Monday January 5th 2026 our first audio of the new year and let's just wrap up a regular season that was marvelous it was magical the Bears tried to add to that magic in week 18 but let's let's be honest about what happened yesterday on that field yesterday Ben Johnson made I think one of his bigger mistakes of this season Ben Johnson admitted at halftime this was the easiest game plan of the season they did not go into this game and coach this game and scheme this game to win us the way they had all of those weeks previously they went into this game with a vanilla game plan because they did not and rightfully so did not want to put anything additional on tape for their next opponent this was a vanilla game plan and the team knew it was a vanilla game plan and the team played like they had a vanilla game plan in the NFL you're either all in on these games or you're all out on these games it's the same thing for the preseason either you show up to these games and you play them full bore to win with all your guys or you don't and the reason I say that and the reason I was taught this for years by people who work in the sport is because motivation is 90 percent of this and the guys on the field yesterday for the Chicago Bears played unmotivated because they saw a game plan that was unmotivated and you can't do both and when did the Bears come alive in this game as soon as they got back into the moment they've been in so many times when they got to streetball backyard football hey we're down now we're down eight and the team came alive that's what they've done all season long but you can't go into these games with vanilla game plans and expect your team to play and respond as they had every week where you showed all of this ingenuity all of this passion all of this detail cleverness brilliance at times you can't expect them now to suddenly turn it on for you when they know you don't value the game and to all those fans who challenged me all week long that's what you saw yesterday that coaching staff made a vanilla game plan out there because they knew it was not worth showing your next opponents anything and now you're the two seat that's great you're the two seat because Philly did what they're supposed to do we don't value this game enough here are our scrubs here are the here is the bottom of our roster and sometimes you can still win those games Houston pulled all their guys out right Houston pulls everybody out of that game at halftime and still still win the game because the culture decided that early in the week Phil Rivers had reinvigorated them a bit they didn't play him they said nope that's not what this is for the Bills went out there put Josh Allen out there for one snap and then pulled him they still blew out the Jets I don't even rule out the fact that the Bears could have won this game if they had given Tyson Bajan and Jotty Walker a full week of prep a full week of game planning but they didn't do that they went half in and the team played like they were half in will this roll over into next week no again know your history know your history this has happened a bunch of times it's happened to the Bears nobody if you are old enough to remember 2006 is the best example of this the Bears were embarrassed in the last game of the season and it was thought to be Brett Favre's last game and Rex Grossman came out at a press conference and said we weren't well prepared because of New Year's Eve and all that and a lot of us believe that day I still believe that Rex should have been replaced for saying it they came out and had a tough game against Seattle a couple weeks later that they easily could have lost but they won blew out the Saints went to the Super Bowl this team's not as good as that team but this team this will not roll over into next week the preparation I could tell you this has already begun for next week it began in earnest this week they did not treat this game seriously and I only argument is all that can come from that is a bad taste in your mouth but a few things as we wrap up this regular season and look ahead to the postseason is I don't understand the Twitter discourse this aim was Twitter discourse that happens all game long as if fans believe there's a magic button you can turn on and this team will suddenly be good at playing defense this is not a good defensive team folks but they are they show up in the moment yesterday looked like a day where the Lions could score 50 points they scored 19 and home in next week against Green Bay I don't expect Green Bay to score more than somewhere in the 20s 24 maybe 27 they'll score somewhere in there I think what if this game is going to come down to this week is the coach and the quarterback who have been the story of this season if the Bears are going to advance in this playoffs it is going to come down to the coach and the quarterback and folks everything that has happened these previous 18 weeks including yesterday throw it up it's meaningless great regular season absolutely fantastic taking this team to 11 wins taking this team to a division title huge first step for the program huge next step for the quarterback now the games start to measure history now you can elevate from great season to historic season that's what these games are ahead and my final note is I don't know what Amazon paid for it and the NFL is never gonna tell us what they paid for it but Amazon clearly got the first pick of the games Carolina was always going in that Saturday afternoon slot a 4-5 was always going in the Monday night slot but for Amazon Prime to snag Bears Packers playoff game a unbelievably rare event for that game to be on a streamer now it'll be on Fox 32 in Chicago to be on local in Green Bay but for that game to be streaming to 90 percent of the country shows you where the sport is going because that's astounding to me that game had four o'clock Fox Tom Brady call written all over it and that game is gonna be Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreet streaming on a Saturday night it just doesn't feel right but it's where the sport is headed I'll do more of these this week leading up to the game at least two more audio posts as I talk to people around the league and start to get a sense of what they think this game has and how these first two meetings will impact the third meeting but my summary of this regular season is just a big old thank you to Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams who just provided if not the most entertaining regular season of my lifetime it's right there 2001 for those of you who remember it was just it was unforgettable just these historically crazy endings but it's 2001 or it's 2025 the two great regular seasons in this franchise my lifetime and I'm absolutely thrilled to see them play Saturday night against the Green Bay Packers in what's gonna be a hot ticket in Chicago and a riotous atmosphere it's gonna be a lot of fun this week fair doubt