SANTA CLARA, Calif. — This could be a new normal for the Chicago Bears: a quarterback and offense capable of trading touchdowns in a high-scoring affair.
Caleb Williams can forgive those who have watched this team for a long time for wanting to turn his performance into a moral victory or silver lining. Williams went on the road, down two starting wide receivers, and traded touchdowns with Brock Purdy and the 49ers to help put up 38 points. He had the ball in his hands with a chance to win, too. That’s not something Bears quarterbacks usually do.
But the Bears lost 42-38. Williams failed to make the final play in the end. No one in Bears gear at Levi’s Stadium was celebrating — nor should they. They were frustrated, 2 yards away from a massive win that would have kept the No. 1 seed alive.
“I’m excited to go back and watch this film and figure out how we can be better, how we can put in more points, how we can be more efficient, maybe, on offense for moments like this,” Williams said. “Because we may see this team again, and we may see other offenses again that are very similar. … I’m excited for what’s to come. … We’re a team that’s going to fight, and I think we’ve proven that.”
Williams is only the second Bears quarterback in the past 30 years to throw for 300 yards with no sacks and no picks in a game — the other was Brian Hoyer in a loss to the Colts in 2016.
Considering how prolific the 49ers have been of late, it wasn’t a secret that the offense would have to score. A lot. And the quarterback would have to make some big-time throws.
“He knew he needed to come out and make some plays for us here tonight,” coach Ben Johnson said. “When you’re going against a dynamic offense like that, we talked about the possibility as an offense, us going tit for tat with them and we, at times, were able to answer that call. They just ended up making more plays than us.”
Williams had his fourth-best passer rating of the season (100.3), third-best EPA (expected points added) per pass (0.38), third-best EPA per dropback (0.35), most throws for a first down (16) and tied for his most 20-plus-yard pass plays (six).
Yes, it came against a 49ers defense that is woeful at getting after the passer but also against a coordinator in Robert Saleh who is considered one of the best. It was a raucous home field for the 49ers, and Williams didn’t have receivers Rome Odunze (foot) or Olamide Zaccheaus (illness) in the lineup.
The offense opened the game with back-to-back three-and-outs, while the Niners scored back-to-back touchdowns after T.J. Edwards’ pick six to take a 14-7 lead. That was one of several inflection points where the game could’ve spiraled, but Williams was undaunted. He completed 35- and 36-yard touchdowns on back-to-back drives to rookies, first to wide receiver Luther Burden, then tight end Colston Loveland on a free play after the 49ers jumped.
“It’s something (Johnson) added in … a hard count to try and get these guys to jump offsides,” Williams said. “The guys did a great job with acting. … Drew (Dalman) did a great job, O-line did a great job. A lot of times, that situation stuns the D-line, and it did there. It gave me an ample amount of time. And so in those moments, you know you got the flag. At that point, it’s give the guys a shot.”
Once the flag was thrown and the play went on, Williams could have thrown it to the flat for a short gain, but he threw a rocket to Loveland in the end zone.
“It was something we talked about going into the week and we repped it again this morning in our walkthrough and guys understood what we were trying to get done on that and so it was well-executed,” Johnson said. “That’s why we do free plays, is to throw the ball down the field. So if we were throwing that short, I’d probably be upset with him.”
It’s the second time this season Williams has had two touchdown passes of at least 35 yards in the same half (Dallas, Week 3). The last NFL quarterback to do that in a season was the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson. The data only goes back to 1991, and no other Bears QB had done it in that time span, per team PR.
With the defense showing little to no ability to slow Purdy — the 49ers were 7-for-10 on third down, gained 496 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone — there was no margin of error for Williams. The Bears started the game with two empty possessions and couldn’t really afford any more.
Johnson was pleased with the operation on both sides of the ball in the second half. Williams led three straight scoring drives and was 2 yards away from a fourth. After an 0-for-3 start on third down, they went 6-for-9 after halftime. Williams was 5-for-7 passing on third or fourth down in the second half, with an EPA of 1.66 per throw.
Huge conversion by @lutherburden3 ‼️
📺: NBC pic.twitter.com/sl18Gi4VZP
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 29, 2025
The 49ers were relentless, and Williams kept answering.
“If our guys on the other side of the ball maybe are having a tough day, we’ll be right there with them, having their back just as they’ve done for us in a multitude of games,” Williams said.
The Bears are now 1-41 all time when allowing 42 points. The one win came eight weeks ago in Cincinnati, and Williams almost did it again.
The accuracy could still be better — though Bears receivers had at least two drops. The starts of games remain a problem — the Bears haven’t scored on their opening drive since Week 9 and have had back-to-back punts to open three of their past four games.
“I thought Caleb played pretty well for the most part, taking care of the football and throwing it accurately,” Johnson said. “So that was good to see.”
It felt similar to the second half at Lambeau Field, where the Bears failed to convert on the final play to the end zone with a shot to win. Williams had a stellar second half in Green Bay to get the Bears back in it. Sunday night, he played a pretty complete game and kept his team alive.
This team knows that in the playoffs, if it’s in one of those score-for-score, whoever-has-the-ball-last wins, they have a quarterback who is more than capable of keeping up. It’s a good thing for the Bears that they have a quarterback who can not only do what Williams did but also a quarterback who recognizes it isn’t good enough when it comes in a losing effort when his final throw falls short.
“We know what type of team we are,” Williams said. “We know who we are, we know that all these ballgames, we can … we’ve got a real shot to win these. The frustration comes from us shooting ourselves in the foot, whether it’s alignments, whether it’s penalties, whether it’s assignments.
“And being able just to focus for … you only get 70 or so plays. And so you don’t want to go waste one of those. We’ll go back and look at this tape and find out why and what so we can get back on that roll and get back on a run.”