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Courtney Cronin
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A game that saw Caleb Williams throw for a season-high 330 yards and lead five scoring drives to combat a high-powered San Francisco 49ers offense should seemingly have been enough for the Chicago Bears to run out of Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night with the type of come-from-behind victory that has become the norm for them in 2025.
Instead, a 42-38 loss knocked the playoff-bound Bears out of contention for the NFC’s No. 1 seed, with several defensive players shouldering the blame for Chicago failing to earn its 12th win of the season.
«We let the offense down,» safety Jaquan Brisker said. «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.»
Williams and Niners quarterback Brock Purdy authored an instant classic that featured 936 total yards of offense and 11 touchdowns, tied for the most in any game this season. Williams had his team in position late to pull off the win, but could not connect with wide receiver Jahdae Walker on a short fourth down as time expired.
tossed a career-high five touchdowns in a win over the Indianapolis Colts, he accounted for five total touchdowns while his offense averaged 7.3 yards per play. Purdy threw for 269 of his 303 yards when not under pressure (21 of 28 dropbacks), two touchdowns and one interception.
«He’s a dangerous player, particularly when he can see down the field and had that much time,» Bears coach Ben Johnson said. «We certainly didn’t affect him enough.»
After trading scores with the Niners throughout Sunday night, the Bears took a 38-35 lead with 5:36 left in the fourth quarter. On San Francisco’s final offensive possession, Purdy connected with wide receiver Jauan Jennings for a 38-yard touchdown that gave the Niners a four-point lead. Chicago then got the ball back with 2:15 remaining on a drive that began on its own 35-yard line.
The Bears had all three timeouts at their disposal and another opportunity to stop the clock with the two-minute warning. It was familiar territory for the Bears, whose six wins this season after trailing in the final 2:00 of the fourth quarter are the most by any team in a season since the 1970 merger.
But execution on the game’s final sequence put the dagger in Chicago’s comeback effort. With 4 seconds remaining, the Bears faced fourth down from the Niners’ 2-yard line. San Francisco’s pass rush swarmed Williams, who scrambled to his left to buy time before throwing a pass to Walker that fell short.
Williams lamented that he «can’t dirt the ball» in that situation and should have thrown a better pass.
Johnson put the onus on himself for not relaying the final play call quickly enough to his quarterback.
«We didn’t quite get aligned in the formation we wanted to,» Johnson said. «It’s on me. I didn’t get him the call fast enough and so he’s trying to piecemeal it together. I’ve got to do a better job on that.»
While Williams was frustrated with the outcome of Sunday’s pivotal NFC showdown, he was optimistic about the type of performance the Bears put together against the type of team they could see again in the postseason.
«I think we’ve proven who we are,» Williams said. «We’ll fight, and I think we’re a team to be reckoned with. I’m excited for this next game.»
Sunday was Williams’ strongest performance of the season. He went 25-of-42 passing for 330 yards and two touchdowns and a 100.3 passer rating. Williams shined especially when throwing deep, completing all four of his passes thrown at least 20 yards, including both of his touchdown passes.
On the season Williams now has an NFL-best 10 passing touchdowns on throws of at least 20 air yards. Williams also drew closer to achieving a goal he set in the offseason to become the Bears’ first 4,000-yard passer. He needs 270 passing yards in next week’s regular-season finale against the Detroit Lions to eclipse 4,000 yards.
