Bears safety Jaquan Brisker first met Damar Hamlin in eighth grade.

When he saw the Bills safety come close to death Monday night — Hamlin needed CPR on the field in a game against the Bengals the NFL would eventually cancel — Brisker had to walk away. He missed Wednesday’s walk-through but returned to work Thursday.

“Mentally, it was bad,” said Brisker, who, like Hamlin, is from the Pittsburgh area. “I really had to step away from the facility for a little bit and collect my thoughts. But once everything got [better] … everything lifted up off my shoulders.”

Hamlin has spoken to his Bills teammates remotely — most recently, after their win Sunday.

“That’s a difficult time in football and in the world,” Brisker said after Sunday’s 29-13 loss to the Vikings. “You never want to see something like that happen to anyone, not even your worst enemy. I felt like the staff and everybody did a great job of having our back.”

Eberflus said he wanted to give Brisker “the space to breathe and reflect,” even if he had to miss a game. He played Sunday, and posted 10 tackles.

The Bears honored Hamlin the same way many NFL teams did — by outlining the his No. 3 on the 30-yard line and wearing T-shirts expressing their support. Bears starting quarterback Nathan Peterman, a fellow Pitt alum, wore Hamlin’s college jersey into the stadium. Quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, who also went to Pitt, called their alma mater and had two of them shipped.

“It was a crazy moment [when he was hurt],” Peterman said. “Made you think of everything that has happened, what you play for, all those things. But it’s awesome to see him doing better.”

Last one?

Running back David Montgomery took the field knowing that, because he was in the last year of his contract, he might not play another game with the Bears.

“It’s always emotional toward the end of the year, but this one is just a little bit more emotional because of the uncertainty that’s next,” he said. “But I love being here. I feel like I’ve done everything I can and I could, and we’re just gonna see what’s next.

“I appreciate all the Bears fans and everybody who supported me. Hopefully I’m still here.”

Montgomery finished with seven carries for 21 yards,

QB shuffle

Peterman started but the Bears also played backup Tim Boyle in each half.

Peterman went 11-of-19 for 114 yards, one touchdown and a 92.9 passer rating. Boyle, though, went 2-for-8 for 33 yards, two interceptions and a 4.7 passer rating.

“This is a crazy business,” said Peterman, who made his first start since 2018. “I’m thankful for opportunity again. I did have fun out there. Just great to get out there and compete.”

This and that

o The Bears ran for only 118 yards, but that was enough to set a single-season franchise record with 3,014. The 1984 Bears ran for 2,974.

o The Bears are now 0-6 all-time when wearing navy blue jerseys with navy blue pants.

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The Chicago Bears finished with the most losses in franchise history and the only way to celebrate that is to celebrate clinching the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft.

Chicago Bears fans were gathered around the TV in Soldier Field watching the Texans square off against the Colts.  The reaction to the Texans winning the game and thus gifting the  Chicago Bears the number one overall pick was palpable.

Soldier Field the moment the Bears got the #1 pick lol pic.twitter.com/wdMhgunZS3

— Jordan Lazowski (@jlazowski14) January 8, 2023

Bears fans didn’t have much to cheer for this season as the team was in full tear-down mode and they hoped to see growth in Justin Fields.  They saw a little bit of growth from Fields, enough to hopefully put them in a position to build around him for the future.

But Bears fans were cheering like they just won a big playoff game even if it was the Houston Texans doing the winning.  It’s a bit of a consolidation to win by losing, but the Bears have to start somewhere, hopefully they can start by getting a bunch of first-round picks for the number one overall pick.

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As the Bears closed the season with a 29-13 loss to the Vikings, they knew they were assured of the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft thanks to the Texans’ 32-31 upset of the Colts.

They also had their 2023 opponents finalized by the end of the day. Here’s who the Bears will face next season, when they’ll play eight games at Soldier Field and nine on the road:

HomePackersVikingsLionsFalconsPanthersBroncosRaidersRams/Cardinals

AwayPackersVikingsLionChiefsChargersSaintsBuccaneersCommandersBrownsApart from their division games, the Bears are on rotation to face the entire NFC South with home games against the Falcons and Panthers and visits to the Saints and Buccaneers.

