Bears vs. Packers: 3 keys for Chicago's offense in Week 18

Happy New Year! 2025 has made its debut after a long, tortuous 2024 Chicago Bears season, with the team squandering their positive traction to start and derailing into pits and valleys since.

To keep with tradition of making New Year’s resolutions, I think I can wager a guess as to what Chicago’s will be in 2025: don’t be terrible. The Bears’ reclamation project will be underway as soon as the season ends, but that means they have to suffer another beating from one more team: the rival Green Bay Packers. The difficulties they're sure to endure at the hands of their bitter enemy will sting a bit more, as the difference between the two franchises will be difficult to process.

The Packers have comfortably clinched a playoff berth with a week to spare and, with their shot at the NFC North crown well out of reach, they’re aiming to enjoy an inconsequential beatdown of the Bears. Chicago, meanwhile, has reached a debatable all-time franchise low, losing an unprecedented 10 straight games in one season. The majority of the Bears’ brass is likely to be ushered out in favor of a new regime that will have the sole goal of cultivating rookie quarterback Caleb Williams’ talents, so the current makeup of the team has little to play for.

All we can hope for is for the offense to show some fight when lining up against their most loathed rival, so let’s plug our noses and dive into the three keys for Chicago’s offense in Week 18.

1. Play fast and free

The Bears are clearly outclassed in their final game of the year, and hope of a meaningless victory is simply not realistic. Chicago’s despondent offense will break at the first hint of resistance, and any semblance of competency will not make itself clear until the fourth quarter, and even that’s optimistic. They have no identity, have nothing to play for, and are ready to embrace the long offseason that awaits them following Sunday. With those circumstances, all that can be asked of the team is to let loose.

Less established players or players on short-term deals are sure to fret over not only their future with the Bears but their playing career as a whole, and those anxieties are sure to begin creeping in with the end of the year so close at hand. When the football is kicked off the tee, however, those doubts should be shelved for later in favor of playing in the moment. Making the best play in one instance, then doing it again the next – that’s all that can be controlled. If the offense can let go of their frustrations in the present and their anticipation of the coming months, some good things can manifest itself as a result.

2. Allow QB Caleb Williams to push the ball downfield

One unfortunate adverse side effect of being a member of such an abhorrent team is how their public image gets tarnished. The wider NFL world can make broad, inaccurate assumptions of a team’s contributors solely based on their overall success, or lack thereof. Bears rookie passer Caleb Williams is an unfortunate victim of this phenomenon, with many writing him off as a bust despite putting together a solid rookie campaign in the midst of a ghoulish season. He is still projected to be Chicago’s quarterback of the future, so he is the metaphorical eye of a hurricane that’s bound to reshape his surroundings come next season. If Williams is the future, why not let him give the fans a taste of what the future holds? He should be in full control of the offense and be allowed to run whatever play he wants in the Bears’ final game of the season.

Williams has been inconsistent finding his pass-catchers downfield, and I’m not convinced the issue is just his accuracy. Familiarity with vertical passing concepts comes into play too, and I’d think it’d be hard to get a feel for how much throttle should be put on the ball if those concepts are only called a few times a game. Chicago has nothing to lose; throw caution to the wind and allow Williams to take shots over the top early. Anyone who’s watched the Bears past Week 6 knows they have no chance against the playoff-ready Packers – an early interception is of no consequence. Interim offensive coordinator Chris Beatty’s offense should walk on to Lambeau Field Sunday ready to gun sling, and that mentality has the potential to provide Chicago’s traumatized fanbase with a little excitement before the season’s conclusion.

3. Minimize penalties

Yeah, it’s a little boring, and they’re going to get stomped even if they play mechanically sound football, but the team’s recent string of penalized mistakes don’t help. The Bears have committed 14 penalties for a total of 93 negated yards in the last two games, and losing yardage that’s already hard to come by is not conducive to their success. The mistakes committed in last week’s primetime contest against the Seahawks were the most brutal, with one crucial penalty erasing what would have been the team’s only touchdown of the game. The club is not in any position to overcome self-inflicted wounds, so avoiding that situation in the first place would be ideal. It’s not going to be easy in any case, so keeping the penalties to minimum would give the underdog Bears a slightly better chance of staying competitive.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears vs. Packers: 3 keys for Chicago's offense in Week 18