The Bears played without Rome Odunze in Green Bay on Sunday, but missing a key wideout didn’t lead to a busy afternoon for DJ Moore.
Moore ended the day with one catch that lost four yards and was targeted on two other passes despite playing 56-of-68 offensive snaps during Chicago’s 28-21 loss. On Monday, head coach Ben Johnson said that was not the kind of contribution he expected Moore to have in the battle for first place in the NFC North.
“He ran some pretty good routes over the course of the day, and we just couldn’t give him the ball,” Johnson said, via the team’s website. “That was not the intent. Going into the game, we might have had more for him than any other player in the offense. Was a little surprised at the end when I saw the stat sheet for one catch like he had.”
Moore was not the target on the Bears’ final offensive play, which saw Caleb Williams get intercepted by Packers corner Keisean Nixon while trying for tight end Cole Kmet in the end zone. In the aftermath of the play, some noted that Moore appeared to be more open than his teammate but Johnson said that wasn’t the way he saw the play unfold.
“I didn’t see him being an answer in that time,” Johnson said. “I think he came open more after the ball was released from Caleb. Nixon was man-to-man with DJ and was trailing him and ended up falling off and making a play on Cole there.”
Moore was the Bears’ leader in catches and targets in each of his first two seasons with the team, but Odunze is in those spots this season and the Bears have given new faces Olamide Zaccheaus, Colston Loveland, and Luther Burden active roles in a more varied offense than they ran in those seasons. That change has sparked thoughts of changes to come in the offseason, but, for now, the Bears will look for more ways to get production from the veteran wideout.
The Browns did not win on Sunday, but quarterback Shedeur Sanders put together an impressive enough performance to solidify his spot as QB1.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced in his Monday press conference that Sanders will remain Cleveland’s starter for the rest of the 2025 season.
“I think all along with our quarterbacks and our young players, you’re always making sure that you’re making the right decisions for our guys,” Stefanski said. “And I think he has constantly and consistently gotten better in each one of these games. And how he’s approached this game, he’s been working very hard. So, I feel good about where his development is heading. He knows there are always going to be plays where he can be better and those types of things. But he’s very intentional about getting better each and every game he’s out there.”
Sanders took over as the starter after Gabriel suffered a concussion against the Ravens in Week 11 and has started the team’s last three games. In his four appearances with three starts, Sanders has completed 52.4 percent of his passes for 769 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions.
In Sunday’s loss to the Titans, Sanders finished 23-of-42 for 364 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. He also took three carries for 29 yards with a TD.
Sanders’ next start will come on the road against the Bears in Week 15. Cleveland will follow that with games against Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati to cap the 2025 season.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams made a lot of plays in the second half of Sunday’s game against the Packers, but he wound up falling short on the team’s final offensive play.
Williams rolled left on a fourth-and-1 from the Packers’ 14-yard line and tried to hit tight end Cole Kmet in the end zone, but he didn’t get the ball over Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon. Nixon secured it for an interception that sealed the Packers’ 28-21 win and knocked the Bears out of first place in the NFC North.
After the game, Williams said he had multiple receiving options on the play as well as the chance to run for the first down if it was there but identified Kmet as the best choice as things unfolded. He lamented not giving the tight end more of a chance to make a play on the ball.
“Rolled out and saw Cole, I tried to give him a big-boy ball, try and let him go up for it because I ended up seeing [Nixon] start to sprint,” Williams said in his postgame press conference. “I tried to slow them up and kind of give him a chance. In those moments, it’s a got-to-have-it moment. They had a guy trailing me, so I didn’t feel like I could go get it myself. Just got to give Cole a better shot at it. I think next time, just extend him a little bit more and kind of lead him. But, in those moments, you want to put the ball in play and trust your guy or try to have your guy go make a play and just got to give him a better ball.”
Williams threw two touchdown passes in the second half and came up with a pair of big completions on the final drive to get the Bears into scoring position. He was 6-of-14 for 32 yards in the first half, however, and said the team was “shooting ourselves in the foot” while falling behind by 11 points at halftime. Those early struggles helped put them in a do-or-die situation at the end of the game and the Bears can’t afford to miss too many more opportunities if they’re going to finish the season with a playoff berth.
Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon sealed Sunday’s win over the Bears with an end-zone interception. After the game, he was asked how gratifying the play was, given the scrutiny he receives for his performance as a defensive back.
“I don’t care,” Nixon told reporters, via Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com. “I do this shit for me. Fuck everybody else. Excuse my language, but I am who I say I am and I always tell myself that.”
If he won’t say it, we will. It should be very gratifying. He made the play of the game, sealing the 28-21 win and vaulting the Packers into first place in the NFC North, at 9-3-1.
There’s still a long way to go. The Packers visit the Broncos and the Bears. Then, they host the Ravens. They wrap the season with a game at Minnesota.
Packers linebacker Micah Parsons was held without a sack today against the Bears. And Packers head coach Matt LaFleur thinks “held” is the operative word.
Asked about some arguments he appeared to be having with the officials about the Bears holding Parsons and not getting flagged for it, LaFleur said after the game that he can’t understand why the Bears were getting away with it.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” LaFleur said. “I thought there was one that certainly was questionable, to say the least, but apparently the officials disagreed, so it is what it is and we’ve just got to continue to fight and try to get to the quarterback.”
LaFleur said he wouldn’t repeat what he said to the officials but made it clear that he had expressed his displeasure to them.
“I’m not going to get into what we were talking about,” LaFleur said. “Officials, I don’t think their jobs are easy by any stretch — I think it’s a difficult job — but I guess I don’t know what holding is anymore because I thought it was a pretty clear and obvious hold. But I guess I don’t know what that means.”
Asked about a different play, LaFleur repeated the same theme.
“I thought he got grabbed, and I thought that was a penalty, but again, I’m not an official,” LaFleur said.
The Packers won, but that doesn’t mean LaFleur was happy with everything he saw on the field today in Green Bay. Particularly from the folks in the striped shirts.
