Sadness, frustration, appreciation — you name it, Chicago Bears players felt it after their comeback bid fell short during Sunday’s 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in a divisional playoff game at Soldier Field. “It’s kind of like your life flashes before your eyes,” guard Jonah Jackson said. “The year flashes before your eyes.” “It takes a while,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said. “Disappointment, obviously.” Safety Jaquan Brisker didn’t want to take off his jersey after the game and just lingered in the locker room. Photos: Chicago Bears clean out their lockers after playoff loss ends season “Really just hurting,” said Brisker, who will be an unrestricted free agent. “We lost a playoff game, especially here in Chicago. I hate losing. It could have been my last time in a Bears uniform, and obviously I wanted to soak that in.” Center Drew Dalman wasn’t sure how to feel at first. “It’s a mixture of just frustration and sadness but also appreciation for a year that we pointed things in the right direction,” he said. Reserve defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka just arrived in Chicago in November in a trade with the Cleveland Browns, and he was inactive for both playoff games. But he, too, felt the abruptness of the season’s end. “Just playoff football, man,” said the fifth-year veteran, who played in four straight postseasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “You don’t win, you don’t get to keep going. “It just rushes all at you at once, and then you forget about it and you’re like, ‘Damn, we’re not playing next week.’ You’re packing your lockers up and then Coach is talking about (how) it’s the last time the Chicago Bears will have this type of team together.” Here are three things we learned Monday from exit interviews at Halas Hall. 1. It was a special season. Bears wide receiver DJ Moore (2) celebrates with teammates after catching the go-ahead touchdown pass in the fourth quarter against the Packers on Jan. 10, 2026, at Soldier Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) A year earlier, the Bears had similar optimism after starting 4-2 under Matt Eberflus, but a 10-game losing streak consigned them to a 5-12 finish. The Bears fired Eberlus the day after Thanksgiving, hired Ben Johnson in January 2025, and the former Detroit Lions play caller not only revitalized the offense, but also methodically changed the culture. After starting 0-2, the Bears had four- and five-game winning streaks, clinched their first postseason berth since 2020 and beat the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round for their first playoff victory in 15 years. It wasn’t just about winning again — it was how they won that made the 2025 Bears special. They engineered seven fourth-quarter comebacks, including two in four weeks against the Packers on DJ Moore touchdown catches — one in overtime and one in the last two minutes of regulation. To show the topsy-turvy nature of the season, here’s a quick summary of each game. Week 1 vs. Vikings: Gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns to J.J. McCarthy in a 27-24 collapse. Week 2 at Lions: Johnson got blasted 52-21 by his old team, and the naysayers got louder. Week 3 vs. Cowboys: Caleb Williams broke out with four touchdown passes and no interceptions to hand Johnson his first win. Week 4 at Raiders: D’Andre Swift scored with 1:39 left, and special teamer Josh Blackwell sealed the first comeback win by blocking a late field-goal try. Week 6 at Commanders: The Bears defense recovered a late fumble, and substitute kicker Jake Moody booted the game-winner with three seconds left. Week 7 vs. Saints: A rare uneventful victory. Week 8 at Ravens: Backup Tyler Huntley did his best Lamar Jackson impression and upended the Bears. Week 9 at Bengals: Rookie tight end Colston Loveland scored a go-ahead 58-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left to bank another comeback. Week 10 vs. Giants: Down 20-10 in the fourth quarter, Williams scored twice in the rally. Week 11 at Vikings: After going down 17-16 with 50 seconds left, Devin Duvernay’s 56-yard kickoff return helped set up Cairo Santos’ game-winning 48-yard field goal with four seconds left. Week 12 vs. Steelers: Three TDs and no picks for Williams, and the Bears held off a Pittsburgh comeback bid. Week 13 at Eagles: Kyle Monangai and Swift combined for 255 rushing yards to shock the defending champions on Black Friday. Week 14 at Packers: Williams’ fourth-and-1 throw for a potential tying touchdown was intercepted by Keisean Nixon. Week 15 vs. Browns: The Bears defense picked off Shedeur Sanders three times. Week 16 vs. Packers: After a successful onside kick, Williams tied the game on a touchdown throw to Jahdae Walker with 24 seconds left, then won it with a 46-yard, walk-off TD to Moore in overtime. Week 17 at 49ers: Williams threw incomplete to Walker as another comeback bid feel short in a 42-38 shootout loss. Week 18 vs. Lions: The Bears came out flat in the regular-season finale. Wild-card round vs. Packers: Moore, connoisseur of foam cheese-grater