The Chicago Bears will head into the wild-card round against the Green Bay Packers on a two-game losing streak, after dropping back-to-back games to the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions.
The only other time the Bears lost two in a row during the 2025 regular season was in Weeks 1 and 2, against the Minnesota Vikings and Lions. But the playoffs present a fresh start for the NFC North Champion Chicago Bears, so they will have to flush the 19-16 loss to the Lions to close out the regular season.
Veteran safety Kevin Byard III shared his thoughts about the state of the team following the Week 18 loss.
“We're going to have to reset,” Byard said. “Losing two games going into the playoffs is not a good feeling whatsoever. I think as a team we got to make a decision on, we got to play better football, and that's really the bottom line.”
Bears moving on from regular season and focused on "new season"
Byard understands the Lions outplayed the defense. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 11 passes for 139 yards, and Jameson Williams added another six catches for 74 yards. Jared Goff finished 27 of 42 for 331 yards and threw a touchdown to Jahmyr Gibbs, and was also intercepted by Byard.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's unit put that performance together after giving up 42 points and 496 yards of total offense in the loss to the 49ers the previous week.
The defense doesn't just need a reset. Allen's unit needs to factory reset to restore some confidence on the defensive side of the ball.
Head coach Ben Johnson wasn't pleased at all with the team's performance against the Lions, and honed in specifically on the offense not scoring enough points.
But like Byard, Johnson has his focus on starting over and preparing for the Packers at Soldier Field.
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“We've got to play better going forward,” Johnson said. “We've got to coach better going forward as well. We're turning the page, though. We've got the number two seed. We've got a home game next week, and we've got a new season on the horizon. Our guys should be reinvigorated by that. I know I certainly am. I'm looking forward to the opportunity and all that that entails and the opportunity to go 1-0 this next week.”