Bears Lose 19-16 To The Lions In Season Finale Clunker

GOOD MORNING, CHICAGO FANS

Happy New Year! I hope you have an amazing 2026. What’s your New Year’s resolution?

Let’s keep it simple for our Chicago sports teams: we need a team to win 2 playoff games/series. A trophy would be better, but hey, it’s not all sunshine and daisies when the calendar first flips to January. Maybe in a few months Chicago will be dunking on every other sports town!

CHICAGO BEARS

L - LIONS 19 BEARS 16

FULL THROTTLE CLUNKER

In an attempt to prime his players for the playoffs, a divisional battle offered up plenty of juice with the #2 seed in their sights. Ben Johnson insisted on playing his starters - the Bears “play football” and were “playing to win”. Instead of a well-oiled operation, the Bears turned in a clunker to cap off the season.

We saw ANOTHER slow start and complete reliance on 4th quarter magic. Unfortunately, the Cardiac Bears schtick has failed them for two weeks in a row.

After a 3 quarter shutout, Caleb Williams and the offense flipped the switch to score on 2 impressive touchdown drives and convert on both 2-point tries. A Kevin Byard interception off of a deflection with only 2 minutes left in the game was the most reassuring and expected event as everything was going the Bears’ way. An ugly 3-and-out by the offense gave the ball right back to the Lions for the winning drive.

Four months after the dreadful 52-21 beatdown by the Lions in Detroit, the Bears showed more fight, but they were outplayed in every aspect of the game in a similar fashion. The red zone defense returned after flip flopping the last two weeks (1-for-4), but the defense otherwise laid an egg.

Standouts:

• Tight End City! Colston Loveland had a massive game as Caleb’s favorite target, and Cole Kmet incomprehensibly held on to a pass while taking a huge hit for a 2-point conversion

• Kevin Byard officially led the NFL in interceptions this season after snagging his 7th

• Jahdae Walker overcame an earlier drop to score their first TD

Quick Hits:

• Amon-Ra St. Brown (11 rec, 139 yards) toyed with the Bears secondary and was automatic on 3rd downs

• Bears defense allowed 26 first downs, 6-for-13 3rd down conversions, 433 total yards, and 122 rushing yards

• Caleb threw an interception in the end zone to halt their first good drive of the game in the 3rd quarter

• After 3 quarters, the Bears offense had accumulated 107 total yards

• Bears running backs combined for only 54 yards on 16 carries (3.38 yards/carry)

• Bears managed to get 3 sacks against Jared Goff but were mostly stonewalled by the 2nd string Lions offensive line

• Jake Bates missed a field goal to keep the Bears within range but ended up going 4/5 and hitting the game-winner

• Ozzy Trapilo missed the game due to injury

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Colston Loveland

10 rec, 91 yards, 1 TD (13 targets)

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Cole Kmet 2-point conversion

NFL PLAYOFFS

NFC Bracket:

BYE - (1) Seattle Seahawks

(2) Chicago Bears vs. (7) Green Bay Packers

(3) Philadelphia Eagles vs. (6) San Francisco 49ers

(4) Carolina Panthers vs. (5) Los Angeles Rams

Bears vs. Packers Round 3

Saturday @ 7pm, Soldier Field

Ben Johnson said he enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year…

Three weeks after the miraculous comeback on Saturday night at Soldier Field, we get another rematch. There’s already bad blood, the season series is tied, and now the entire season rides on another war between them.

I’m already way too nervous. Chicago needs to see the Packers get buried, once and for all.

Every team in the NFC North finished with a winning record! Everyone expected it to be a challenging division, but that’s an unbelievable result for all 4 teams. The Bears finished 2-4 in divisional games, which makes them the first team since the 2010 Kansas City Chiefs to win their division despite having a losing record in divisional games.

Caleb Williams broke the franchise record for passing yards in a single season (3,942)

Placed Noah Sewell on IR with a torn achilles

SCHEDULE 📅 SATURDAY vs. Packers (Wild Card Round)

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

L - ISLANDERS 3 BLACKHAWKS 2 (F/SO)

NEAR RALLY NIGHT

• The puck hit the crossbar with 3 seconds left as the Hawks were an inch away after an early 2-0 deficit

• Oliver Moore played at center for the first time in the NHL and had 2 assists

W - BLACKHAWKS 4 STARS 3

MIKHEYEV MADNESS

• Ilya Mikheyev was an empty net post away from a hat trick

• Hawks beat a very good Stars team for the 2nd time in 6 days - let’s add them to the schedule for the rest of 2026!

• Hawks went 2-for-4 on the power play and only committed one penalty

W - BLACKHAWKS 3 CAPITALS 2 (F/SO)

CAPTAIN WITH A CAPITAL C

• Nick Foligno finally converted in a shootout for the first time in his career (0-for-13 before this game) to win the game

• Teuvo Teravainen scored a goal in his 3rd straight game

W - BLACKHAWKS 3 GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2 (F/OT)

HATTY BERTUZZI

• Tyler Bertuzzi recorded his 2nd hat trick of the season when he tapped in an Ilya Mikheyev feed in OT

• 15 shots on goal against was tied for the least allowed by the Hawks in a game since 2013

• Hawks succeeded in changing their fortunes in back-to-back games by holding an off-ice meeting the morning before the game

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Ilya Mikheyev

2 goals and 2 assists (4 points) on 5 shots

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Oliver Moore to Nick Lardis goal

Teuvo Teravainen (Finland) was the only Blackhawks player named to an initial roster for the 2026 Olympics. Connor Bedard was ridiculously left off of Team Canada’s roster.

