The Chicago Bears are not yet focused on the 2026 offseason. For the first time in half a decade, they are playing meaningful football in December. Having already clinched a playoff berth, the team is aiming higher. A win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday would further their aims of winning the division and maybe even claiming the #1 seed in the NFC. However, recent events may compel GM Ryan Poles to begin formulating a plan of action. It appears things have finally reached a breaking point between Maxx Crosby and the Las Vegas Raiders.

It had been felt since last year that the superstar pass rusher was growing frustrated with the team’s inability to build a winner. He had hoped the arrival of Pete Carroll might change that. Instead, the Raiders have one of the worst records in the NFL and are vying for the #1 pick. Then, to rub salt in the wound, they’ve decided to shut Crosby down for the season with two games left despite his protests. Not only is that a personal insult to his toughness, but it is likely also a clear sign to him that the team is trying to tank for the top pick.

Maxx Crosby feels almost certain to get traded.

He will be 29 years old next season. Las Vegas just gave him a contract extension in March, meaning he’s under a hefty deal through 2029. If the Raiders aim to rebuild and he wants out, a trade is inevitable. This feels like a no-brainer idea for the Bears. They have one of the weaker pass rushes in the NFL. While Montez Sweat is still good, nobody else has really stepped up to complement him. Dayo Odeyingbo, their prized free agent addition, tore his Achilles, as did rookie Shemar Turner. They need a dynamic rusher who can give them more juice. Maxx Crosby is an ideal candidate.

The five-time Pro Bowler has at least 10 sacks in three of his last four seasons. There is no reason to think he will run out of gas for at least another few years. For Chicago, it is about finding the cap space and determining the price tag. They currently have only $3 million available. They’ll need to do some restructuring and make some potential cuts to find the room.

As for price? That isn’t easy to gauge.

Micah Parsons went to Green Bay for two 1st round picks. Crosby is two and a half years older. Richard Seymour was 29 when New England traded him. That cost a 1st round pick. Von Miller was 32 in 2021. He went for 2nd and 3rd round picks. Atlanta gave up a 1st round pick for John Abraham in 2006 for a 1st round pick. Given Crosby’s prestige, it will take at least a 1st rounder to get him, and probably an additional day two pick.

There is no doubt he’d be interested in joining the Bears, since he wants to play for a winner. Getting to play across from Ben Johnson’s offense would be a win-win scenario for everybody involved.

The Chicago Bears released their final injury report Friday, and it tells a clear story heading into a massive matchup with playoff seeding on the line. The biggest headline: wide receiver Rome Odunze is officially out, and the Bears appear comfortable with that decision.

Odunze has been dealing with a foot injury and did not practice this week. With the postseason approaching, Chicago is clearly prioritizing the long game. Preserving Odunze for a playoff run makes sense, especially with other weapons available. His return now feels more likely in January than in Week 17.

One of those weapons returns this week. Rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III is set to play after being limited earlier in the week. Burden is an explosive play machine who can change games with the ball in his hands. His speed and versatility give the Bears offense a much-needed spark, particularly with Odunze sidelined.

Defensively, the focus shifts to the secondary. C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Nahshon Wright are both listed as questionable. Their availability is critical, as the Bears will need depth and physicality at corner against San Francisco’s passing attack. Linebacker T.J. Edwards will be another key player to monitor as he is questionable for Sunday.

There’s also intrigue on the other sideline. The San Francisco 49ers could be without star tight end George Kittle, who is a game-time decision. If Kittle can’t go, it would significantly alter the matchup.

With playoff positioning at stake, this game may come down to which injured stars are able to answer the bell. Let’s go!

Caleb Williams is having a really good second season for the Chicago Bears. He’s 7th in the NFL with 23 touchdown passes, second in the NFL with six interceptions, and leads the league with six 4th quarter comebacks. Yet people continue to dodge giving the young quarterback any credit. Why? Most of it centers around a glaring part of his stat line: his completion percentage. The 57.8% rate is dead last among starting quarterbacks in the league this year, confirming his poor accuracy and fatal flaw in the eyes of many.

However, the argument starts to fall apart once you delve into the deeper statistics. Let’s start with the obvious one. Chicago ranks 7th in the NFL with 23 dropped passes this season. If the majority of those were caught, his completion percentage would hover around 62%. Then you have throwaways. These are plays in which the quarterback throws it out of bounds or in the dirt to avoid a turnover. Williams has 34 this season, which is the most in the NFL.

That is 57 out of his 499 passing attempts that were either inaccurate on purpose or accurate passes that were dropped.

The case against Caleb Williams gets worse the deeper you dig.

You also have intended air yards. This stat averages out the depth of target on every passing attempt by a quarterback. Williams is fifth in the NFL at 8.6 yards per target. This is not a quarterback who asks to throw constant high-percentage, shorter passes. He’s told to attack down the field, and that can often lead to tougher throws.

Meanwhile, Jared Goff’s healthy 68.7% completion percentage is largely thanks to his 6.4 IAY average, which is third-worst in the league. Nobody talks about it because Detroit is the best yards-after-catch team in the league. Caleb Williams has played on the higher difficulty setting all year.

Last but not least, Williams is the sixth-most pressured quarterback in the NFL. Opponents have gotten in his face on 24.9% of his dropbacks. Some of that is due to him holding the ball, but not nearly as much as last season. Having to navigate dirty pockets typically leads to tougher throws. Yet despite all of that, Williams is still 11-4, still the third-fewest sacked quarterback in the league, and is having one of the best passing seasons in franchise history.

The Detroit Lions felt like a team on the cusp of their first-ever Super Bowl run the previous two years. They’d gone to the NFC Championship in 2023 and claimed the #1 seed in 2024. They looked like the class of the NFC and a surefire contender for at least another few years. However, some feared if the team could maintain this momentum, knowing they were about to lose both of their coordinators to head coaching jobs, especially Ben Johnson, who’d crafted the best offense in the NFL.

