The Chicago Bears are one of the NFL‘s most disappointing teams. After entering the season with lofty expectations, the Bears went 4-8 in their first 12 games and have already fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus.
In Chicago, it’s time to forget about the playoffs and look toward the Bears’ chances of picking at the top of the 2025 NFL Draft.
What Does the NFL Draft Order Look Like After Week 13?
Here is the top 10 of the 2025 NFL Draft order following Week 13.
1. Jacksonville Jaguars, 2-10
2. Las Vegas Raiders, 2-10
3. New York Giants, 2-10
4. New England Patriots, 3-10
5. Carolina Panthers, 3-9
6. New York Jets, 3-9
7. Tennessee Titans, 3-9
8. Cleveland Browns, 3-9
9. Cincinnati Bengals, 4-8
10. New Orleans Saints, 4-8
Will the Bears Finish With the First Overall Pick?
Can the Bears pick first overall in the 2025 NFL Draft? The PFN Playoff Predictor projects that Chicago has a 0.5% chance of ending up with the first overall pick.
Remaining Bears Schedule
- Week 14: at San Francisco 49ers
- Week 15: at Minnesota Vikings
- Week 16: vs. Detroit Lions
- Week 17: vs. Seattle Seahawks
- Week 18: at Green Bay Packers
Bears vs. Lions Week 13 Recap
The Lions dominated the first half, holding the Bears without a first down on each of their first four drives and racing out to a 16-0 lead. However, the second half was all Bears, nearly leading to a miraculous comeback.
Of course, the only thing viewers will remember from this game is how it ended. Starting from its own one-yard line with 3:31 remaining in the fourth quarter, Chicago got as far as the Lions’ 25-yard line after a controversial fourth-down pass interference call on Detroit cornerback Kindle Vildor.
From there, the Bears disintegrated with an egregious late-game sequence that will go down as one of the signature moments of the ill-fated Matt Eberflus era. After an illegal use of hands penalty backed the Bears back up to the 35-yard line, Caleb Williams took a sack on second down with 36 seconds remaining, bringing up 3rd-and-26 from the 41-yard line.
Despite having a timeout in his back pocket, Eberflus chose to let the offense try to get a snap off. Williams didn’t snap the ball until there were four seconds left, with Eberflus never stopping the chaotic sequence with a timeout to give the offense a chance to organize itself. A deep desperation pass fell incomplete, and the Bears went home without getting to attempt a field goal OR use their final timeout.
Here's the full sequence for the end of Lions-Bears. I can't believe this happened…….. pic.twitter.com/dFMgDL2CE9
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 28, 2024
After the game, Eberflus curiously defended the team’s process, saying that they wanted to preserve the timeout in case the third-down play ended in-bounds.
He justified that choice by noting that the team didn’t want to take its final timeout with too little time remaining in case a ball carrier was tackled in-bounds.
#Bears HC Matt Eberflus defended his decision not to use the timeout: “I like what we did there. … I think we handled it the right way. … Didn't work out the way we wanted it to.” pic.twitter.com/dod3i2rMTh https://t.co/BWdfdK1EVP
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 28, 2024
Of course, none of this resolves the reality that they could have simply called a timeout with more than 30 seconds left and allotted plenty of time for the field goal unit to run onto the field. Plenty of analysts eviscerated Eberflus’ decision-making afterward, including CBS analyst and longtime NFL quarterback Matt Ryan.
"This is unacceptable from the head coach position. Your responsibility is to not panic in critical situations. To put your team in the best opportunity to win games. That's a massive, massive fail by Matt Eberflus" – CBS' Matt Ryan🔥 pic.twitter.com/z0TZ49IbkE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 28, 2024
The loss represented the sixth straight for Chicago, which has not won since emerging from its Week 7 bye. With the hardest remaining strength of schedule, the Bears may not win again until 2025, moving up in the 2025 NFL Draft order in the process.