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And the beatings go on.
Faced with the prospect of playing spoiler with the Packers’ playoff chances, the Chicago Bears instead folded in the final game of the season, losing 17-9 to cap off the 2023 season.
Justin Fields and the Bears offense failed to score a touchdown with all nine points coming from Cairo Santos field goals. Fields completed 11 of 16 passes for 148 yards and only rushed for 27 yards.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love excelled with a line of 27-of-32 for 316 yards and two touchdowns. Green Bay’s winning streak over the Bears has now reached 10 straight games.
Here are our initial impressions on yet another loss to the Packers …
Welp. That’s 10 straight losses to the Packers. More concerning, Jordan Love outplayed Justin Fields in both matchups this season — and it wasn’t particularly close. Perhaps this result will end up being more valuable than a win going into the offseason. It serves as a reminder of how much work is left to be done before the Bears are legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Another Bears-Packers matchup and another win goes to the Packers. Green Bay won the battle up front and allowed Aaron Jones to go over 100 yards rushing. With no Jaylon Johnson and a non-existent pass rush, Jordan Love carved up the Bears’ defense. Justin Fields and the offense failed to scored a touchdown on a defense that gave up 30 points to the Panthers two weeks ago.
This final game for the Bears illustrated the clear gap that still exists between the two teams. That in itself warrants big changes to come for the Bears next season.
For all the progress the Bears made this season, it still wasn’t enough to beat the Packers. Even though the results are common, the sick feeling in my stomach doesn’t lessen or go away.
Green Bay wanted it more and that was evident throughout the game. Time will tell if Justin Fields returns, but if this was his final game as a Bear, this loss stings a bit more as he never was able to lead this team to victory over the Packers. It’s officially time to take a breath, and as soon as we’re done with that, set our sights on the offseason.
Justin Fields and the Bears came into this game as winners of four of their last five and I thought the good vibes created in December might not make the Packers game a fulcrum for the future. But after watching the offense lay an egg and not come close to scoring a touchdown, Ryan Poles will head into the offseason with a much more honest picture of where this franchise lies — and the limits of Justin Fields.
And that’ll do it, folks. That’s the end of the season. Disappointing game where it felt like the Bears had mailed it in and were looking ahead to their vacation and flight plans. Yes, there were a ton of injuries the Bears were dealing with but this was the same Packers team that let a two-win Panther team score 30 on them, Bryce Young had 330 yards passing and two touchdowns on this same Green Bay team. Any given Sunday? Sure. Guess it wasn’t the Bears Sunday today. Now we look ahead to an offseason where there will be some potentially big changes made. And I think it should be a clean sweep. New head coach, new offensive coordinator, new quarterback. Did they show progress? Sure. But the Bears should be aiming for a higher bar. Will they? That’s the bigger question.
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