Shortly after the Chicago Bears suffered a 42-38 loss to the San Francisco 49ers that dropped Chicago to 11-5 on Sunday night, Bears head coach Ben Johnson accepted blame for the game’s final play that involved quarterback Caleb Williams’ pass falling incomplete in the end zone.
Bears safety Jaquan Brisker had a different take regarding what went wrong for Chicago at Levi’s Stadium.
Jaquan Brisker expected better from Bears defense vs. 49ers
“We let the offense down,” Brisker said during his postgame comments, per Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “I’m going to say it. We let the offense down, period. I feel like Caleb and them, they gave us enough points to do what we had to do to win. The defense didn’t.”
Things couldn’t have started much better for the Chicago defense on Sunday evening, as linebacker T.J. Edwards intercepted Brock Purdy’s first pass and then took the ball to the house for the game’s opening touchdown. However, Purdy bounced back and ultimately accumulated five total touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) to guide his team to a victory. In total, Purdy completed 24-of-33 passes for 303 yards versus Chicago.
“He’s a dangerous player, particularly when he can see down the field and had that much time,” the previously mentioned Johnson said of Purdy. “We certainly didn’t affect him enough.”
Caleb Williams is confident Bears will respond after tough loss
While Purdy emerged as the most valuable player of the final “Sunday Night Football” game of 2025, Williams connected on 25-of-42 pass attempts for 330 yards and two touchdowns. Per the NFL, Sunday’s contest was the first in league history to have been tied at 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, 28-28 and 35-35.
“I think we’ve proven who we are,” Williams said after Sunday’s defeat. “We’ll fight, and I think we’re a team to be reckoned with. I’m excited for this next game.”
The Bears will enter Week 18 as the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed ahead of the 11-5 Philadelphia Eagles. Chicago can’t claim the top seed over either the 12-4 49ers or the 13-3 Seattle Seahawks.
The Bears next host the eliminated Detroit Lions (8-8) on Jan. 4. As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had Chicago as a 2.5-point favorite for that game.
