BOX SCORE

CHICAGO — The Bears advanced to the NFC divisional playoff round in dramatic fashion, with a fourth-quarter DJ Moore touchdown catch against the rival Green Bay Packers as the decisive score after a massive comeback.

While emotions ran super high after that game, head coach Ben Johnson and Bears player leadership vowed to move on quickly.

That would be required with the Los Angeles Rams coming to town for Sunday night’s game. While they’re the NFC’s No. 5 playoff seed, the Rams won 12 games in the regular season and squeaked by the Carolina Panthers in the wild-card round.

So, the game at Soldier Field represented a formidable challenge and commanded the No. 2 Bears’ full attention. An NFC Championship Game spot was on the line, with the right to visit a Seattle Seahawks squad that demolished the San Francisco 49ers the previous day.

The Bears would have to earn it the hard way, against a Rams team with an elite offense and a defense that can get after the quarterback.

It was a tight game for most of the night, with both teams playing solid defense. Ultimately, the Rams earned a 20-17 overtime win.

As has been the case all season, this game came down to the wire, with Harrison Mevis’ 42-yard field goal winning it for the Rams. The Bears had their chance to win this game, though, but fell just short.

Here are three things we learned as the Bears’ 2025 season ended with an NFC North title and one playoff win:

Magic happens, then it runs out

The Rams ended a longstanding 10-10 tie on a Kyren Williams 5-yard touchdown run, giving them a seven-point advantage with 8:50 remaining in the fourth quarter. That put pressure squarely on the Bears, who used their next drive to try to again even the score.

The Bears faced a fourth-and-goal from the Rams’ 2 and had to go for it, but Caleb Williams‘ pass fell incomplete. That was a tough turn in the team’s comeback attempt, with so much time coming off the clock.

The Rams took possession with 3:03 left, and the Bears had to burn timeouts in the hopes of making a stop and regaining possession. Chicago’s defense made that stop on third-and-10 at the LA 14, forcing a Rams punt and giving the Bears one last shot to tie the score.

A bad punt gave Chicago good field position at midfield. Would the Bears take advantage? They pushed deep into Rams territory in no time and reached the red zone in just four plays.

Then, Williams made magic happen on a fourth-and-4 play with 27 seconds left.

The Bears quarterback was dead to rights in the backfield, as several Rams pass rushers chased him. Somehow Cole Kmet got free in the back of the end zone, and Williams threw a high volley that the veteran tight end came down with a TD catch to force overtime.

The Bears won the overtime coin toss and chose to kick the ball to the Rams. Chicago’s defense forced an LA three-and-out and a punt, turning it into a sudden-death contest in which the next score would win.

The Bears had a tough time moving the football, but they kept churning out first downs to cross midfield. That’s where Williams got himself into trouble with an underthrown ball that Rams safety Kam Curl intercepted with a diving effort deep in LA territory.

The Rams capitalized on that golden opportunity, marching 54 yards on 10 plays into field-goal range. Mevis nailed his kick, ending the game and the Bears’ season with it.

Nickel and dimeing works

The Bears had defensive backs C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Kyler Gordon available in the same game for the first time in a long time. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen took full advantage, deploying a dime package that kept Gordon and Gardner-Johnson together on the field a ton.

Allen was impactful using defensive backs as blitzers, with Gordon, Gardner-Johnson and safety Jaquan Brisker regularly coming after Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. Those blitzes — or at least the threat of them — seemed to rattle the Rams around the game’s midpoint, keeping things close despite LA employing the NFL’s best scoring offense, as Gordon and Brisker each recorded a sack.

Gordon and Gardner-Johnson’s versatility in playing defensive back or a hybrid linebacker spot allowed Allen to execute his vision, much like he did in a Black Friday road win over the Philadelphia Eagles. That was the last game Allen had both DBs available.

Fourth-down aggressiveness remains

Johnson regularly went for it on fourth down during last week’s win over the Packers, to mixed results (2 of 6). He employed that same strategy in this game, with three fourth-down attempts in the first half alone. The Bears weren’t terribly effective, however, with two missteps despite being in field-goal range, and they finished 3 for 6 on those tries.

The Bears gave three points away twice. Williams threw an interception on fourth-and-2 from the Rams’ 21 on Chicago’s opening drive. He threw a fourth-down TD pass to Moore on the next drive, and Kyle Monangai was stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-short in the next attempt.

Johnson decided to take the points when facing another fourth down later in the first half, with Cairo Santos converting a 48-yard field goal. The Rams responded in kind to tie the score at 10 entering halftime.

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