CHICAGO – Jaquan Brisker remained in full uniform in the Bears locker room, staring at the ground with a burnt orange towel over the top of his head.

The veteran safety was covered in grass stains, chalk and mud, a sign that he had given his all and put his body on the line to go win a football game. Brisker remained in that position well after those around him and changed, showered and started to move on with their night.

The finality of Sunday’s 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams had clearly hit him, with nothing left to prevent a harsh reality. Harrison Mevis’ 42-yard field goal went through the uprights. The Rams had won. The Bears had lost.

The season was over. They did not reach their ultimate goal. They did not get to an NFC championship game.

It wasn’t for lack of effort.

Brisker was all over the place on this night, registering a team-high 14 tackles, with a sack, a quarterback hit and two passes defensed. It still wasn’t enough.

[READ: Rams 20, Bears 17: Three observations in Chicago’s NFL playoff loss]

Despite best efforts, Brisker and the Bears could not stop an unwelcome outcome. The pain of that fact will live on for days and days.

“It hurts so bad,” Brisker said. “I gave my all. I know my teammates did, too. We worked so hard for this, just to get here and earn a home game in Chicago. It stung. We took them to overtime and got that stop. I felt like that was going to change the game but it didn’t.

“When the field goal went through the uprights, that was tough. This group’s not going to be here again. The team will look different and that’s sad, because this was a special group. I really care about my teammates and my coaches. I care about this city. Who knows what will come next.”

That was the theme of this postgame locker room. These Bears will never be in this place again. While many will return, this roster won’t look exactly the same. Neither will the coaching staff.

Brisker personified that fact. He’ll hit unrestricted free agency this offseason. It’s possible the Bears uniform he couldn’t take off might never be worn by him again.

This group, as constructed, won’t be together again. That might’ve been the toughest part about this season’s abrupt end.

 “This was such a great team to be part of, and it sucks that it had to end tonight,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “The fact of the matter is that this is a week-to-week, year-to-year league. The locker room is going to look a lot different next year. That’s just how the NFL works. There will be coaches that leave and players that leave. This was a special team to be part of. We all felt like this could be a team that we go win a Super Bowl with.”

They won’t get that opportunity. Not after letting the game slip away in overtime. There will be regret over not finishing the Rams off when given the opportunity, which led to a pit-in-the-stomach feeling that pervaded throughout the locker room.

It was hard to find solace or perspective in what was accomplished, especially with emotions still raw. Kmet was the voice of reason in all this, as he often is during tough times. His thoughts about this team’s present and future was not sugarcoated or overtly optimistic. He kept things as real as it gets, despite many wanted to look toward a bright future for this organization under head coach Ben Johnson.

Kmet wouldn’t go there. Not even for a second.

“The work we put in is for this year, not for next year,” When we take our time off and reset and the team for next year settles in for itself, it starts all over again. It’s going to be 0-0 and it’ll be twice as hard to get to this point. You can’t take for granted the opportunities you get in this league, to get to this chance, and have a chance to go to the NFC championship game and who knows from there.

“To think that it’s just going to happen again is very wishful thinking. We play in a tough division. I know we won the division, but we also went 2-4 in the division. Those teams will be hungry. It’ll be that much harder. That’s why it hurts when you have the opportunity now and you come up a little short. It stings.”

This 2025 Bears team forged through fire, from physical training camp practices through all those one-score games. The Bears won so many of them that happy endings became expected, just as it was on Sunday. After getting the overtime stop on the first drive, there was a swell of optimism that the team that tied it on a last-ditch miracle connection from Williams to Cole Kmet that tied it.

With the Bears pushing into Rams’ territory, Williams did something he never does. The second-year pro through a costly interception. It was underthrown and poorly placed, put into harm’s way for Kam Curl to pick off. Then the Rams marched into field goal range and put this game to bed.

The Bears never lost faith, even in dire straits, almost hoping against hope that destiny would take the wheel. They couldn’t stop the inevitable, leaving this team tinged with regret about not moving on in these playoffs and with this magical season.

“The belief was there all the way until the kick went through,” Bears safety Kevin Byard III said. “This hurts. I hurt for the guys and for all of the work that has been put in this season. I’m just proud. I still am marinating and thinking about this year. This is a special group man, I just wish we had a little bit more time.”

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