There were enough mistakes made on all sides by the Bears to allow Green Bay to escape with a 28-21 win Sunday at Lambeau Field.
Whether it was Cairo Santos’ terrible kickoff that set the Packers up for good field position for a touchdown before halftime, Dennis Allen gambling too much on blitzes and getting burned, and finally questionable play calls by Ben Johnson, mistakes could be found at all points.
The biggest was left for quarterback Caleb Williams, when he threw the interception to Keisean Nixon in the end zone needing a yard with DJ Moore uncovered in plain sight 6 or 7 yards downfield.
Then, Williams made a mistake maybe just as big after the game.
“So, it’s good for us to be able to find ways to rally and obviously we want to focus on having a better outcome and starting faster and all these different things,” Williams said. “But it’s definitely useful for us, just in case we go on the road at some point and in the playoffs and things like that.
The Green Bay Packers busted coverage on the last play, Caleb Williams just missed it!
Caleb’s interception should’ve been a walk in touchdown. 🤦🏾♂️#AchoAnalysis| @speakeasytlkshw| #Bears| #BearDown pic.twitter.com/zUYeF4HyqI
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) December 8, 2025
“It’s something that we are going to use in the future and throughout my career. But we got to focus on this next game up to get to that point.”
The mistake is trying to find value and something positive in yet another loss to the Packers.
They outplayed the Packers under Matt Eberflus last year twice, and in the one when Green Bay didn’t pull its punches the Bears had the game won except for a blocked field goal made by the Packers using an illegal play that officials still allowed.
So, having already proven they could play with the Packers last year, they should have been a little less bubbly about Sunday’s losing effort.
Caleb Williams sub 60% completion percentage in 9 of his last 10 games:
• 59.5%
• 58.6%
• 57.7%
• 65.8%
• 58.8%
• 55.6%
• 50.0%
• 54.3%
• 47.2%
• 54.3% pic.twitter.com/ZOyTPXf2yS
— FIRST ROUND MOCK (@firstroundmock) December 8, 2025
They shouldn’t act like they finished when they didn’t. They can leave talk about moral victories for fans or media.
Disgust with defeat would have been a more proper response by the Bears, and leave it at that.
Someone needs to be real about this being an actual loss and I’m just the guy to do it. Here are the grades for another loss to Green Bay.
Running game: C+
Johnson said it himself after the game: In the first half it was more 2 and 3 yards than 5 and 6. They couldn’t afford to come out to start a big game so soft up front. It took a few tough runs by Kyle Monangai to get them lathered up and going late in the second quarter. The execution on the ground later was just as good as against Philadelphia and they seemed to wear out the Packers’ front, but they still only averaged 4.3 yards a carry and that’s merely acceptable.
I love Kyle Monangai. pic.twitter.com/GJJjbG5d9B
— Greg Braggs Jr. (@GBraggsJr23) December 7, 2025Passing game: D+
The difference in the game was Green Bay getting big plays downfield by taking advantage of Bears coverages while Williams was inching the ball. While Love and the Packers averaged 8.6 yards per pass play, Williams averaged 4.9 yards per attempt. They said going in that explosive plays would decided it and the Bears’ passing game didn’t produce them, but it did come up with the key interception when they didn’t need to force it into the end zone. The explosive passes resulted in Jordan Love’s 120.7 passer rating even with an interception. Williams had a 76.6 because they were accepting short gains all day. Micah Parsons proved better at beating his chest than beating Bears pass blockers, and he was better at whining about officials than anything else.
Skips actually right for once. Surrounded by 4 defenders and they let him go. Unreal. Bears defense is horrific. No pass rush, bad tackling, injuries everywhere. Woof. https://t.co/mSEZx14HqL
— Colt Smith (@ColtSmith18) December 8, 2025Run defense: C
They gave up 4.5 yards a carry to an offense struggling to get to 4.0 this year and on the key running play of the game had Josh Jacobs cornered with four defenders and no one even made a good tackle attempt on him until he got 21 yards downfield. Overall, the effort against the run could have been good enough for a win but the one big explosive proved critical because it led to a 2-yard touchdown for the win.
Pass defense: D
Only the interception C.J. Gardner-Johnson made kept this from being an “F” grade. Giving up 8 of 12 on third down is unacceptable no matter who the opposing QB is. Other than Montez Sweat’s sack early in the game, there was no pass rush and this led to more gambling by Allen they would have been necessary. Gardner-Johnson couldn’t keep up with Christian Watson in the slot and confusion reigned in the secondary at times, once resulting in a TD.
We saw the same old #Bears in the 28-21 loss to the #Packers@leilarahimi, @mharrisonair & @grotesports break down the game on this Football Monday
10 a.m.-2 p.m. @670TheScore
11:00 @BigAntHerron
1:00 @danwiederer
📱https://t.co/ZA5i70in2d
💻https://t.co/mZozFMQktk pic.twitter.com/D0PrUSeAkp
— Rahimi Harris & Grote (@Rahimi_Harris) December 8, 2025Special teams: C+
Cairo Santos made a 41-yard field goal and that’s no easy accomplishment in such cold conditions. However, his botched “dirty” kickoff let the Packers have it at the 40 for its touchdown drive in the final two minutes before halftime. Green Bay got pinned back at its own 11 by the first two Tory Taylor punts.
Cairo Santos on that kickoff… pic.twitter.com/7Ud4FnJ8qz
— Bologna (@PeterFonseca) December 7, 2025Coaching: D+
DJ Moore was forgotten as much by Ben Johnson as by Williams. The final Bears drive needed to push the pace more early. They wasted too much time at first and then later didn’t use a timeout when they could have taken one to be better organized. Johnson didn’t run the ball on fourth-and-1 when they’d been wearing down Green Bay’s defense all game with the run. Just because Kyle Monangai got stopped once short of the first down didn’t mean Green Bay could stop him again. Williams’ interception was predictable because the Bears had just used the same play in a similar situation against the Eagles. The Packers actually did botch the coverage of this pass but got lucky Williams threw the interception and didn’t see Moore open. This didn’t make it a good play call, just a play the Bears didn’t execute. Allen’s blitzes on coverages got him in trouble. Every one of Green Bay’s passing TDs burned Bears coverages and scheming. Watson’s 23-yard TD was a third-and-10 play. That should never happen. The 45-yarder before halftime was just as bad.
“Big Brain Ben” Johnson on full display. It’s fourth and a foot. You’ve got two timeouts left. Run the ball and pick up the first down.
But, credit to the Packers defense. They took away the first two options and forced Caleb into a tough spot. pic.twitter.com/AFqigR79jZ
— Brandon Kinnard (@brandonkinnard) December 8, 2025Team Trainer: F
How many soft tissue injuries must a team endure? They can’t even get through pregame warmups without another one that totally destroyed their game plan for covering Watson in the slot.
It’s called proper stretching. They did a better job of this in the 1960s.
How the hell do you hurt yourself in pre-game warmups? Doesn’t matter how good Kyler Gordon is if he’s never in the lineup.
— BenJohnsonIsH1M? (@TheJeffSchlegel) December 7, 2025Overall: D
At least Ben Johnson was able to keep his shirt on, although his coaching was what actually got exposed by Matt LaFleur.
Bears’ Week 14 good, bad and ugly includes yet another groin injuryGetting Caleb Williams to locate top receiver requires drastic measuresThe lesson learned by Bears with heartbreaking 28-21 defeat
X: BearsOnSI