Their interconference division is the AFC West with home games against the Broncos and Raiders and away games against the Chiefs and Chargers.

Their remaining three games are the same-place finishers from the NFC West and East and the AFC North. Since the Bears finished last in the NFC North, they’ll host the Rams or Cardinals — both teams are playing now; the Rams are 5-11 and the Cardinals are 4-12 — and visit the Commanders and Browns.

This will be the first time the Bears have played a last-place schedule since 2018, when they went 12-4 and won the division.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Davis Mills threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Akins on fourth down with 50 seconds left in Sunday’s season finale then connected with Akins on the 2-point conversion to give Houston a 32-31 victory at Indianapolis — costing the Texans the first pick in April’s draft.

Houston (3-13-1) won twice in the final three weeks to finish second to the Bears in draft positioning.

Indy (4-12-1) lost its seventh straight under interim coach Jeff Saturday, assuring themselves of a top-five draft selection.

But it didn’t come without some surprises. Sam Ehlinger threw two touchdown passes and led the Colts to scores on three consecutive late drives to erase a 10-point deficit and give Indy a 31-24 lead with 3:33 to play.

Mills finally answered with a 30-yard completion on fourth-and-12 to move Houston to the Indy 18-yard line with 1:26 left. And after throwing two incompletions and getting sacked on third down, Mills’ throw to the end zone went through the hands of Colts safety Rodney Thomas II and into the hands of Akins.

Indy got one more shot, but couldn’t move the ball into scoring position and Ehlinger’s final heave was knocked down short of the goal line.

For the Colts, it was yet another ugly chapter in their miserable season. Houston jumped to a 10-0 lead before Indy even ran an offensive play.

But Mills’ miscues fueled Indy’s comeback.

Rodney McLeod Jr. returned the first of Mills’ two interceptions for a 26-yard touchdown return that cut the deficit to 24-21 with 52 seconds left in the third quarter.

Three plays later, Thomas II, a high school teammate of Bills safety Damar Hamlin, picked off Mills and Ehlinger capitalized by throwing a 4-yard TD pass to Mo Alie-Cox to give Indy a 28-24 lead with 10:30 to go.

Indy thought it had sealed the win with a 54-yard field goal from Chase McLaughlin.

Again, though the defense failed to close it out.

Mills finished 22 of 38 with 298 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions as Brandin Cooks caught five passes for 106 yards.

Ehlinger, the former Texas star, was 23 of 35 with 209 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions as he fell to 0-3 as an NFL starter.

Zack Moss had 18 carries and 114 yards and a touchdown for Indy.

INJURY REPORT

Texans: Tight end Brevin Jordan left in the first half with a knee injury and did not return. Safety Jalen Pitre left after the first play of the fourth quarter and was diagnosed with a concussion.

Colts: Right tackle Braden Smith injured his left ankle late in the fourth quarter and did not return. Safety-return specialist Dallis Flowers went into the blue tent after fumbling on his first kickoff return of the game but eventually returned.

UP NEXT

Texans: Will be weighing their options with the No. 2 draft pick in April.

Colts: Must figure out if general manager Chris Ballard returns, decide on a coach and whether to draft a quarterback in April.

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It started with a house-cleaning and ended with a surrender. There’s a fine line between a white flag and a red one.

The 2022 Bears season could go down as one of the best bad seasons in franchise history — a necessary first step of a much-needed rebuild. Or maybe just another misstep by a storied NFL franchise wracked by dysfunction for most of the 30 seasons since the end of the Mike Ditka era.

We won’t know just how good or bad this season was until 2023, when the Bears either take a step toward playoff contention or continue to spin their wheels with a familiar combination of failure — underachieving performance, injuries, quarterback stagnation or regression — that leaves them closer to Square One than the postseason.

