5 big takeaways from Chicago Bears’ Week 18 loss against Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It was another letdown on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers.

The Bears played one of their worst games of the season during Sunday’s season finale at Lambeau Field in Wisconsin. The Packers showed the Bears that they, indeed, do still own them. Green Bay won its 10th straight game in this rivalry and has now won 25 of the past 28 contests.

With a win, the Bears could’ve kept Green Bay out of the postseason. Instead, the cheeseheads are moving on and the Bears players are packing up and heading home for the offseason.

Here are the five major takeaways from Sunday’s game.

1. So what comes next?

Matt Eberflus said after the game that he looks forward to his exit meetings with the players on Monday morning. The bigger question is if Eberflus will even get to hold those meetings.

If the head coach is fired, it will likely happen first thing Monday morning. Eberflus said he believes he and this team have set a foundation that they can build on moving forward.

“We’re standing on solid ground,” Eberflus said. “Hard work, passion for the game and enthusiasm for the game, and we’re just going to keep working together to build this thing.”

We’re standing on solid ground. Hard work, passion for the game and enthusiasm for the game, and we’re just going to keep working together to build this thing.”

—  Matt Eberflus, Bears head coach

As for whether he expects to remain the head coach of the Bears, Eberflus said he hasn’t had those conversations with general manager Ryan Poles, but he looks forward to them.

Emotions aside about Sunday’s loss, the Bears have improved this season. They doubled their win total – from 3-14 last year to 7-10 this season – and played really well defensively. Eberflus and his staff weathered some storms along the way. They lost a coordinator two weeks into the season and rebounded from an 0-4 start.

But overall, Eberflus is 10-24 since taking over as head coach. The passing attack remains one of the worst in the NFL. The Bears also have a first-year team president in Kevin Warren, who could influence any big-picture decisions moving forward.

No matter what, this will be a momentous week at Halas Hall.

2. Justin Fields’ last hurrah?

A week ago, quarterback Justin Fields played one of his best games in a win over Atlanta. On Sunday in Green Bay, he threw for only 148 yards with no touchdowns and no turnovers. The offensive line, which was without regular center Lucas Patrick, fell apart at times and Fields took five sacks.

It certainly wasn’t his best game. It also may have been his last.

The Bears hold the No. 1 overall draft pick. If they want to draft a quarterback, they will have first dibs. Is quarterback a spot that Poles wants to upgrade? Fields certainly doesn’t know what the future holds.

“All I can control is what I did do,” Fields said. “I gave it my all. Whether it’s here or not, I have no regrets.”

Fields finished his third professional season throwing for 2,562 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 13 games. He led the Bears in rushing with 657 yards and another four touchdowns.

What comes next for him is an exit interview with Eberflus and Poles, and then he heads home to spend time with his family. He said he believes his arrow is pointing up, whether he’s with the Bears next season or not.

“I felt growth this year, each and every game,” Fields said. “Really since I’ve gotten back from [a thumb injury]. I think I’ve gotten better tremendously when I came back from injury. Only getting better.”

3. What about Luke Getsy?

The Bears did not score a touchdown on Sunday. Their nine points marked a season-low. They finished the season as the No. 2 rushing team in football, but No. 26 in passing. Their interception and sack rates were both near the bottom of the league.

If Eberflus does return, there’s no guarantee that offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will too.

“We’re at the bottom third of the league,” Eberflus said of the passing attack. “So obviously that needs to improve.”

Fields attempted only 16 passes on Sunday, although he was sacked five times and scrambled several times. The offense ran only 46 plays, so they were probably near an even split between run and pass calls.

But Bears receiver DJ Moore believes this team can be more explosive.

“It just comes down to us being explosive on the offensive side,” said Moore, who had 64 yards on four catches Sunday. “We got the players to do it. We got our quarterback to do it. Everything else, we just need to call the plays that put us in position to have explosives down the field or catch and runs like we did today. We just got to be an explosive team and not a team that’s behind the sticks.”

Asked specifically about Getsy, Moore characterized his coordinator as “fine.”

“It really doesn’t matter who’s calling the plays, we just got to be explosive and do what we do as players,” Moore said.

It didn’t sound like a ringing endorsement from the star receiver.

4. Defense breaks down

The Bears won five games in November and December on the strength of their defense, which became a takeaway machine mid-season. On Sunday, it produced only one turnover. Packers quarterback Jordan Love threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns.

“Defensively, we could’ve been better, could’ve got more turnovers, could’ve tightened up our coverage a lot more,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “Could’ve got a lot more aggressive, stuck to the plan and trusted the players out there.”

The Bears were without Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who was out with a shoulder injury. If anything, Sunday looked like a huge indication that the Bears need to extend Johnson’s expiring contract as soon as possible.

That said, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had some good moments. Before halftime, he forced a Packers receiver backward out of bounds, which kept the clock running. Green Bay was in field goal range but had no timeouts and the Packers ran out of time to kick a field goal.

In the second half, Stevenson forced a fumble. Love scrambled to his right and tried to get by Stevenson, who knocked the ball out with his helmet.

“I just know for a fact he shouldn’t pull that ball toward me,” Stevenson said of Love. “His eyes got big he tried to make a move and, obviously, it cost him.”

5. One last big hit

If this is the end for Fields and the Bears, there was no more fitting end than a late hit on Fields as he was sliding to the ground. There were, of course, no flags thrown.

Bears fans know how this goes by now. Fields can’t seem to buy a call. This time it was a fourth-quarter play where Fields ran to his right, slid, took a hit, then his head hit the ground hard. Two plays later, the refs made Fields leave the game for a concussion check, which he quickly passed.

“If I’ve got to come out two plays after a play for a potential head injury on a play that I slid on, it’s like at what point...” Fields said. “I don’t even know how to answer that because I don’t want to get fined.”

Stevenson, the rookie cornerback, didn’t have any problem defending his quarterback with strong words.

“That’s just a [expletive] move and the fact that the league still won’t call it out and he’s still getting hit every game and nobody still standing up for him, and we preaching it,” Stevenson said. “It’s the fact that the NFL need to do some [expletive] about that. He’s a quarterback, end of the day, whether you like him or not, whether you respect his game, whether you want him to be a Chicago Bears or not, you gotta respect somebody.”

Eberflus said he didn’t see the play well because it happened on the far side of the field, but he still tried to plead his case with the refs.

“I reacted to it for sure because our guy has taken some hits through the course of the year and I want to make sure we are protecting our quarterback,” Eberflus said.