The catch was spectacular. The loss still stings. And as far as the Chicago Bears are concerned, both are firmly in the rearview mirror.
Cole Kmet and Caleb Williams spoke to the media Monday as the Bears opened their offseason program at Halas Hall, and the message from both (echoing what Ben Johnson has been preaching since the final seconds of that divisional round loss to the Rams) was consistent: last year was a good year, not the last good year, and there’s a significant gap between a breakthrough season and the thing this team is actually building toward.
Kmet was characteristically direct about how the 2025 season is typically discussed. That fourth-and-4 heave from Williams, backpedaling, off his back foot, to the corner of the end zone (a catch that tied the game in the final seconds of regulation against the Rams in January) has taken on a life of its own.
Kmet has seen the clip. Many times. “I have to remind people that we lost the frickin’ game,” he said Monday at Halas Hall.
Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn ImagesBears Open Offseason Program With Eyes Fixed Forward
The Bears went from worst to first in the NFC North last season, earned their first playoff win in 15 years with a wild-card victory over the Packers, and came within a Harrison Mevis field goal of reaching the NFC Championship Game.
By almost any external measure, it was a resounding success. Inside Halas Hall, the standard has already moved.
“Last year is over with,” Kmet said. “The reality of the NFL is there are seven to nine new playoff teams every year. This league, they want parity and they get their parity. We see that year to year, and we’re not excused from that. We’re looking to not only get back to where we were last year with the chance to go to the NFC Championship game but to exceed that and go win the Super Bowl.”
Williams, who turns 25 next month, sounded like a player who appreciated what 2025 meant without being remotely satisfied by it.
“It was good for me to be able to see, to be able to feel, to go be able to go out there and win games,” he said. “But that wasn’t my goal. That’s not my goal. That’s not where I want to be. I want to be the best. I want to go win. I want to be a world champion, a Super Bowl champion. I want to be the best Bear quarterback, the best quarterback. So, my goals, that was a good stepping stone for me, but that wasn’t the last stepping stone. That last year wasn’t really anything. It was a good year, and we have many more good years coming up.”
The offseason has brought real change to a roster that overachieved in 2025.
© Matt Marton-Imagn ImagesDJ Moore was traded to the Bills, Tremaine Edmunds was released, and Kevin Byard walked in free agency. Garrett Bradbury, Coby Bryant, and Devin Bush came in to fill gaps. The Bears know the league will come for them differently in 2026. They’re no longer a surprise. Improving the defense and developing a genuine identity on that side of the ball will be among the biggest challenges Johnson faces in year two.
The final major offseason checkpoint arrives Thursday, when the NFL Draft kicks off in Pittsburgh. By this time next week, the Bears will have added to their roster and turned the page completely on the 2025 season. The expectations, as Kmet framed them, haven’t wavered.
“Our expectations in the building don’t ever change,” he said. “It’s to go win a Super Bowl. That’s the expectation; that’s what our goal is. I know the talk of last year was, ‘Oh, it’d be great if the Bears could go make a playoff,’ and that’s a success. Yeah, there’s success in that, but that’s not what our ultimate goal is. Our ultimate goal is still to go win a Super Bowl. It’s not an easy thing to do, but those are the expectations within the locker room, and quite frankly, those are the only expectations that we look at.”
Good stepping stone. Many more to come.
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