4 biggest winners from Bears' Week 15 demolition of Browns

The Chicago Bears played arguably their best game of the season in a 31-3 route of the Cleveland Browns, proving that they are a legitimate playoff contender and staving off the scary 'trap game' warnings from NFL analysts. They still control their own destiny as the 2025 NFL season nears its end, and winning the remainder of their games would secure the NFC North division crown for Chicago.

In addition to the team win, this was a personal victory for four Bears players who needed a big performance on Sunday for their own reasons. Here are the biggest winners from Week 15.

1. Jaylon Johnson

After missing nearly the entire season with an injury, two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson struggled in his return last week. He needed a big game against the Browns to prove that he's still one of the best cornerbacks in the league, and that's exactly what he did. Despite being rarely targeted, Johnson deflected one pass and intercepted another in fantastic fashion, saving a touchdown that could have potentially brought the Browns back into the game.

In case you forgot...@NBAxJay1 is H1M. pic.twitter.com/UmRlDJ30Ns
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 14, 2025

2. Colston Loveland

Though he didn't score a touchdown this week, Loveland hauled in four of his five targets for 63 yards, including a couple of big plays for first downs. More importantly, however, Loveland began to show how much more value he can bring this team than Cole Kmet. Kmet is good at what he does, but Loveland's ceiling is just so much higher, and he doesn't carry a significant cap hit like Kmet does, either.

Colston Loveland makes a grab like this once or twice a game. Just great handspic.twitter.com/LESLeSFAzK
— Dave (@davebfr) December 14, 2025

3. Caleb Williams

I included Caleb Williams in my Week 15 game balls, but he counts as one of the biggest winners, too. His accuracy had been frustratingly poor over the past six weeks, and frigid conditions at Soldier Field on Sunday seemed certain to continue that worrying trend, but Williams played arguably his best game of the season. He was mostly accurate as he completed 17 of 28 passes, with most of his misses being drops, good defensive efforts, or throwaways under relentless pressure.

Despite that horrendous game-ending interception last week, Williams is still very much The Iceman.

The Iceman.

pic.twitter.com/LTcGpIihKC
— Barstool Chicago (@barstoolchicago) December 14, 2025

4. Luther Burden III

In a shocking turn of events, Rome Odunze was a surprise last-second injury scratch after aggravating his foot injury in pregame warmups. That's a whole conversation on its own, but that's for another time. What this injury meant for the Bears on Sunday was that rookie receiver Luther Burden was going to have to handle a heavier workload than expected, and he showed up big time.

Burden led all Bears receivers with 84 yards while catching six of his team-leading seven targets. The only blemish on his record in Week 15 was a brutal drop in the first half that could have gone for a big first down but led to a punt instead. Regardless, the rookie proved that the NFL messed up when they let Burden slide to the second round of the 2025 NFL draft. In fact, Burden is making a case as the best receiver from his class.