Bear Digest

Danger ahead for Bears with two straight losses to finish the season

Can the Bears really be taken seriously as a Super Bowl contender if they finish the regular season with two straight defeats? History says no.
Gene Chamberlain|
Detroit defensive tackle Tyleik Williams blocks a pass from Bears quarterback Caleb Williams in the teams' first game in 2025.
Detroit defensive tackle Tyleik Williams blocks a pass from Bears quarterback Caleb Williams in the teams' first game in 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

The Bears can come up with many different reasons for wanting to win Sunday's game against the Lions to close the regular season, and on Wednesday they did.

The mere fact it's the next game on their schedule is good enough, though. Clinching second seed in the playoffs is another.

Payback for an earlier drubbing at the hands of the Lions in coach Ben Johnson's second game as Bears coach is another. The Bears anticipate the 8-8 Lions will come in ready to finish their season with a winning record based on Johnson's past knowledge of the team.

"They've been in this situation before where they may have not made the playoffs, and they come out and they beat a team that is going to the playoffs a few years ago," quarterback Caleb Williams said. "They're going to come out and fight and we’ve got to hold our own and we’ve got to come out and match that energy, if not more.”

The Lions in Johnson's first year as offensive coordinator beat Green Bay in Lambeau Field in the finale even though they weren't going to the playoffs, and finished 9-8.

"I just know when you drop the ball down, they're going to come out and they're going to come play," Johnson said Wednesday. "That's really how we approach it here as well. So, I fully expect a great game on Sunday afternoon.

"And once again, we're coming off a loss that none of us are very happy about. Really our emphasis is on getting ourselves fixed, getting our corrections made, and we don't want to have that feeling again this week.”

There's another very good reason for not wanting to lose. It would be two straight losses to finish the regular season.

Teams going into the playoffs don't really want finish with a loss, but that happens numerous times even to teams that perform well in the playoffs. They might sub out players to protect them, rest them or just sideline someone with a minor injury. They take the foot off the gas pedal in the finale and lose while they're getting mentally prepared for the playoffs.

If the Bears lose, though, it will be two straight losses going into the playoffs and it's going to be hard to take them seriously as a Super Bowl aspirant if they finish with two straight losses.

No team has made the Super Bowl after closing the regular season with two straight losses since 2009. That's 15 Super Bowls and 30 teams and none lost two straight to close out the regular season. A small sample size, perhaps, but it's still 15 seasons and 15 Super Bowls and 30 teams.

The 2012 Baltimore Ravens had a miserable finish, losing four of their last five, but they still didn't lose their last two before going on to beat Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers in the Super Bowl.

The last teams to do it both played in the Super Bowl after the 2009 season, Peyton Manning's Colts and the eventual champion Saints. Sean Payton's Saints that year lost their last three, 24-17 to the Cowboys, 20-17 to Tampa Bay and 23-10 to Carolina. The Colts that season lost their last two, 29-15 to the Jets and 30-7 to the Bills.

Yet, there they were playing each other in a Super Bowl with an exciting finish at the end.

Considering the lack of ultimate success by teams with two losses to finish their regular season, it's probably not an achievement the Bears should aspire to duplicate.

The good news for the Bears is that since their Week 2 blowout loss at Detroit, they have always been able to right themselves and prevent consecutive losses.

"I would credit our veteran leadership for that," Johnson said. "I think usually when you have a young team, a really young team, they tend to ride the wave a little bit more of going up and down and I think we've got a really good core of veteran leaders that keep the main thing, the main thing in the locker room and make sure everybody's focused on the goal at hand."

Their goal is to go 1-0 this week, as it has been every week.

More Chicago Bears News

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

X: BearsOnSI

Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.