2 January 2024
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024. And in the eyes of the Chicago Bears, welcome to a year that seems to hold incredible potential.
The Bears put an exclamation point on their home finale Sunday afternoon, hammering the Atlanta Falcons 37-17 for their fifth consecutive win at Soldier Field. The encouraged vibes were everywhere inside the victorious locker room with players feeling more confident than ever that the team is in the middle of a significant breakthrough.
Later in the evening, the Bears were officially eliminated from the NFC playoff picture. But they have one more game to play in Week 18 with a chance to punctuate at their late-season surge in emphatic fashion.
Here in the final week of the season, Tribune writers Dan Wiederer and Colleen Kane talk through four Bears-related topics in a “True or false” format to set the stage for all that’s ahead.
True or false: A Week 18 trip to Lambeau Field to face the rival Green Bay Packers is the ideal final test for this Bears team.
Dan Wiederer: True. Very true. One-hundred percent true.
God, is there some perfect theater built into this season finale? For starters, the Packers can punch their ticket to the NFC postseason with a victory. But the suddenly surging Bears would love nothing more than to play bouncer to that playoff party and send their rivals into the offseason instead.
Just as meaningful for the Bears is the chance to get a true progress report on how much improvement they have made this season. Don’t forget, the Bears lost their season opener 38-20 at home to the Packers 17 weeks ago. And trust me, the Bears players haven’t forgotten.
“Yeah, yeah,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said Sunday, “we’re on their ass for sure. We have to bring that to them next week for sure.”
Eddie Jackson seemed equally enthused for the rematch.
“When it’s Green Bay, man, it’s like a championship game,” he said. “You’ve got to beat Green Bay. You have to. Especially after the first game of the season? Everyone still has that taste in their mouth. So we know this has to be a statement game for us.”
Colleen Kane: Absolutely. I really like this test for the Bears because it should be more challenging than the last two wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Falcons. But it’s also a winnable game if the Bears continue to play the way they have during their last four wins.
Quarterback Justin Fields and the offense will need to overcome a tough road environment. Plus I’m really interested to see how a defense that now has 22 interceptions fares against Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who has thrown only one in his last seven games.
And, as you mentioned, I think the Bears players will remain motivated. I liked this statement from veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis last week about what players need to keep in mind.
“To protect the culture, you have to win ballgames,” Lewis said. “To win ballgames on Sunday, sometimes on Thursday and Monday, you’ve got to win the day. In the building, you’ve got to win the day. … Having a bunch of turnover, that’s not good for a young quarterback or for a young team. So if you want to protect the culture, if you do love what you’ve got going here, then you’ve got to do things the right way.”
True or false: DJ Moore has been everything he was advertised to be for the Bears this season.
Kane: True. In fact, Moore really has been more than was expected when Bears general manager Ryan Poles acquired him in the trade for the Carolina Panthers’ No. 1 pick in March.
Moore has a career-high 1,300 yards and eight touchdowns on 92 catches, and he has been incredibly reliable, on pace for a career-high with a 70.8% catch rate. That 32-yard, over-the-shoulder catch Sunday — in which Moore said he couldn’t see the ball in the snow — will be one in a long line of highlights from this season.
On Sunday evening, Fields recalled how Moore made “like maybe two mistakes” on plays during training camp after learning the offense. He was locked in from the start and hasn’t disappointed since. And his play has helped Fields elevate his game too. Plus, Moore has done it with a workmanlike attitude.
“Just the way he has dedicated his time to this team and to learning the playbook and coming in and making plays like he has has been great for us,” Fields said. “Shoot, I love him here. He makes my job way easier. Just hats off to him. Glad that he’s my teammate.”
Wiederer: Fields’ sentiments are shared by everyone on the team, everyone on the coaching staff, everyone in the organization. Moore is an animal.
He’s productive. He’s reliable. He’s low maintenance. And he’s tough as hell. That’s how he was able to deliver nine catches, 159 yards and a touchdown to Sunday’s victory just a week after injuring his ankle against the Cardinals.
Moore’s first-quarter touchdown was a thing of beauty, a well-placed ball from Fields in the corner of the end zone that Moore snared thanks, in part, to “late hands” upon the ball’s arrival. Moore waited just long enough with his reception efforts to delay a pass breakup attempt from Jessie Bates. Touchdown, Bears.
