Bears Clinch The NFC North Despite 42-38 Shootout Loss Against 49ers

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

Merry Christmas! It’s rare that we find a division championship under the tree!

I hope you had a great holiday week and cleared out your January schedules. The Bears are going to play playoff football in just a couple weeks, and we’re not talking about an 8-8 team playing in a fantasyland Wild Card game like in 2020.

CHICAGO BEARS

L - 49ERS 42 BEARS 38

THE SANTA CLARA SHOOTOUT

Just one play away.

The Cardiac Bears almost pulled off another miraculous last second win as the Bears and 49ers traded punches without playing any defense at all. Caleb Williams’ desperate scramble as time expired resulted in a throw just short of a falling Luther Burden who was injured on the play.

A game that began with a TJ Edwards pick 6 on the first play from scrimmage turned into a shootout for the ages. The Bears’ only other shot at a takeaway was a CJ Gardner-Johnson interception that was called back because of a penalty. Without takeaways, the defense couldn’t buy a stop.

Brock Purdy (24/33, 303 yards, 3 TD, 1 INT) and Caleb Williams (25/42, 330 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 0 sacks) made a ton of impressive throws and extended plays for improbable conversions. Kyle Shanahan and Ben Johnson put on an elite play-calling show, but any lover of defense should have changed the channel. The teams combined for 936 total yards, 58 first downs, and 310 rushing yards.

Many Bears players played through sickness, and it showed in the 4th quarter. They willed their way to a close game and deserve a ton of credit for their efforts. Unfortunately, a flu game just becomes another loss.

Standouts:

• Luther Burden (8 rec, 138 yards, 1 TD) and Colston Loveland (6 rec, 94 yards, 1 TD) carried the offense with wide receivers still out due to injury or sickness

• Austin Booker had the only sack of the game and disrupted a couple other passes

• D’Andre Swift had 6.0 yards/carry and 2 rushing TDs

Quick Hits:

• Christian McCaffrey had 181 total yards, 1 TD, and refused to be brought down all game

• 49ers had 8 drives after the pick 6 (excluding the one leading into halftime), and the Bears only forced a punt on 2 of them

• 49ers were 5-for-5 in the red zone after the Bears held the Packers to an 0-for-5 showing in the red zone last week

• Bears offense started the game with 2 straight 3-and-outs but strung together 10-play, 10-play, and 11-play scoring drives (plus the 15-play end-of-game drive) in the 2nd half to keep the 49ers’ offense off the field

• Bears had 7 penalties for 39 yards

• First team in NFL history to score 35+ points, score a defensive TD, have 0 turnovers, allow 0 sacks, and lose the game (per OptaSTATS)

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Luther Burden

8 rec, 138 yards, 1 TD

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Caleb Williams to Colston Loveland free play TD

Bears won the NFC North when the Packers lost to the Ravens but ended their shot at the #1 seed when they lost last night. They will finish at #2 or #3 depending on their game vs. the Lions and the Eagles game on Sunday.

IF they finish #2, they will host the #7 seed Green Bay Packers in another heavyweight fight in the first round of the playoffs!

Pro Bowl

Kevin Byard (3rd), Joe Thuney (4th), and Drew Dalman (1st) are 2025 Pro Bowlers!

Nahshon Wright (with his 9 takeaways) was definitely snubbed.

Bears fans showed up in waves at the polls! Build a winner, and Chicago goes crazy! The Bears had the most votes as a team in the entire NFL.

Cairo Santos was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his dominant performance in the wind vs. the Packers

Activated OL Luke Newman from IR, signed TE Thomas Gordon to the practice squad

Caleb Williams opened up about this year’s success as a Bear:

SCHEDULE 📅 SUNDAY vs. Lions

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

L - FLYERS 3 BLACKHAWKS 1

PHILLY FOR SIX

• Hawks lost their 6th straight game thanks to a poorly timed goalie pull and other costly errors

• Ryan Donato scored the Hawks’ only goal

• Flyers capitalized on 1 of a combined 8 power play opportunities

W - BLACKHAWKS 4 STARS 3 (F/SO)

SIGNED, SEALED, POSTMARKED

• Stars hit 5 posts as the shorthanded Hawks pulled off the huge upset

• Nick Lardis scored the game winner in his first career shootout attempt

• Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves and stood tall on a handful of breakaways

L - PENGUINS 7 BLACKHAWKS 3

BACK INTO THE PITT

• Spencer Knight was pulled after allowing 4 goals on just 7 shots

• Captain Nick Foligno returned from injury and scored his first goal of the season