But as it stands today after completing a 3-14 season with 29-13 loss to the Vikings on Sunday at Soldier Field, Poles’ path has the Bears in position to at least think they’re heading in the right direction. The rest is up to him.

“You look at results for sure, but you also look at having a broader view of what you’re getting done. It’s laying the foundation,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “There’s also development of of the young core players we have … the rookie class — we played a lot of those guys. Second-year players like Justin [Fields and Darnell] Mooney … Cole Kmet is one of those younger-type players.”

And don’t forget the No. 1 overall pick — or whatever bounty that brings.

“Free agency and the draft is no different,” Eberflus said. “It’s up to the coaches to develop those guys and fit them into the schemes so we can play winning football.”

Poles has several holes to fill and question marks at almost every key position heading into the 2023 season — from head coach to offensive and defensive coordinator to No. 1 receiver to quarterback. He’s got a lot to prove, maybe the most to prove.

Poles has been far from perfect in his rookie season. He didn’t trade Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith until mid-season. He didn’t give Justin Fields enough weapons to get a true evaluation of Fields’ passing ability. Rookie Velus Jones looks overdrafted. Poles traded the 32nd pick in the draft for Chase Claypool. The offensive line that is supposed to be Poles’ specialty was underwhelming — not much better, if better at all, than anything Ryan Pace put together in his seven seasons.

But nothing Poles did was defining. There was no trade-up-for-Trubisky moment that will haunt him. Nothing he did indicated he will fail. He hasn’t proven anything, but hasn’t disqualified himself, either.

And that goes for Eberflus as well. Like Poles, Eberflus hasn’t left any red flags that indicated he can’t do this. On the contrary, he’s been pretty good at the head-coaching part of the job. For all the close games the Bears lost this season, there were few if any egregious examples of poor game-management. His defense was a disappointment, even considering the departures and all the rookies starting. The H.I.T.S. is more real than a myth, but still just like any other coaching philosophy — it takes good players to make it work.

Eberflus played to win all season — except maybe at the end. But as the losses piled up he emphasized the foundation the Bears were laying. And like most foundations, this one was mostly underground and hard to see. This team doesn’t have the remnants of Lovie Smith’s defense. It doesn’t have Jay Cutler. It doesn’t have the best defense in football. It’s not a playoff team with Mitch Trubisky. Who knows where this one will end up, but there’s nowhere to go but up. The Bears have never been 3-14, but they’ve been in worse spots than this.

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Lovie Smith helps gift the Bears the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft

Former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith delivered a favor to Ryan Poles and Co. on Sunday afternoon.

With Houston’s 32-31 win over Indianapolis and the Bears losing to the Vikings, Chicago has now clinched the No. 1 overall pick for the 2023 NFL draft. The Bears finish the season at 3-14 while Houston is 3-13-1, as the tie hurt them.

That means the Bears have the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since 1947, and it comes at a good time.

Chicago enters this offseason with the No. 1 pick plus a projected $124M in cap space. They also have a quarterback in Justin Fields who the team believes in, meaning they can trade the pick or potentially address defense with someone like Will Anderson or Jalen Carter.

Smith coached 9 seasons in Chicago, going 81-63 and leading the team to the playoffs three times including two NFC Championship Game appearances, winning one of those. He was fired after the 2012 season despite going 10-6.

This is Smith’s first year in Houston but as the season winds down, rumors are swirling that he may not be back next year. And if that’s the case, he gives Chicago one last gift potentially.

The franchise now enters a very important offseason with Week 18 in the books, and it’s one where Poles must make the most of his resources. If he doesn’t, then it all could be a waste and the franchise could struggle once again next year, forcing them to rest one again.

Make sure to check back with ChiCitySports.com for the latest on the team and the upcoming offseason.

