3 ways the Bears can end their season on a positive note

When the Chicago Bears began the 2024-25 NFL season, nobody on the team would have believed that just a few months later they would be riding a 10-game losing streak into Lambeau Field in Week 18.

If it hasn't been a season to forgive for Bears fans, it's certainly been one to forget. This year has been the equivalent of a weekly root canal without novocaine, but thankfully, the pain is about to be over, at least until we dust ourselves off and come back next season.

If the season ended today, the Bears would have the ninth overall pick. A loss, coupled with wins by other similarly miserable teams, would allow Chicago to move up higher in the pecking order. The worst a loss could do is cause the Bears to drop to 10th.

While most fans of struggling teams are rooting for a loss to maximize their draft capital (just ask Giants fans how they feel about upsetting the Colts last week to lose the No. 1 pick), Bears fans have been through this same situation for three years running. Would it be nice to jump up a few spots? Sure. But Bears fans deserve a win for everything the team has put them through.

What would make a successful Sunday for the Bears? Let's take a look at three ways the season could end on a positive note.

Bears dream ending No. 1: Caleb Williams stays healthy and throws for 300 yards and three touchdowns

Though it's true that Bears fans had playoff aspirations as recently as Week 7, the reality of this season is that the most important thing was for Caleb Williams to confirm that he is the guy that will finally break Chicago's longtime quarterback curse.

The narrative outside Chicago has been distressingly shallow, as analysts and other fanbases have seen the Bears' struggles and concluded that Williams has had a disappointing season, but nothing could be further from the truth. Williams has been a rare bright spot as most of the pieces around him have disappointed, as he's thrown for 3,393 yards, 19 touchdowns and just six interceptions, while surviving a league-high 67 sacks.

There are things Williams needs to work on, such as his deep ball accuracy and learning when to throw the ball away to avoid a sack, but on the whole, he's done nothing to cause Bears fans to lose their belief in him.

Interim head coach Thomas Brown has said that it will be business as usual in Green Bay, which means that Williams will again get the start and presumably play the entire game.

Every rep is valuable, especially against a playoff-bound rival on the road. We like Brown's decision to send Williams out there for the final week, but he'll be lambasted if his rookie QB gets injured in what is essentially a meaningless game. That's why more than anything, a successful day for Williams would be one in which he avoids any kind of long-term injury.

If he manages that, the rest would be gravy, but it sure would be nice to see some touchdowns after the Packers held him without one when the teams met back in November. Let's shoot for the moon and hope for his fifth career 300-yard game and three touchdowns, all to fellow rookie Rome Odunze.

Bears dream ending No. 2: The defense picks off Jordan Love multiple times, ruining his confidence for the playoffs

If Bears fans are really honest with themselves, outside of kidnapping Ben Johnson and introducing him as the new head coach before pregame warmups, there isn't much the Bears can do to make anyone feel good about them on Sunday.

You know what would put a smile on Bears fans' faces, though? Some good old fashioned schadenfreude. As the Broadway musical Avenue Q so eloquently put it, schadenfreude is German for "happiness at the misfortune of others."

The Bears haven't provided their fans with much to be happy about this season, but seeing the Packers get knocked down a peg or two would serve as a worthy substitute. Chicago can kick that into gear by forcing Jordan Love into his worst game of the season. Multiple sacks by the defensive line and a couple of interceptions by Jaylon Johnson, the only Bears Pro Bowler, could rattle his confidence, setting up a Wild Card Round pratfall against the Philadelphia Eagles that ends Green Bay's Super Bowl hopes before they even get off the ground.

Bears dream ending No. 3: Gervon Dexter blocks a Brandon McManus field goal to seal the win

Ask any Bears fan what it is they really want, and the answer is an easy one: beat the Packers. The NFL's oldest rivalry has become laughably lopsided during the past three decades, and despite multiple coaches that have come in and promised to turn the tables on our cheese curd-eating neighbors to the north, Lovie Smith has had the most success in recent years, and even he only went 8-11.

The Packers have won 11 straight in the rivalry, so it's not enough to just beat them. There needs to be some kind of karmic equilibrium to it, which is why this game should end the same way it did in Week 11, only this time in reverse. Rather than seeing the Packers win on a last-second blocked field goal by Karl Brooks, this game should end with Gervon Dexter swatting away a Brandon McManus kick to seal the win for the Bears.

Just over 25 years ago, the Bears went into Lambeau Field and broke a 10-game losing streak in the rivalry with a last-second blocked field goal by Bryan Robinson. Robinson credited Bears legend Walter Payton, who had passed away just days earlier, with helping him, saying, "I think Walter Payton picked me up, because I can't jump that high."

Beating the Packers in Lambeau Field while reminding Bears fans of the best player in franchise history? That would be a good day.