2025 Week 17: Chicago Bears 38, San Francisco 49ers 42

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: January 4, 2026

I remind you, he’s been on the job for FOUR years now.

Player Grades

The grading scale goes from -2 to +2, in half-point increments, for each play. Screens are graded as runs. Penalties are counted in whatever phase they were committed. Pre- and post-snap penalties are in the “Misc.” column. “Short” throws are 15 yards or less, “Deep” is over 15. Everything else (scrambles, throwaways, reads, etc.) is under “Miscellaneous.” Parentheses in a column denote grades/snaps from the opposite side of the ball and are not included in grades/snaps from the player’s usual side. Snap counts are from Pro Football Reference. Box score and other relevant info can be found at that link as well.

This game showed that the Bears can compete with anyone.

I didn’t love the start to the game; they neglected the run then forced the run. But once they found their footing, the offense was excellent. Coach Johnson talked after the first Green Bay game about the need to get Caleb in a rhythm early and I’m still waiting to see more of that. That’s my only major quibble with the offense, though. The progress that has been made over the course of the season is truly impressive and is cause for great optimism about next year. Caleb’s progress, in particular, is noticeable. He had a couple plays in this game where he was late and missed an opportunity for a play, but he’s gotten significantly better about that since the beginning of the year. When compared to his rookie year, the leap is tremendous. Yes, the improved offensive line has something to do with that, but when pressure does get through, he not only isn’t making bad plays worse, but often turning bad plays into good ones.

This game showed that the Bears might not be as good as their record.

Look, winning in the NFL is hard. Nobody should dismiss the Bears’ record just because of how they’ve won some of these games, but yes, we did see why a deep playoff run this year is unlikely. You need defense in the playoffs and…yikes. I knew this was going to be a tough one because San Francisco employs a lot of the same concepts offensively that Green Bay does, which the Bears struggle with, and in addition, San Francisco’s QB is adept at working the middle of the field. But man, for it to be this bad is a fireable offense for Ryan Poles. This is the third time this year they’ve given up at least 40. They’re the only team in the NFL to do so that often. Someone please tell me why Poles should keep his job when this is year four and the defense is worse than the one he inherited. Have they been banged up defensively? Sure have. Kyler Gordon is a big loss. But the secondary isn’t really the problem. The problems are an awful defensive line and linebackers that aren’t as quick as they need to be in today’s NFL. Gervon Dexter not only hasn’t taken a step forward this year, he’s regressed. Grady Jarrett hasn’t been the guy they thought they were getting. Montez Sweat disappears too often. Brad Biggs thinks he working through something. I’m inclined to agree, as there’s no other reason Austin Booker should be playing that many more snaps than him. Speaking of Booker, he looks like he might be a capable rotation piece. Does he look like someone you want playing 90% of the snaps? Sure doesn’t. TJ Edwards was never great in coverage and has visibly lost a step. Tremaine Edmunds has never justified his price tag.

So what can be done about it?

Right now? Nada. Getting Kyler Gordon back would beef up the coverage and probably let Dennis Allen feel more comfortable bringing extra guys to get pressure on the QB, but that’s not a major fix and may not be possible anyway. Mostly, they just have to ride with what they’ve got and try to make it work.

Monsters

Caleb, Swift, Burden, Loveland, Kmet

Chipmunks

All defensive linemen and linebackers. Also, Trapilo and CJGJ.

Four Stars of the Game

Colston Loveland