The Chicago Bears were on the doorstep of yet another crazy come-from-behind win, but fell short of pulling it off. It's hard to blame the offense too much for how Week 17's game against the San Francisco 49ers played out. The defense, on the other hand... Yeah, it wasn't a great game from Dennis Allen's unit.
The Bears' defense surrendered 42 points to the 49ers, which, let's just cut to the chase here. Allowing 42 points to the opposition will always make it more difficult to win the game. Even with all of that working against them, Chicago had a chance to win the game in the final seconds.
While speaking to the media, veteran safety Kevin Byard said what every Bears fan was thinking following the loss. Byard was asked how it felt to finally be on the losing end of one of these crazy comeback attempts and summed it up perfectly.
"We didn't earn this win [on Sunday]," Byard said. "It's not a good feeling at all. Like [the reporter] said, when you put up 42 points, you're supposed to win the game."
Kevin Byard quote makes Bears loss feel even more frustrating
The 49ers had just shy of 500 total yards on offense, which is hard to overcome. Imagine what a blowout this game would have been had Caleb Williams not put together arguably the best game of his career. It would not have been lovely.
Byard is right: the Bears didn't deserve to win this one. Sure, they forced some punts a few times, but they mostly allowed Brock Purdy and the 49ers offense to march down the field with ease. It's always going to be hard to win games when that's the case.
Read more: Jaquan Brisker got brutally honest about Bears' defensive play in loss to 49ers
The Bears finish their 2025 regular season against the Lions at Soldier Field, and while the number one seed isn't in play anymore, the two-seed is. If the Bears want the best possible seed for wild-card weekend, Byard and the defense have to step up against Ben Johnson's old team in the Week 18 finale.