Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers marked an 11-game losing streak for the Chicago Bears against their rivals to the north.
While the Bears did drop to 4-6 there are some positive aspects to take away from the loss.
What should Bears fans lean on?
3. The Chicago Bears saw growth from Caleb Williams
The biggest outcome of this season has to be finding out how high of a ceiling Caleb Williams has and how this team can access it. They were never going to win the Super Bowl this year, so any loss that features Williams growing as a player and becoming a franchise-caliber player is going to have some positive attached to it.
Williams was 23-31 for 231 yards in this game. He also added 70 yards on the ground. This was the third-best completion rate and yards per attempt game of his career. It also was the most rushing yards in a game.
On the Bears' final drive, a drive that could have been the game-winning drive, Williams had three completions for 49 yards, including a key third down conversion with 19 yards to go.
Williams was everything that fans wanted him to be and he did not need to play against the Jacksonville Jaguars or Carolina Panthers to look good this time. The Packers defense is one of the best that he has faced, and this was one of his best performances.
No matter the outcome, that is a big win.
2. The offense as a whole looked more competent
One of the reasons Caleb Williams looked better was because the offense, as a whole, looked better. Yes, it helped getting two starting tackles back, but this was a good defense and while the team did not score enough, they did move the ball well.
D’Andre Swift had a long touchdown run, and Roschon Johnson was more active than ever. Rome Odunze had a couple of key catches and he was much more active. The Bears got the ball to D.J. Moore without forcing screens at him. Williams was not just heaving up deep balls all game. This led to his best game and a game where all of the skill-players were involved in some way or the other.
It did not lead to a win, but this was the first game that Thomas Brown called plays and it was one of the most competent offensive performances from a play-calling and usage perspective.
If the Bears can get this out of their offense and potentially even see improvement from the unit over the next couple of weeks then not everything is lost here. This game will be viewed as a step in the right direction when so many see just another loss.
1. The Chicago Bears are one step closer to firing Matt Eberflus
Here is the ultimate takeaway if you are a Bears fan. Caleb Williams looked much better, so the suspicion that the offensive coordinator is the issue could very well be true. The Bears got an answer to that question, and the loss still puts Matt Eberflus’ chair so hot that he cannot sit down.
If the Bears won on Sunday, the talk would be about how the move of offensive coordinator was all this team needed. The ownership would be so happy with the win over a rival and a step in the right direction that it would buy Eberflus some leeway. We know how these owners think and we know how important wins and losses against the Packers are.
All summer you would hear about the Packers game as the moment that made them give Eberflus one more year. This was the turning point, and at this point next year fans would be cursing the idea of him winning this game.
A gritty win against a rival turned into the same old stuff from Eberflus with one blocked kick. Eberflus went from saving his job to essentially knowing his chances are doomed with that play as well.
If you told Bears fans in August that they would be happy with Caleb Williams’ trajectory after his rookie season and the team is moving to a new head coach, most would be happy. This week was one step closer to that being the actual outcome that we will see.