• Justin Brazeau had a hat trick for the Penguins

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Tyler Bertuzzi

3 goals (3 points) on 6 shots

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Jason Dickinson goal

Recalled Landon Slaggert from the AHL

Placed Frank Nazar on IR, activated Nick Foligno from IR

0-4-0 this season in the second game of a back-to-back with a 27-7 goal deficit

SCHEDULE 📅 T/TH/SAT/SUN

CHICAGO BULLS

W - BULLS 126 HAWKS 123

LET’S PLAY TWO

• Ayo Dosunmu and Trae Young got into it again at halfcourt as the Bulls and Hawks battled for the 2nd time in 3 days

• Bulls came back from an 18-point deficit with a 34-18 4th quarter where the Hawks only shot 7/24

• Coby White led the team with 24 points, and Josh Giddey (19p/11r/15a) recorded his 7th triple-double of the season

W - BULLS 109 76ERS 102

HIGH FIVE FOR THE GUYS

• Bulls pulled off another 4th quarter rally (28-17) to win their 5th straight game

• Tre Jones and Zach Collins led the Bulls in scoring with 15 points each as the bench dominated play 🤯

• Joel Embiid typically owns the Bulls and scored 31 points despite disappearing in the 4th

L - BUCKS 112 BULLS 103

BUCKING ANY RESPECT

• Giannis Antetokounmpo (29p) bullied the Bulls during the game before landing an unnecessary windmill dunk with a sizeable lead as time expired

• Coby and Giddey combined for 9 turnovers and 10 assists

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Coby White

17.6p/3.0r/3.6a per game, 10/24 (41.6%) 3PT

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Jalen Smith dunk over Joel Embiid

Nikola Vucevic played in his 1,000th NBA game 👏 He is the 154th player in NBA history to reach that milestone

Josh Giddey is the 6th player in NBA history to record 25 triple-doubles before turning 24 years old (Magic, Oscar, Jokic, Doncic, Ben Simmons)

SCHEDULE 📅 M/W/F/SAT

CHICAGO CUBS

OFFSEASON

Signed RHP Jacob Webb to a 1-year, $1.5M contract with a $2.5M 2027 club option

• 3rd reliever the Cubs have poached from the 2025 Texas Rangers bullpen

• Career 2.99 ERA in 6 seasons

• Career-best 1.03 WHIP in 66.0 IP last season

Signed RHP Hunter Harvey to a 1-year, $6M contract

• Finally a reliever with high velocity!

• Career 3.11 ERA in 7 seasons

• Dealt with injuries last season and only appeared in 12 games for the Royals

Signed C Christian Bethancourt to a minor league contract

• In line for the 3rd catcher spot, previously occupied by Reese McGuire

• Bethancourt recently had a legendary stint with the Cubs in 2024. For a time, he was the most productive hitter in the lineup! In 24 games, he had an .814 OPS with 3 HRs and 15 RBI. His 7 RBI game in Pittsburgh was a memorable one!

Possible closer target Pete Fairbanks signed with the Miami Marlins as the high leverage reliever options continue to dwindle

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Kevin Byard

Byard won the 2025 Jeff Dickerson Good Guy Award in unanimous fashion. Along with his Pro Bowl season on the field, Byard was honored for his availability and authenticity with the Chicago media. Read more here:

MILD TAKE

One break on the final drive would have resulted in a Bears win.

We’re so used to the Cardiac Bears that it’s extremely hard to swallow when they come up short.

Despite the defense not being able to stop a junior varsity squad and the offense coming out of the gates cold, the Bears were an inch away from winning their 12th game of the season.

The final drive had it all, and sadly, so many opportunities were missed by the Bears:

Colston Loveland and Luther Burden each had a drop - taking away yards and time

Devin Duvernay was wide open, but the blitz got to Caleb - the protection scheme or Caleb’s recognition could have resulted in a touchdown

The hook and ladder play by Loveland and D’Andre Swift resulted in a 1st down but ideally would have been the game-winning touchdown. Did the 49ers play the exact right coverage? Were the routes off? Was the timing off? Was Loveland supposed to run a bit further to drag the defenders with him?

The final play of the game was misaligned from the start, according to Caleb and Ben Johnson. If they had lined up correctly, I’m sure they would have executed better. Caleb put on his Superman cape and almost found an open Luther Burden for the win. To me, it looked like Burden was coming back to the ball and would have made it to the spot if he didn’t fall down early because of injury. Talk about fatigue hitting the team in the worst possible moment. Maybe Caleb did make the game-winning throw?

I feel like every sport is a game of inches. The Bears thrive off of it. The ball just didn’t bounce their way.

HITTING THE LINKS

Sean Hammond - As Ozzy Trapilo follows his father’s legacy, is he the Chicago Bears’ left tackle of the future? (Chicago Tribune)

Ben Pope - Where are the Blackhawks headed? GM Kyle Davidson lays out next steps of his plan (Chicago Sun-Times)

Nicholas Moreano - How Jahdae Walker’s bond with Caleb Williams helped Bears win big (Marquee Sports Network)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! Here’s to a refreshing and rewarding New Year for you and your family. Let’s bring a trophy to Chicago in 2026!