In the navy and orange afterglow of Sunday’s shootout loss to the San Francisco 49ers — the kind of ballgame your father’s Chicago Bears and his father’s aren’t accustomed to being in — there was a sentiment that the offense truly has arrived. Caleb Williams, who has made significant str ides in the second half of the season, passed for a season-high 330 yards and made an array of dazzling throws, including long touchdown passes to rookies Luther Burden III and Colston Loveland. In the end, the Bears fell 2 yards short when Williams’ desperation heave on the final play fell to the turf just in front of Jahdae Walker. The Bears (11-5) left Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night with a 42-38 loss but they had gone back-and-forth with the high-powered 49ers, directed by one of the NFL’s sharpest offensive minds in coach Kyle Shanahan. Chicago Bears by the numbers: Breaking down their potential 1st-round playoff scenarios A bid for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs evaporated, but hope was reinforced that the Bears are capable of hanging with the best in the conference, buoying confidence with the postseason field viewed as especially wide open. The feel-good buzz will be difficult to carry into the playoffs if the team cannot right much of what went wrong defensively against a peaking 49ers offense led by quarterback Brock Purdy but without star tight end George Kittle, Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams (who left the game with a hamstring injury after the first play) and any bona fide No. 1 receiver threat on the outside. Purdy evoked memories of Joe Montana, completing 24 of 32 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns after linebacker T.J. Edwards intercepted his first attempt and returned it for a touchdown. Running back Christian McCaffrey ran for 140 of the 49ers’ 200 yards on the ground, and the Bears were blitzed for 496 total yards with no answers on third down or the red zone and little pass rush to go along with some shoddy tackling. It was a cocktail for a blowout loss if it weren’t for the Bears’ offensive punch. It marked the fourth time this season the Bears have surrendered 431 yards or more and third time an opponent has averaged 7.3 yards per play or more. A defense that flirted with being in the top five on third down through the first half of the season has slumped to 19th, and as explosive as the Bears offense has been, opponents are hitting far too many big plays. “We’re moving on to Detroit,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said in answer to the first question Thursday afternoon. “I’ll say this — I don’t think I coached well enough last week. I don’t think we played well enough last week. “You learn your lessons, you make the corrections that you need to make. Now we move forward and we’re getting ready for Detroit. And I appreciate any of the questions about last week but at the end of the day I’ve been through it plenty of times. So, I’m ready to move on.” That has been Allen’s credo pretty much all year. It’s not as if he has waxed on during his Thursday media availability about better defensive showings and chosen to head off inquiries about bad games by borrowing from Bill Belichick, who famously moved on to the next opponent after a particularly humiliating “Monday Night Football” road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014. The Patriots thrashed the Cincinnati Bengals by 26 points the next week, the start of a seven-game winning streak, but that’s neither here nor there. Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs scores a touchdown in the third quarter against the Bears on Dec. 20, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Directly in front of the Bears are pressing issues that cannot be isolated to just the 49ers loss. In Week 16, the Green Bay Packers moved up and down the field at will. It was a sturdy defensive showing in the red zone — where the Packers were 0-for-5 — that made the comeback victory possible. The run defense has surrendered 392 yards in the two games as the 49ers and Packers combined for 56 first downs. Related Articles 5 things we learned from the Chicago Bears, including seeking to avenge humiliating Week 2 loss to Detroit Lions QB Jordan Love clears concussion protocol but won’t play in Green Bay Packers’ regular-season finale Chicago Bears by the numbers: Breaking down their potential 1st-round playoff scenarios Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams on 4,000 yards: ‘I was brought here for those types of things’ Chicago Bears QA: Will Caleb Williams reach 4,000 yards? How can the pass defense be improved? The Bears rank 28th in total defense, 28th against the run and 21st versus the pass. About the only category they’re doing well in — and it’s a huge one — is takeaways, in which they still rank No. 1 with 32. They have a league-high 22 interceptions but have allowed 57 pass plays of 20 yards or more. Only the Baltimore Ravens (61) and Bengals (59) have more. Takeaways will be more difficult to collect against better teams in the postseason. The Bears have six in the last four games, but three were interceptions against struggling Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders. This is a better defense right now than the one the Lions crushed for 52 points in Week 2. Whether it’s ready for playoff football remains to be seen. What was Allen’s message to the players? “We’ve all got to be better,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. “He took accountability for the part he played, and, as players, we took accountability for our part. We just talked about being better.” And just like that, the Bears moved on to the Lions for the regular-season finale Sunday at Soldier Field. It’s going to be challenging to go a lot further if things aren’t tightened up. ...read more read less