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Sports Monday, December 22, 2025 | | |
| | | | | Good morning, Chicago. For the first time since 2020, the Bears are officially playoff-bound. The Bears clinched a playoff spot Sunday thanks to the Lions’ 29-24 loss to the Steelers. The combination of a Bears Week 16 win — in epic fashion thanks, to DJ Moore’s overtime touchdown — against the Packers on Saturday night and a Lions loss on Sunday was enough for the Bears to lock up their spot in the postseason. The franchise’s last playoff appearance came after an 8-8 regular season
in 2020. That year, the Bears earned the No. 7 seed in the NFC and lost a wild-card round game to the Saints. In year No. 1 under new coach Ben Johnson, the Bears have gone from 5-12 and last place in the NFC North division a year ago to 11-4 and in control of the division. Stay connected with us all day: Sign up for our newsletters to get the latest news in your inbox. And you can follow us on social media: X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Threads. Not a Tribune subscriber? Here's our latest offer. | | | | The most improbable of wild, late rallies in a season full of them has given the Chicago Bears firm control of the NFC North and put them on the verge of clinching a playoff berth. | | | | | We went to bed Saturday night with visions of cheese graters dancing in our heads, and woke up Sunday morning with a surprise gift from White Sox Santa. | | | | | Even with 152 points on the board in the NBA’s highest-scoring game of the season, the Chicago Bulls came a single possession away from fumbling the win. | | | | | Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw spoke at a Turning Point USA gathering, inserting himself into the middle of the political divide in America. | | | | | The Chicago White Sox are signing Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami to a 2-year, $34 million deal, a source confirmed to the Tribune. | | | | | When DJ Moore came down with a 46-yard pass to give the Chicago Bears a 22-16 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday, pandemonium broke out at Soldier Field. | | | |