We all knew after the March trade that Moore would be a major weapon in this 2023 offense. But he has exceeded expectation with the way he has produced and the way he has handled himself.
Justin Fields’ ridiculous 13-yard scramble Sunday was a perfect example of the kind of playmaking brilliance that makes it a no-brainer decision for the Bears to keep him for 2024 and beyond.
Wiederer: False. And that is to take nothing away from that play, which left every jaw inside Soldier Field on the ground as Fields escaped a sure sack three different times and somehow converted third-and-8 with his latest mind-blowing trick.
“Just another day at the office for Houdini,” Johnson said.
Added tight end Cole Kmet: “I really believe he’s the only guy who can do that in this league. I think that’s what is so captivating about him. It’s pretty special to watch.”
That might have been Fields’ most impressive play in an impressive performance against the Falcons that saw him rack up 313 total yards and two touchdowns in the Bears’ second highest-scoring output this season. If that kind of production from Fields was the norm? Then yes, the decision for general manager Ryan Poles would be, as the question framed it, “a no brainer” to stay the course with the current QB1.
But Poles has sooooo much more to consider from a three-season body of work from Fields. And he has so much to evaluate beyond the quarterback’s best plays and big games. Poles still must weigh whether he sees Fields on a developmental trajectory that can make him the engine of championship runs for the next decade or whether a prospect in the upcoming 2024 draft class is more suited to become that driving force. It’s a high-stakes decision for certain. It’s also complex. Involved. Full of nuance and guesswork.
Kane: Right, it’s not a “no-brainer.” It’s a complicated decision. But Fields is definitely making it tougher on Poles with not only plays like the above-mentioned magic act but also, as evidenced against the Falcons, he is taking care of the ball, finishing games and making more throws downfield.
Or, I suppose, that could make Poles’ decision easier if he were leaning toward keeping Fields. A day like Sunday really makes me wonder how Fields’ season might have played out if he hadn’t missed four games with a dislocated right thumb. But I guess what-if scenarios aren’t going to solve anything.
That’s why I’m so intrigued to see how Sunday’s game in Green Bay unfolds. Fields wants to make a convincing last impression this season? Lead the Bears’ first win against the Packers since 2018.
True or false: The Bears’ cigar celebration in the postgame locker room was perfect punctuation on their latest win.
Kane: True. I know, I know, the Bears are only 7-9 and were officially eliminated from the playoffs with the Packers’ victory later Sunday. I understand the argument that such celebrations should maybe be saved for division championships or postseason berths.
But it was New Year’s Eve, and the Bears have overcome a lot this season. Things were pretty rocky there in early October after an 0-4 start. So I have the same reaction as I do to baseball teams’ early-round champagne celebrations. Eh, why not? It’s team bonding. And over the last couple of months Bears players have seemed to stay grounded about where they’re at in building their team.
I don’t know if general manager Ryan Poles lit a cigar, but of all the people who probably deserved one Sunday, it was him. The fruits from his trade of last year’s No. 1 pick showed up in a pretty crazy way Sunday. From obtaining this year’s No. 1 pick thanks to the Carolina Panthers’ loss to the way Moore performed to two interceptions from cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who was a product of an extra second-round pick from the trade, it was a good day for Poles.
Now he has a chance to do bigger things thanks to the team’s 2024 draft position.
Wiederer: I laughed out loud at Kmet’s candid reaction to Sunday’s postgame victory celebration.
“Maybe a little much with the cigar smoke,” Kmet said.
That was just the tight end’s effort to express perspective as the Bears embrace their progress while also realizing how far they are from the sport’s mountaintop. And I appreciated Kmet further elaborating on why Sunday’s euphoric postgame vibes mattered.
“No, it’s good,” he said. “I think the results are showing up. The results have been there. We’re coming together as a team. I think you can see where this is going. We’ve got some really good pieces. We have a really good team coming together. I really believe that. And I couldn’t have said that in the past.”
He’s right. And you’re right, Colleen. Sunday was New Year’s Eve. Couple that with the Bears’ blowout victory and there was a clear green light for a festive moment at Soldier Field. Normally, I’m the “Pump the brakes” guy, as you know, opposed to exaggerated celebrations or premature proclamations of a breakthrough or arrival.
But even for a 7-9 team whose postseason hopes have been dashed, this was a different occasion and an opportunity to justifiably acknowledge how much improvement these Bears have made.
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