Lions fans refused to acknowledge that possibility. They still had loads of talent across the board. Just find another smart coach and let him play with the toys. Things seemed fine at first. Detroit started hot, going 5-2 into the bye week. Then everything unraveled. A defensive decline mixed with play caller changes on offense led to inconsistent play that resulted in some brutal losses. Everything came crashing down on Christmas Day, when Detroit scored just 10 points in a must-win game against Minnesota, turning it over six times.

The crushing loss finally got a Lions fan to admit the truth on TikTok. Losing Johnson completely ruined the team’s identity.

Ben Johnson made the Lions who they were.

From the moment he took over in 2022, the coordinator made it clear Detroit would be a physical and violent offense built around a strong ground attack. Through that, they would deploy a lethal play-action game. Every time the Lions grew sluggish, they just leaned on their offensive line and running backs. Every time it carried them out of trouble. That identity faded away this season. David Montgomery saw his usage dip as the season went on. Their scheming lacked coherence at times and seemed far more basic.

While Dan Campbell didn’t abandon the run game by any means, it became clear he didn’t have the same magic touch Ben Johnson did. After all, you’re seeing shades of that identity from the past three years materialize in Chicago. The Bears are second in rush and second in play action passing attempts. They know exactly who they are and have leaned into that in every game this year. As a result, they are 11-4 and in the playoffs. Lions fans are just now realizing what they lost.

The Chicago Bears are in the playoffs. That much is certain. Only two things remain to figure out. One is whether they win the division, and the other is what seed they end up with. Much of that hinges on their final two games, as well as those of three other teams: the Seahawks, Eagles, and Packers. However, it turns out the Detroit Lions may have cleared away some of the murk. To the shock of many, they were upset by the Minnesota Vikings and third-string QB Max Brosmer on Christmas Day, 23-10. Jared Goff turned it over five times. It was a collapse of epic proportions.

Detroit’s hopes of a third straight playoff appearance are finished. Their season is over. That loss also ensured the Green Bay Packers made the postseason. Now the obvious question is who the Bears will face. Here is where it gets interesting. Based on every possible scenario, there is a strong likelihood they will face teh Packers for a third time this season.

#1 – Bears go 1-1 and secure the second seed. The Packers lock in as the seventh seed.

#2 – Bears win out and Seahawks win out. Bears claim second seed and likely face Packers.

#3 – Bears lose out and Packers win out. The Packers claim second seed, and the Bears get the seventh seed.

#4 – Bears lose out, Eagles go 1-1 or 0-2, Bears still get the second seed.

The only clear way the Bears can avoid the Packers in the first round is if they claim the first seed by winning out and Seattle loses one of its last two games. Or they could lose both, the Packers go 1-1, and the Eagles go 2-0. That would give them the third seed.

It almost had to happen this way for the Chicago Bears.

Each of the past two times this franchise has won a championship, they had to beat the Packers twice. They swept the season series in 1963 and again in 1985. In 2006, they split the series, and in 2010, they split the series, and Chicago lost in the NFC championship to Green Bay. If this plays out the way the winds are blowing, this would be only the third time in NFL history these two teams have met in the playoffs. Chicago won the first in 1941 and went on to win the championship a week later. Green Bay won the second, winning the Super Bowl after that.

It feels appropriate that both teams would meet again in this way. Once again, they split the season series. If the Chicago Bears want to stake their claim at legitimacy in this league, they must prove they can get past the Packers when it matters most. You can bet Green Bay will be out for revenge after that collapse a week ago. They will want to show everybody it was a fluke. The Bears can’t expect home field alone to help them. They’ll need to play their best game of the season.

Most coaches don’t become great by sheer osmosis. They are developed over time by their hard work and experience. Intelligence plays a part, but that comes with an ability to learn. Ben Johnson is no different. While he was always one of the smartest people in the room, his path to becoming one of the NFL’s best offensive minds was paved with learning at the feet of several coaches over the past 16 years. One would think the biggest inspirations for him were obvious. There were Joe Philbin, Zac Taylor, and Adam Gase in Miami. He also spent a couple of years with Darrell Bevell in Detroit.

Yet none of those names were mentioned when Johnson was asked who his biggest influences were during an interview on Football Night in America. The one he dropped might be one of the more forgotten influences on the game in the past 25 years.

Ben Johnson is right to mention Christensen.

Clyde Christensen is probably one of the more underappreciated assistant coaches in recent NFL history. He was wide receivers coach for the Indianapolis Colts for most of the 2000s, helping them win the Super Bowl in 2006. He then took over as offensive coordinator in 2009 and promptly got them to a second Super Bowl. Even after the coaching staff was fired, he was kept around as quarterbacks coach, where he helped develop Andrew Luck into a star. In 2016, he left Miami, where he helped the Dolphins make the playoffs for the first time in eight years. He then became the quarterbacks coach in Tampa Bay, helping Jameis Winston throw for 5,000 yards in one year and securing a seventh Super Bowl win for Tom Brady the next.

It isn’t hard to understand why Ben Johnson learned some valuable lessons from the man. Success seemed to follow him everywhere. Christensen had some outstanding mentors, including Tony Dungy and Bruce Arians. They understood the values of preparation and detail. It is pretty cool of Johnson to remind everybody how good Christensen was at his job, particularly with quarterbacks.

Now we’re seeing those same lessons play out with Caleb Williams. Johnson is walking that fine line between tough love and encouragement that many head coaches never quite grasp. It has led to almost overnight success for the franchise. Be sure to remember the name Clyde Christensen as this entire process unfolds.