plan Sunday or they could wind up with
a third seed in the playoffs.
What’s working
Passing. Caleb Williams’ 330 passing yards Sunday were a season high
and the Bears accomplished this despite a foot injury that kept
receiver Rome Odunze sidelined, and an illness that kept receiver
Olamide Zaccheaus from playing. Their pass blocking held up despite
tackle Darnell Wright playing with an illness that kept him from
taking a Saturday flight with the team to California.
Wright flew in by himself on Sunday, the day of the game.
[to top of second column] |
San Francisco 49ers tight end Jake Tonges (88) runs against Chicago
Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards (53) during the second half of an NFL
football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP
Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
What needs help
Run defense. They gave up 200 yards rushing, 8 more than when they
struggled the previous week, and this looked much worse. Christian
McCaffrey had runs of 41, 17 and 16 yards in a season’s best
140-yard effort, but the 49ers had been struggling to run all
season. They came into the game averaging 3.6 yards per carry, which
ranked next to last in the NFL.
Stock up
WR Luther Burden. The rookie shook off an ankle injury that
sidelined him against Green Bay and had career highs of eight
receptions for 138 yards while also catching a TD pass. He only was
on the field for 38 of the 66 offensive plays.
Stock down
WR DJ Moore. He went from being the star against Green Bay with a
spectacular 46-yard TD catch in tight coverage for the overtime win
to making only one reception for 7 yards against San Francisco. In
Moore’s defense, he was a late addition to the injury report with an
illness sweeping through the team, but gutted out the game and
participated in 92% of offensive plays.
Injuries
Linebacker Noah Sewell suffered an Achilles tendon injury Sunday but
Johnson did not update its severity. An NFL Network report said
Sewell suffered a torn Achilles tendon. ... Defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka
is in the NFL concussion protocol.
Key number
23 — After Sunday’s game, Williams has 23 games in his career when
he hasn’t thrown an interception. No starting NFL quarterback has
done this in his first two NFL seasons. Williams broke the mark held
by Dak Prescott of 22 games without one in his first two seasons.
Next steps
The Bears try to avenge a 52-21 loss they had in Week 2 at Detroit
against the Lions (8-8), who have lost three straight.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
