A lot of Chicago Bears fans left Soldier Field and their televisions heartbroken yet proud of the team after their 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round.
Chicago had three turnovers, including an interception in overtime that doomed them in the loss. The Bears stepped up in a big way by allowing just 341 yards in four and a half quarters of play as their season came to an end.
There were a lot of good performances, but some had just one play or multiple plays that ended up hurting the team in a major way.
Winner: Jaquan Brisker, S
The biggest winner of the night was no doubt Jaquan Brisker; really, any Bears player from the secondary could have been named, but Brisker was special. He finished the game with a team-high 14 tackles, two pass deflections, one quarterback hit, one tackle for loss, and one sack. With him about to be a free agent, did Brisker do enough to earn a new contract with the Bears? That remains to be seen, but he sure made a convincing argument for it.
Loser: DJ Moore, WR
Moore was one of the leading receivers on the Bears with five catches for 52 yards and one touchdown, and toughed it out with a big hit earlier in the game. Unfortunately, though, he had the worst play of the night when it seemed like he quit on the route that caused Caleb Williams to throw his third interception of the night in overtime. That's one that is going to stick with Bears fans for a long time.
Winner: Jordan McFadden, LG
For someone who had a grand total of two offensive snaps in the regular season, Jordan McFadden had quite the performance at left guard with Joe Thuney moved over to left tackle. No Bears fans liked the move initially, but it paid off: Chicago rushed for 160 yards, and Williams didn't take a sack. McFadden was consistently praised by NBC for his performance and might have the Bears thinking about the future with him on the line.
Loser: Caleb Williams, QB
This one might be a tough one to read, especially since Williams made the throw of a lifetime to Cole Kmet for the game-tying score with less than 20 seconds left in the game, and his runs kept the Bears in the game. The reality is, though, that Williams' inaccuracies came out poorly, and he threw three interceptions, two of which were on him. Yes, the Bears aren't in that game without him, but Williams really needs to work on the accuracy in the offseason because his five interceptions in the playoffs made it tougher on the Bears.
Read more: Tony Dungy said the quiet part out loud about Ben Johnson’s crucial decision-making
Loser: Ben Johnson, Head Coach
All season, Ben Johnson has been too aggressive at times with fourth down calls and would be too cute with his play calls, and a lot of times it doesn't pay off. Chicago went for it on fourth down six times and got half of them, with some Bears fans feeling like he left way too many points on the board that could have sent them to the NFC Championship game. The Bears ranked 21st in the NFL in fourth-down conversions, so while Johnson had a great first season as head coach, the stats show he's too aggressive, which cost them the game.