stormstopper

$130 MILLION DOLLAR MAN Mohammed Foster inks new 5-year deal; Williams, Greenfield sign extensions LAKE FOREST, Ill. - After leading the Chicago Bears to their first NFC championship and Super Bowl appearance, Mohammed Foster will remain in the Windy City to try and anchor another run--and it won't be on the franchise tag. Foster and the Chicago Bears agreed to a mammoth 5-year contract worth up to $130 million, with $107 million guaranteed. That includes a $30 million salary in 2026 alone, the highest of any quarterback leaguewide. The average annual value of $26 million is tied with Nick Hall and behind only Darrell Murphy and Brian Brown among the highest in the league. "I can't wait to run it back with my guys," Foster said in a statement to the press. "I feel humbled in the level of faith the organization has in me, and I'll work hard every day to live up to every penny of this contract." This is a culmination of a long negotiation process between the two sides that began two years ago. A source with knowledge of the negotiations indicated that the final offer's total value was "not quite double, but not far from double" the value of the original proposal, largely due to the leap Foster made in the 2025 season. The fifth-year quarterback earned Comeback Player of the Year and Pro Bowl honors after completing 331-of-504 (65.7%) passes for 4,169 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions and a 100.4 passer rating while rushing for 602 yards and 6 touchdowns on 106 carries, all just a year after a season-ending PCL injury. After the details of the deal went public, Foster's agent tweeted, "That's why you bet on yourself!" In addition to Mohammed Foster's new contract, the Bears were able to lock down a pair of core players to long-term deals as well. Defensive end Ezekiel Williams Jr. signed an extension worth up to $56 million over four years while right tackle Riley Greenfield inked a deal worth $16.5 million over three years. All three deals are frontloaded, which will likely mean a quiet free agency for the Bears this offseason. Williams has quickly become one a franchise pass rusher, racking up 12.0 sacks and 17 additional tackles for loss, 3 fumbles forced, 5 fumbles recovered, an interception, a safety, and a touchdown across the 2025 season alone. In just three years, he has already passed Andrew Fazande for 3rd in the Bears' career sack list. Both Williams and Greenfield were set to enter free agency after the 2026 season. They were joined in that category by left tackle Brian Chavez, though the Bears were unable to come to an agreement with the fifth-year Baylor alum. That said, with their full attention on wooing Chavez and the franchise tag available, the Bears should be able to keep their core together for at least another couple of years.

Da Bears are ready

#5 OG Silolo Siula 6-1 333 3 Utah [Pass Blocking] [+1] 96 - Accepted $8.05 million

Updated my 2025 post to include coaches

Chicago Bears 2026 Team Page Coaches Active Players (62/x) Practice Squad (0/12) Injured Reserve (0)

Da Bears are ready!

Congratulations @Todd and @Bubada on a historic season and a well-deserved championship! You guys set the tone early with that pick-six (which was pretty much the #1 thing I was most afraid of seeing early in that game report), and never let us get back in it. Just as this game is a culmination of an incredible season, this whole season is the culmination of all the excellent work you've been doing to build your franchise over the years. Enjoy the history you've made today!

