Bears fatal flaw that will derail Super Bowl hopes in NFC playoffs

The Chicago Bears have had a tremendously successful regular season. They were a last-place team a year ago, and that led to the team hiring Ben Johnson as their new head coach. It was clear from the moment he was hired that his primary job was turning No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams into a winning NFL quarterback.

Johnson accomplished this goal with hard coaching, pointing out Williams’ mistakes and significant flaws in offseason practice sessions, training camp and in-season practices. Williams is far from a perfect quarterback, but he got the most out of his ability to become the kind of leader who comes through with his best football when the game is on the line in the late stages of the 4th quarter.

This allowed the Bears to come through with victories in games against the Bengals, Giants, Vikings and Packers, with each win leading to a significant jump in the team’s status.

The Bears won the NFC North title and earned the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs, and that means the Bears should have an excellent shot of getting to the conference title game against the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks.

However, the Bears have a number of problems that will keep them from getting to the NFC title game. They could fall short in the Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers.

Williams often struggles early in games

Williams has had a season of tremendous growth this season, and his ability to come through with pinpoint passes at the most crucial moments has turned him into one of the great winners in the 2025 season. He is one of the best quarterbacks in the league when it comes to escaping pressure and finding his receivers when it looks like a sack is inevitable.

However, Williams often starts games slowly and that’s why the Bears are often in a position of having to register comeback victories. There has been a lack of urgency as the game gets underway and that puts the Bears at a disadvantage.

Williams is not as accurate a passer as he needs to be. There are times that his powerful arm either overthrows or underthrows his receivers.

Wiliams completed 330 of 568 passes for 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. While his production was solid, his completion percentage was not as high as it could have been. He completed 58.1 percent of his passes, and that ranked 34th in the league among qualified passers. That figure is well behind Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who completed 66.3 percent of his passes and ranked 15th in accuracy.

D’Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai give the Bears a solid running game in support of Williams. Swift ran for 1,087 yards and 9 touchdowns while averaging 4.9 yards per carry during the regular season, while Monangai ran for 783 yards and 5 TDs.

Defensive problems could stop the Bears in their tracks

The Bears lost their last two games of the regular season against the 49ers and the Lions. Their defense got abused in both of those games, and it’s clear that Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and Love will attack the Bears secondary after those brutal performances.

Niners quarterback Brock Purdy riddled the Bears pass defense by completing 24 of 33 passes for 303 yards with 3 TDs. Lions quarterback Jared Goff also had his way with the Bears’ pass defense, completing 27 of 42 passes for 331 yards with 1 TD.

Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has largely been praised this season because the Chicago defense has created so many turnovers and has led the league in interceptions. Safety Kevin Byard led the NFL in picks with 7 and cornerback Nahshon Wright added 5 picks. However, the Bears are quite vulnerable overall on defense.

The Bears gave up 361.8 yards per game and ranked 29th overall in total yards allowed. They were 22nd in passing yards allowed and 27th against the run.

Packers have the weapons to take advantage of Bears defense

The Packers come into the Wild Card game with a 4-game losing streak, but Matt LaFleur rested Love and backup QB Malik Willis in the season-ending loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Love was healthy, but LaFleur did not want to risk any future injuries after the QB1 had suffered a concussion. Lovewill have wide receivers Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Dontayvion Wicks at his disposal.

RB Josh Jacobs is likely to be a huge factor running the ball and as a 3rd-down receiving option. The Bears will have significant problems if they can’t feast on turnovers and find a way to put pressure on Love.

Having home field is a big advantage for Chicago, but it won’t help if the defense surrenders big plays and Williams lacks accuracy.

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