hats, struck again with a 25-yard score with 1:48 left, capping off a 25-point fourth quarter and a seventh comeback win. Divisional round vs. Rams: Williams gave the Bears life with a backpedaling touchdown lob to Cole Kmet with 18 seconds left, but he sealed their fate with an overtime interception, his third of the night. Looking back on the whole season, safety Kevin Byard III said, the thing that stood out was “just the resiliency.” “We had so many magical wins this year,” Byard said. “We had so many come-from-behind wins, the Cincinnati game, the Green Bay wins, Minnesota. It’s (a) countless amount of games. … It was a special year.” Still, Byard noted that in his 10-year career, he has learned playoff runs can be fleeting. He recalled how his 2019 Tennessee Titans lost the AFC championship game to the Kansas City Chiefs, and then he was one-and-done in his next three postseason appearances (2020 Titans, ‘21 Titans, ‘23 Eagles). “This is not something that’s very easy to do at all,” he said, “but I have belief in this group, in this team, in this organization. We’re all having these talks like, ‘Hey, man, we’ve got to run this back,’ but there’s no guarantee that it’s going to happen again.” 2. What is the team’s identity? Bears running back Kyle Monangai, left, and safety Jaquan Brisker say goodbye in the locker room Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, at Halas Hall after the season ended with a loss to the Rams in an NFC divisional playoff game. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Brisker, who led the team Sunday night with 14 tackles, has been a Bear since getting drafted in the second round in 2022. If one thing marked the team’s character this season, he said, it’s that it was “a lot hungrier.” He said after the playoff run, “seeing what that feels like, seeing the energy” drives him to “want to get that Lombardi (Trophy).” When asked about their identity, several players said the Bears are “gritty.” “We’re going to fight and scratch for everything,” Monangai said. “Never count us out.” Tryon-Shoyinka added: “Man, that was the evidence, those comebacks, just fighting all 60 minutes. … I know the OTAs and training camp had to be hard as (expletive) for them to perform like that.” 3. How to evaluate Ben Johnson? Bears coach Ben Johnson greets his players before facing the Rams on Jan. 18, 2026, in an NFC divisional playoff game at Soldier Field. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) There’s no question Johnson has fostered a high level of confidence and calm under pressure. You don’t stage seven game-winning rallies without those qualities. “I learned from the first time he stepped into the building who he was, and I learned who he wasn’t,” Odunze said. “He’s been consistent throughout the entire season. … He wants this organization to be great and he leads by example and vocally.” However, even Johnson has questioned his own play calling at times, and he can be aggressive to a fault. He went 2-for-6 on fourth down in the first playoff game against the Packers and lived to tell about it. Then he went 3-for-6 against the Rams, twice turning the ball over on downs in LA territory — plus a Williams interception on fourth down — after passing up field-goal tries. Related Articles Caleb Williams’ teammates say the Chicago Bears QB ‘put it all out there on the line’ this season Photos: Chicago Bears clean out their lockers after playoff loss ends season Remarkable season ends for Chicago Bears: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the playoff loss in overtime Chicago Bears season ends with no Ben Johnson postgame victory speech, only a ‘crushing’ loss Caleb Williams’ season in a nutshell: Another miraculous TD and an overtime INT in Chicago Bears’ playoff loss However, what one might criticize as risky, another observer might call trust. “One thing I’ve learned about him is he’ll do whatever it takes to win,” right tackle Darnell Wright said. “I’ve seen that through training camp, through OTAs, through practice. It doesn’t matter what it is.” There’s no arguing with the numbers. Through the first two weeks of the postseason, the Bears rank No. 1 in total offense with 431 yards per game. During the regular season they ranked sixth in total offense (369.5 ypg), third in rushing (144.5 ypg) and ninth in scoring (25.9 ppg). That’s a complete turnaround from 2024, when the offense under coordinator Shane Waldron and others ranked last in total offense (283.5 ypg), 25th in rushing (102 ypg) and 28th in scoring (18.2 ppg). “He’s been the catalyst for us,” said Williams, who finished as the franchise single-season passing leader with 3,942 yards. “To be able to lead us, to be able to stand strong in tough moments and good moments, to be able to show emotion, be able to be who he is and be consistent with that and do what he said he was going to do, he’s been everything that Chicago’s needed as a coach.“ Byard credited Johnson for bringing accountability along with his creative play calling. “They got the right guy leading this team,” Byard said. “He did a phenomenal job this year.” ...read more read less