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews faced each other on Wednesday night for the first time in their careers - Toews had an assist, but Kane and the Red Wings won 2-1

Tyler Bertuzzi now has 22 goals and is tied for 10th in the NHL!

World Juniors: Czechia (Vaclav Nestrasil) vs. Sweden (Anton Frondell) will face off for the gold medal. Frondell scored the shootout winner in the last round!

SCHEDULE 📅 W/F/SAT

CHICAGO BULLS

L - TIMBERWOLVES 136 BULLS 101

BREAK A LEG

• Coby White (calf) and Josh Giddey (hamstring) each left the game early due to injury as the Bulls let a 5-point halftime deficit turn into a blowout

• Naz Reid scored 33 points and shot 6/10 from 3PT for the Wolves

• Wolves scored 24 points off of 17 Bulls turnovers

W - BULLS 134 PELICANS 118

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

• 8 Bulls scored in double figures in their first game without Coby and Giddey

• Tre Jones started and became the first player in Bulls history to have 20 points, 12 assists, and shoot 100% from the field in a game

• Isaac Okoro (24p) had his highest scoring game as a Bull

W - BULLS 121 MAGIC 114

MATAS MAGIC

• Matas Buzelis (21p/9r/7a) played his best game of the season

• Another strong 4th quarter (30-19) turned the game for the Bulls after a slow start

• Huerter, Dosunmu, and Williams combined for 52 points off the bench!

L - HORNETS 112 BULLS 99

I GOT 99 PROBLEMS

• Bulls only scored 60 points after the 1st quarter as the offense completely vanished

• Vucevic led all scorers with 28 points

• Okoro scored 2 points and Patrick Williams followed up back-to-back 10+ point games with 0 points

STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐ Nikola Vucevic

21.2p/7.5r/5.0a per game, 52.9% 3PT

PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥 Matas Buzelis poster dunk over Jalen Suggs

Zach Collins was out all week with a sprained toe. Collins, Giddey, and Coby will all be reevaluated within the next week or so.

After injuries, Billy Donovan started using a BIG starting lineup:

Tre Jones / Matas Buzelis / Isaac Okoro / Jalen Smith / Nikola Vucevic

All Star Voting: Josh Giddey is currently 14th in the East in fan voting

SCHEDULE 📅 M/W/TH/SAT

CHICAGO CUBS

OFFSEASON

OFFSEASON UPDATES

• Japanese starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai, a potential target for the Cubs, signed with the Houston Astros for 3 years and $63M. His contract includes an opt-out after each season. Similar to Michael King’s contract, it makes sense that the Cubs stepped back. They need to bridge the rotation into the future instead of signing someone for just 2026.

• Reportedly engaged on Bo Bichette and former Cub Cody Bellinger…I don’t really understand the fit for either considering their expected financial asks

SAY WHAT?

A CITYWIDE SALUTE

Ayo Dosunmu

Ayo hosted students at the game vs. the 76ers as a Christmas present!

MILD TAKE

Caleb Williams had an amazing sophomore season.

330/568 (58.1%), 3,942 yards, 27 TD, 7 INT

Who would have been excited about a franchise record in passing yards before the season started? Oh, and the measly 27 TDs is actually tied for 3rd-most in franchise history.

We have NEVER seen a quarterback like this in Chicago. In less than a year under Ben Johnson’s tutelage, while learning his second (sort of third) system in the NFL, and dealing with inconsistencies by the entire offensive unit, Caleb put together a historically good year for a Bears QB.

Ben Johnson admitted a while back that the passing game left a lot to be desired. I agree. But, let’s be real. This new scheme was going to take a while to click. Caleb had a lot of mechanical adjustments to make and perfect. This was going to be an up and down season. And it was.

Despite the waves, Caleb protected the football (record low interceptions in any QB’s first 2 seasons in the NFL), got sacked WAY less times than last season (24 vs. 68), was a threat on deep balls, used his legs more effectively, excelled on 20+ air yard passes, and singlehandedly put the team on his back in nearly every game to will them to victory.

His footwork improved. His recognition, leadership, decision-making, accuracy, cadence, and everything else improved. This is all we’ve ever dreamed of. And this is the absolute floor for Caleb Williams’ career. I can already picture the statue outside of the new (Northwest Indiana?) stadium!

HITTING THE LINKS

Ben Pope - Blackhawks want more physicality, nastiness from their friendly group of defensemen (Chicago Sun-Times)

Scott Bair - How Luther Burden III has earned Bears’ trust, Caleb Williams’ targets (Marquee Sports Network)

Ben Pope - Why Nick Foligno believes this Blackhawks team is still 'different' (Chicago Sun-Times)

Dan Pompei - Matt Nagy knows what he’d do differently if he gets another NFL head coaching job (The Athletic)

TWO MINUTE WARNING

Thanks for reading! We made it to playoff football! Daaaaaaaaaa Bears