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The Chicago Bears broke some records this season

The Chicago Bears are finally done with the season. It was a pretty disastrous first-year campaign for general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus in their first seasons in Chicago. While quarterback Justin Fields broke some positive records this season, the Bears earned a negative record following their loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Almost as if going by the national media’s preseason predictions, the Bears’ record fell to 3-14 in Week 18. With 14 losses, the 2022-23 Bears lost the most games in franchise history for a single season. The Bears have now lost ten straight games, also the most in franchise history. They also fell to 0-6 in NFC North play.

Eberflus campaign of finishing and trying to win never happened during the Bears’ Monday Night Football win over the New England Patriots. The Bears lost ten straight games, starting with their game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bears have lost a lot of pride this season. They lost the record for the winningest team in NFL history to the Packers following a loss to Green Bay at Soldier Field.

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The Chicago Bears tank is complete

The Chicago Bears were extremely shorthanded against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 18. The Bears lost 29-13 to the Vikings Sunday, earning them a new franchise record for most losses in a single season. The Bears weren’t expected to win this game. To their credit, at least in terms of draft position, they didn’t make it close.

The Bears used the game as a chance to evaluate the entire Week 18 active roster before the offseason. While the overall product on the field wasn’t good NFL football, the Bears did have good performances from several players. That was an improvement from overall terrible play in Weeks 16 and 17. Here are three studs and duds from the Bears’ loss to the Vikings in Week 18.

Studs

Velus Jones Jr.

Jones was in the Chicago Bears doghouse a few weeks ago. The Bears rookie has struggled with ball protection since the preseason. Jones has played much better over the past two weeks. He played extremely well against the Vikings. He caught a 28-yard reception and had a 42-yard rushing touchdown. Jones was also solid returning kicks. He’s showing that he has game-changing speed. If he can work on protecting the ball this offseason, Jones could have a breakout sophomore year as a 26-year-old.

V12 toes the line for the 42 yd touchdown ⚡️

📺: #MINvsCHI on FOX pic.twitter.com/EIQNOfdcQG

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 8, 2023

Cole Kmet

It wasn’t a breakout season in terms of yards, but Kmet had a successful overall season in his third season with the Chicago Bears. He scored a career-high seven touchdowns this season. On Sunday, Kmet caught another touchdown pass, this time from Nathan Peterman, who got the start at quarter with Justin Fields being ruled out. Kmet passed Darnell Mooney, who was placed on injured reserve, for the Bears’ most receiving yards this season. Take that stat for what it is; the Bears are the league’s worst passing team by a wide margin.

.@ColeKmet battles his way into the end zone 😤

📺: #MINvsCHI on FOX pic.twitter.com/g20Rgb9tk3

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 8, 2023

The Chicago Bears’ draft position

The Bears came into Week 18 holding the number two overall pick in the 2023 draft. The Bears needed a loss, and a Houston Texans win to claim the number one pick. The Bears did their part to keep at least the number two pick.

The Texans had an early lead against the Indianapolis Colts, but they withered away in the second half. Fortunately for the Bears (at least this spring), the Texans would score a late touchdown and convert a two-point play to win 32-31. The Bears are officially the worst team in the NFL for the 2022-23 season.

Duds

Tim Boyle

The Chicago Bears used the Week 18 contest as a chance to evaluate whatever part of the roster was healthy enough to be put on an NFL field Sunday. Head coach Matt Eberflus should have found plenty of fat that needs to be cut before next season. Backup quarterback Boyle came in for a few series against the Vikings. He threw a terrible interception on his first drive. Nathan Peterman wasn’t great but he showed he was more serviceable than Boyle. Boyle finished with two interceptions.

David Montgomery

Montgomery didn’t have a great end to his contract season against the Vikings. The running back hinted in a social media post that Sunday might be his last game in a Bears uniform. And his effort Sunday won’t have many fans missing him if he does go. Montgomery finished with seven carries for 21 yards, just three yards per rush.

Let’s call it what it is at this point. Montgomery is an inconsistent running back that doesn’t average as many yards per carry as he should for an extension next season. He has weeks where he’s one of the best players on the field, other weeks, he looks like a backup. This week, Montgomery looked like he had been elevated from the practice squad for this game.

