Chicago Bears players met with reporters Monday at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, a day after their season ended in a 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC divisional round.

Players held exit interviews and cleaned out their lockers as they reflected on an unforgettable season. Chicago entered Bears head coach Ben Johnson’s first season with little expectations around the NFL. The Bears made it a memorable year, with seven comeback wins and plenty of playoff firsts.

Now players, coaches and management will look toward the offseason as the Bears try to build on an impressive season. Here are four of the most interesting things the Bears said Monday.

On Caleb Williams’ offseason plans

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took a major step during Johnson’s first season as the team’s play caller. He also answered many questions about whether he can be the team’s franchise quarterback.

Chicago won games because of Williams this season. Williams was clutch in late-game situations and led seven fourth-quarter comebacks. He also etched his name into the Bears’ record book, becoming the franchise’s single-season passing leader.

But Williams isn’t a perfect product after two seasons and wants to improve his footwork and accuracy over the offseason. Williams plans to work with his receivers and dissect film from this season to find ways, no matter how small, to improve.

“It’s just super small things to be able to be more consistent for the guys, for the team,” Williams said. “Be able to keep the offense on the field as long as possible and be as efficient as possible. That’s something that I want to do for myself and this offense and this team.”

Williams will have the motivation to do it. He and the Bears got a taste of what success in the playoffs is like when they beat the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Wild Card round and came close to advancing to the NFC championship.

Williams will use that as motivation over the coming months.

“You get into these playoff games, and you’re winning and you play these good teams, and you see what you have to go against,” Williams said. “You see what championship level is, you see what you need to do to be at the position that you want to be at the end of the year. You see what you have to do, you figure it out, and when you get knocked down, you get back up. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s my mindset.”

On Ben Johnson’s impact

When the Bears hired Johnson a year ago, many knew Chicago brought in one of the best young offensive minds in the NFL. But his ability to be a head coach wasn’t certain.

Johnson quickly erased any concerns about his leadership and proved his methods worked in the regular season and playoffs. The Bears accomplished a lot of firsts under Johnson. Chicago returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. It won its first NFC North title since 2018. The team also won its first playoff game in 15 years against its hated rival.

Players credited Johnson for instilling a winning culture at Halas Hall that should last.

“Chicago, the Bears, they got the right guy leading this team,” veteran safety Kevin Byard said. “He did a phenomenal job this year. Like I said, I think we all kinda knew when Ben came in as the head coach about his offensive play calling and how good the offense was gonna be. But I think just the accountability, the tone that was set from day one with the tough training camp that we had. And I think he just did a phenomenal job this year.”

He also did what many expected and elevated the Bears’ offense to one of the NFL’s best. Chicago ended the regular season in the top 10 of most categories.

Williams was a major benefactor of Johnson’s coaching and was excited for what was next in their future together.

“He’s been everything that Chicago’s needed as a coach,” Williams said. “We’re happy to have him. I’m happy to have him as my coach, and what he’s been able to do for me it’s been unparalleled. I’m excited about that. I’m excited that we’re going to be together. I’m excited about our future. I’m excited about getting back here with him and growing more than I did this year and be able to have games and moments like this many times in our career.”

On building sustained success

Chicago accomplished the first part of what Johnson hoped to build in Chicago. Now the Bears will need to find a way to sustain that success for years to come.

That’s easier said than done. Building sustained success in the NFL is tough. The Bears haven’t reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since they did it in 2005 and 2006.

“This is not something that’s very easy to do at all, but I have belief in this group, in this team, in this organization,” Byard said. “But like I said, I mean, we’re all having these talks like, ‘hey man, we’ve got to run this back, we’ve got to run this back,’ but there’s no guarantee that it’s going to happen again. So yeah, it’s going to definitely be tough to do.”

The Bears believe they have a good group that can do it. Chicago, like every team in the NFL, will have some roster turnover in the offseason. There will be new players who will need to learn and buy into the culture the Bears set this season.

“You get into these playoff games and you’re winning and you play these good teams and you see what you have to go against. You see what championship level is, you see what you need to do to be at the position that you want to be at the end of the year. You see what you have to do, you figure it out and when you get knocked down, you get back up. That’s what we’re going to do. That’s my mindset.”

—  Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears quarterback

But Chicago has a strong core of young players on both sides of the ball who’ve already bought in and experienced the fruits of their labor. That’s why they believe this season won’t just be a blip on the radar.

“I think it’s just going to continue,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said. “Obviously, you kind of got to reset. Don’t let this season, all the lessons that we have learned this season or the wins, in essence, get to our head. Understanding that next season isn’t guaranteed. We have to go get.”

On some roster decisions

Bears general manager Ryan Poles will need to make some tough roster decisions over the next few months.

Two of the biggest decisions will be at safety. Both Byard and Jaquan Brisker have expiring contracts. Byard had a big comeback season and led the NFL with seven interceptions, which led to his first All-Pro honor since 2021. Brisker, meanwhile, had a good season and ended it with a strong showing Sunday.

Brisker said he didn’t have an answer as to what’s next, but said he’d like to return to the Bears. Byard echoed similar interest.

“I definitely think there’s mutual interest for me to be back,” Byard said. “But at the end of the day, I truly don’t have any real control over it. I think with the success that we all had this season as a team, I think a lot of guys on this team are going to be coveted around this league, honestly. And I think the same way the organization is always going to do what’s best for the team, I think I owe that to my family as well, even though, like I said, I think my first option would be to come back here in Chicago and kind of finish what we got started this year.”

Poles will also need to decide which player they’ll want to offer a contract extension. His biggest target will likely be starting right tackle Darnell Wright, who took a major step in his third season. Wright became a force at the right side along with right guard Jonah Jackson and earned his first Second Team All-Pro honor.

Wright said he didn’t care about a contract extension at the moment but would be open to staying with the Bears.

“I would love to be on the team for my whole career, for sure,” Wright said. “That’d be great.”