CHICAGO — The Bears are wrapping a quirk in their schedule where they play three games in 11 days.

Chicago lost a lopsided one to Minnesota on a Monday night, played poorly against Detroit during a standard Sunday slot and then faced off against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday evening at Solider Field.

The goals at this point are to keep things respectable and a position to snap a losing streak that has been going on for months.

The Bears accomplished the first mission. The second one remains elusive.

The led to a 6-3 result that extended their losing streak to 10 games.

Defense kept the Bears in it despite an offense that could barely move the ball.

Let’s break down how the Bears fared on the final leg of a difficult stretch.

Bair’s breakdown

The Bears offense is an absolute mess. They can’t run the ball at all anymore. The offensive line is banged up to the point that it’s prohibitive. The passing attack lives on screens and short passes, seemingly without a willingness to push the ball down the field.

That led to one unproductive series after another, where the Bears simply couldn’t go anywhere. That’s what made the fact Kyler Godron was ruled down by contact before returning his fumble recovery for a touchdown so huge.

The Bears were incapable of getting anywhere close to the end zone, taking away something that could’ve launched the team toward victory.

Defense kept the Bears in it, something it frequently did earlier in the season but not much of late.

That gave a struggling offense the opportunity to go win it.

That left the Bears with a massive fourth down that Caleb Williams on an excellent throw to DJ Moore. Rome Odzune got the Bears a bit closer to scoring range. In the end, however, Williams oouldn’t pull off some more late-down magic. A fourth-down volley, in the face of heavy pressure, ended up an interception. The Bears finished three points for the second time this season, a sign that an offense with lots of talent is lost. 

Key stat

327

No, that wasn’t the Bears offensive yardage — it was the output of their punter Tory Taylor. He had nearly double the amount of punt yards as the offense had (179). Taylor punted 7 times in the loss, as the offense was stuck in the mud all night. They had two possessions that went longer than 16 yards — their 13 play, 76-yard scoring drive in the first half and their 13-play drive at the end of the game that resulted in Williams’ game-ending interception.

Pivot point

After converting an impressive 3rd-and-14 with a 15-yard hookup to Odunze with 1 minute, 15 seconds to play, the Bears offense stagnated. With 2 timeouts and seemingly just needing a few yards to get into field goal range, the Bears called 4 straight pass plays and Williams threw three incompletions before the game-ending interception.

The INT that sealed the W for Seattle!@NFL | @Seahawks | #TNFonPrimepic.twitter.com/l4KonjQF18

— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) December 27, 2024

The entire sequence was a curious one — facing a fourth and short before the 2-minute warning, the Bears lined up to punt, Seattle took a timeout and then the Bears’ offense came back out to attempt to convert and extend the drive. Jake Curhan was called for a false start and the Bears needed an incredible play from Williams to keep the drive alive. Then, after Odunze’s hookup, the Bears elected to rush up the field and not take a timeout, killing nearly 40 seconds off the clock.

The Bears would finish the game with a timeout in their pocket.

What’s next

There’s (mercifully) just one more Bears game left on the schedule and it’s in Green Bay. The Bears will travel up to Lambeau Field for a Week 18 contest against the Packers, though it remains uncertain if the game will be played on a Saturday or a Sunday.