Equanimeous St. Brown

General manager Ryan Poles thought Equanimeous St. Brown deserved to be extended for next season based on his work with the Chicago Bears this season. He was useless against the Vikings just a few days after he inked his name to the new contract. St. Brown finished with one reception on one target for three yards.

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It was beautiful.

All the Bears needed in the final game of the season was to do what they do best: lose. Step by step, from offloading Khalil Mack in March to ruling out Justin Fields a few days ago, this is what they were designed to accomplish.

The Bears lost 29-13 to the Vikings on Sunday, and much like a preseason game, the details on how they reached that outcome are largely irrelevant. What matters is that it landed them the No. 1 pick in the draft for the first time since 1947.

They couldn’t have done it without former coach Lovie Smith, who guided the Texans to a stunning 32-31 win against the Colts. His team rallied for a touchdown in the final minute on a desperate fourth-down heave to the end zone and took the lead when Smith opted to go for a two-point conversion.

That left the Bears with the NFL’s worst record at 3-14, ending the season on a franchise-long 10-game losing streak, and the Texans a hair better at 3-13-1.

Those 10 consecutive losses, facilitated in part by the trades of Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn, were essential. After the Bears beat the Patriots in Week 7 — their highlight of the season — they were in line to pick 14th.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles can use the top pick any number of ways. He could take overwhelming Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson or Georgia star defensive tackle Jalen Carter. He could reboot the quarterback position by drafting Bryce Young from Alabama or C.J. Stroud from Ohio State, and make a corresponding move by trading Fields for more draft capital.

Even if he’s committed to Fields, it’d be prudent for Poles craft a public stand that shows support but still makes the rest of the league believe he’s considering Young and Stroud.

Preferably, though, he would parlay that pick into more picks. The Bears are a team with a million problems, and while whomever they took at No. 1 would instantly be a top-five player on their roster, they’d love a haul like the Dolphins got two years ago when they traded the No. 3 pick to the 49ers for the No. 12 pick and two future first-rounders.

If Poles keeps it, he better nail it. Teams need Hall of Fame talent with a pick that high. If Anderson proves to be as good Myles Garrett, for example, that’ll be worth it.

That draft pick currently stands as a pillar of the Bears’ future. Poles can’t afford for it to crumble as it did when Ryan Pace picked Mitch Trubisky second in 2017.

Whatever course he chooses, Poles can use his many draft picks and league-high $118.1 million in salary-cap space to repair the worst roster in the NFL.

The Bears had the NFL’s most harmless defensive line with just 20 sacks in 17 games.

They allowed a league-high 27.2 points per game.

They were a bottom-10 offense and let Fields get sacked 55 times.

Tight end Cole Kmet, with four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown, was the only player to reach 500 yards receiving.

The Bears knew where they were headed.

That alone is a change from the Pace era. As the team sputtered to 8-8 records in 2019 and ’20 and bottomed out at 6-11 last season, Pace was going all out at the expense of future draft assets and salary-cap tables.

Poles took over a team that wasn’t good and didn’t have obvious solutions. The only option was to blow it up.

But this season is only tolerable if it actually leads to something.

It’s easy to swing the wrecking ball. Building something magnificent on this bulldozed site is the hard part.

As Poles approaches the one-year mark of landing this job, he has mostly done what anyone would’ve done after walking into Pace’s mess.

The only time he tried to make a splash was trading a second-round pick for wide receiver Chase Claypool, who had 14 catches for 140 yards in seven games since joining the team in November.

Poles and coach Matt Eberflus got plenty of margin this season because everyone knew what needed to happen. That’s why no one is running them out of town after steering the Bears to the second-worst record in their 103-year history.

The Bears got to the playoffs (sort of) under Matt Nagy at 8-8 in 2020, and the consensus is that this was a better season for the franchise. That was empty, whereas this one feels purposeful.

But Sunday was the last time Poles and Eberflus can point to the necessary demolition and talk about implementing “championship habits” as accomplishments. When next season starts, they’ll be evaluated on wins and losses.

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