The Chicago Bears were eliminated from the playoffs, but they can play spoiler to the Green Bay Packers, and you know that they want to do that, so this will be an all-in effort from the team. Still, for a lot of players, the game will be more about showing what they can do for the next team that they play for, as their next stop may be free agency.
Which players on the Bears roster are playing their last game?
7. Fans are ready for the Chicago Bears to move on from Lucas Patrick
Lucas Patrick has been a major disappointment for the Chicago Bears since he was signed away from the Green Bay Packers. When the team signed him, he was just a depth piece in Green Bay who had more snaps than usual due to an injury. Still, he looked good as a starter in his limited time with the Packers and has done almost nothing positive for the Chicago Bears.
To be fair, a lot of it comes down to injuries. Also, injuries around him have had him shifting from guard to center and back to guard. Still, the Bears had a chance to move on from him this year but stuck with Cody Whitheair and him as the top options. When Teven Jenkins got hurt, the team had to shift Whitehair to guard, and Patrick came back into our lives for a full season of center snaps.
Over the past five weeks or so, the Bears offensive line is healthier than ever before. They have four spots that feel like they are filled and make sense. The only missing spot is center. We know that the Bears will not fill this spot with Patrick next year. He will be playing for a job elsewhere.
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6. The Chicago Bears did not get much out of Robert Tonyan
Robert Tonyan is another former Green Bay Packers player who has not been a successful signing. The power of Luke Getsy, I guess. He has not been known as a blocking tight end, and the Bears trusted both Cole Kmet and Marcedes Lewis over him.
Entering the final week of the season Lewis has 316 snaps and Tonyan has 307 snaps. Worse than that, he is priovding almost nothing in the passing game. That is fine for Lewis, who is blocking well, but Tonyan has been a complete dud.
He has 112 yards this season. While he will never get back to his 586 yards and 11 touchdown days of 2020, he still has 470 yards last year, and he has 204 yards in eight games in 2021. This has been a complete letdown. The Bears will be looking for a different pass-catching tight end to fill in that backup role next year.
5. Will the Chicago Bears re-sign Justin Jones
By most indications, this will be the last game that Justin Jones starts for the Chicago Bears on defense. While they will be losing some pieces, a lot of them are depth or offensive starters. Jones is the biggest question mark of the starting 11 as of right now.
He has been starting over both rookies Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens. However, in a perfect world, the Chicago Bears have seen enough of these two to take that step into being the starter. Dexter has been more productive and has played a lot more than Pickens.
Can Dexter take on the number of snaps that Jones is playing, and then Pickens would take on the number of snaps that Dexter played as a rookie? In a perfect world, that is a fair jump for both linemen. Now, the question is whether that would actually happen or not.
If the Bears bring back Jones, it is an indictment that Dexter has not shown enough against the run, and Pickens has not shown enough, period. The Bears will say that it is because Jones earned it, and he has played well, but this should be a chance for him to look to start on another team rebuilding the defensive front.
4. The Chicago Bears will try to upgrade from Rasheem Green
Rasheem Green is a signing that did not work on the defensive side of the football. He was only expected to be a depth piece, but the additions of Yannick Ngakoue and Montez Sweat came after they saw how Green looked with the team.
Green went from 66.8% of the defensive snaps in 2021 to 52.6% in 2022, and then this year, with the Chicago Bears, he is only playing 36.1% of the snaps. Green has played a touch more now than Ngakoue is out but has not shown anything worth keeping. He has two sacks on the year, tied for the second-lowest of his career, and he is going to finish with the second-lowest number of pressures in a season, only better than his rookie year.
Green has shown to be a rotational edge rusher in other defenses, but this fit never seemed to work out. Green will be a free agent this year, and the Chicago Bears will probably not make an offer.
3. Will Marcedes Lewis retire?
The Chicago Bears can say that they got what they paid for from Marcedes Lewis. There should be less ill-will from the fanbase if Lewis does not come back, as opposed to some of the other players we put on this list.
Still, it is hard to see Lewis coming back. First, he is going to be 40 years old next year. There is certainly a chance that he plays in the NFL, but it may take some time for him to decide. More than that, he should and will want to review his options. Will he have any? Will the Chicago Bears want a 40-year-old tight end?
While the team got enough out of him this year, he is not a game-changing performer or anything. He played 314 snaps this year. 273 of them were blocking, and just 41 involved running a route.
Of all of the players on the list, he is one of the more likely to come back. At the same time, this is the most likely player to not play another snap in the NFL after this week as well.
2. The Chicago Bears might keep Equanimeous St. Brown
Equanimous St. Brown is an interesting piece for the Chicago Bears. They brought him back for 2023 after he was more involved in the offense than they wanted him to be in 2022. Still, they did learn that they could trust him as a blocking option in the screen game, and they can use him as a special team's asset. At the very least, that is worth one of the last roster spots.
So, the Chicago Bears may want to keep Equanimeous St. Brown. At the same time, for the number of snaps that he played, St. Brown has just 44 yards this year. He had 323 the year prior. He is a non-factor in the passing game. More than that, he is mainly here because he came from Green Bay, another player who was once with Luke Getsy.
If Getsy is back as offensive coordinator, you could see some of these players return. However, if the Bears change their coordinator and switch up their needs on offense, it will mean that St. Brown is heading to a new roster next year.
1. Is this the last time Darnell Mooney plays for the Chicago Bears?
This season has been a bit of a nightmare for Darnell Mooney. To be fair, he was coming off an ankle injury that sidelined him through most of training camp and the preseason. He was off to a slow start, and then Justin Fields got banged up. Now, he is dealing with a concussion.
Still, he had chances to make much more of an impact in the passing game and simply came up short. Mooney currently has 414 yards in 15 games. He played 12 games last year and had 493 before his injury. This is a bad year for him, and it is coming at the worst time. He is set to be a free agent. This Chicago Bears front office did not even draft Mooney, so it is hard to see them bringing him back.
The good news for Mooney is that he should be able to clear the concussion protocol his week and return. Maybe he can add a small bit of value to his stats this week. Or, he may just keep it extra cautious and head into free agency without suiting up this week. Either way, it will be the last time he comes to the stadium as a Chicago Bears player.