A TITANIC TASK Bears will attempt to thwart historic Tennessee run on the biggest stage in American sports Geno Bohannon and Jeremiah Joseph attempt to chase down Christian Collins during the Bears' 2024 loss to the Tennessee Titans NEW ORLEANS - By eight days, David Gaines is the longest-tenured member of the Chicago Bears. The Bears sent a 3rd-round pick for the receiver who'd broken out with the Jets and then the Rams, and all he's done since then is set the Bears' single-game, single-season, and career records for receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He was brought in to anchor a pass-first offense with Norris Brooksheer at the helm, and his presence provided continuity when Mohammed Foster replaced the former #1 pick. After twelve seasons in the NFL and eight with the Bears, it's possible that this Super Bowl will be Gaines's last hurrah. But one last piece of his résumé comes into focus as the Bears prepare to face the Titans: Gaines is one of seven Bears players to have played in a Super Bowl before. He and kicker Cliff Chamblin were teammates on the Rams side that fell to Miami in Super Bowl II. Gaines's impact wasn't felt very strongly. He caught one pass for 18 yards, with Darrell Murphy opting to go to Walt Peck most of the evening in the 41-30 defeat. Gaines was in his second year in the league, showing promise but closer to being the 145th pick in the inaugural draft than he was to his eventual stardom. A decade later, he's made it back. And the lessons he's learned from that day haven't gone away. "You have to wrap your head around two things," Gaines insists. "The first is that it's just another game. The second is that it's not just another game." This is the playoffs, not just another game. This is the Super Bowl, not just another playoff game. This is a Super Bowl against a Tennessee Titans team that's looking to complete the winningest season in league history, not just another Super Bowl. Randall Jones was a member of the Oakland Raiders squad that saw defeat to the 16-3 Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl VII. So was defensive end Adam Williams, and so were cornerbacks Jaylen Harris and Michael Wilkerson. The foursome ran it back after the franchise's move to Las Vegas, and they blew out the 15-3 Philadelphia Eagles to win Super Bowl VIII the next year. If there's anyone on this team who's qualified to know what it's like to face this caliber of team in the league's ultimate game, it's Jones. So it means something that he agrees with Gaines. "When you're facing an opponent like the Titans, it gets even harder to maintain the focus you need," cautions Jones, "because there's so many different scenarios to prepare for and so many doubters to keep out of your ear. But that's what makes it even more important." Tennessee has set records over and over this year. They have 18 wins, a record shared only with the 2017 Miami Dolphins. They won 16 of those in the regular-season, and they've won 17 games in a row. Those are records they share with no one, ever. They're 4th in the league in scoring offense and 2nd in scoring defense. They've outscored foes by 11.7 points per game, a full 4.7 points better than second-place Jacksonville and 6.4 points ahead of the Bears. They were already the 2nd-seed in the AFC last year, though they were upset in the wild card round by the Denver Broncos, who had acquired Brian Brown mid-season. This offseason, though, they made a trade that will perhaps define the entire season: they sent Aaron Walls, Jamal Trufant, Jayson Pierce, and a first-round pick to Arizona for star runningback Trevon Yeldon along with center Raymond Kline. They haven't needed him to take over the offense week in and week out--but the fact that he could if he wanted to frees up the four-wheel drive passing game of Thomas Wheeler, Kevin Williams, Cody Hunter, and Percy Brown. They have speed to burn, and that will challenge Jones and the Chicago secondary. As high-profile as that trade was, though, the Titans were a top-5 scoring offense in 2024. They made huge gains on defense, however, cutting their opponents' scoring average from 22.7 points per game in 2024 to 15.5 this year. Jack Ramsey is arguably the best cornerback in the game. Jordan Harris may well be the best #2 corner, and Robert Bleeker was All-Pro as a slot corner. "Every level of this defense is nuts," says receiver Charlie Paul, who caught 9 passes for 135 yards across Super Bowls V and VI with the New York Jets. "We've got a lot of respect for them. But my mom always says the best way to respect your competition is to go out there and beat 'em." There's at least one other way to show respect, as the Bears demonstrated this offseason with star defensive end Tyler Jones, then a restricted free agent. After the Titans transition-tagged him, the Bears offered him a 5-year, $75 million contract to have him play across from Ezekiel Williams Jr. The Titans opted to match the contract. The Bears still ended up with an ex-Titans defensive end, even if only technically. Veteran defensive end Adam Williams was on the Titans' preseason roster, though he ultimately did not make the final 55. After Bears' starting defensive end Matthew McNeil tore his ACL in the season opener, they signed Williams for the year. He's more than exceeded expectations: 5.0 sacks, 8 tackles for loss out of 32 tackles, 3 fumbles forced, one recovered, and a safety. "Both of these franchises gave me a chance to compete this year," Williams muses. "Both of them are in the Super Bowl. Maybe I'm a good-luck charm." The Bears are the betting underdog in this game, unsurprisingly. However, they're only underdogs by 2.5 points. Their path to a Super Bowl has required them to walk the narrowest of paths, winning three straight road games by scoring the game-winning touchdown no earlier than 38 seconds before the end of regulation all three times. Williams may be a good-luck charm, but the Bears made it here for a reason. They've set the franchise record for scoring offense and scoring defense. Mohammed Foster bounced back from a season-ending PCL injury in 2024 to become a Pro Bowler this year. Nick Rowland has filled the giant shoes left by future Hall of Famer Vaughan Abraham. The offensive line is more experienced, and so is the defense as a whole. But perhaps most importantly, Sean Waller's added a deep threat this offense hasn't had before. There are several matchups that are going to make or break this game, such as Tyler Jones against Riley Greenfield and Tom Sharpe, or Ezekiel Williams Jr. against Jeremy Summers and Ian Braden. But when Waller lines up on Jack Ramsey's side of the field, the game can swing in a hurry. The Titans are a team that relies on their corners over their safeties. At 15.3 yards per catch this season--the most ever by a Bear with at least 60 receptions--Waller is capable of bypassing that level and challenging the safeties if and only if he's able to find a way to work through Ramsey. On defense, the Bears will need to win the physical battles. That includes the fight at the line of scrimmage, which will mean dealing with one of the best tackles in the game in Brandon Reamon. That responsibility will fall to Adam Williams and second-year linebacker Jordan Butler. They'll need to win those physical battles on the perimeter, as well: with the track-star speed in the Titans' receiving corps, delaying them from full acceleration could be the difference between a sack and an explosive passing play. And, of course, they will need to bottle up Trevon Yeldon. Ezekiel Williams Jr. has had as much success as anyone in disrupting opposing run games. If he can come up big and put Tennessee's offense behind the sticks, it opens up opportunities for everyone else. That's what makes this just another game: even 17 games into a winning streak, the Titans are a team with strengths and weaknesses just like anybody else. But that's also what makes it unlike any other game: their strengths are stronger, and their weaknesses are harder to pick at. "Preparation. Execution. Determination," Mohammed Foster recites. Like 41 of the players who will suit up for the Bears, he has never been to the Super Bowl before. But the road to get here has taught him a lot about what it takes. If this really is just another game, it should apply here. "They put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone except Silolo." Above all, he insists that the team will leave it all out on the field. "We didn't come this far just to get this far, or just to be happy to be here. We came here to bring home the Super Bowl trophy to Chicago." Foster grins, a winning smile that's become iconic in the Windy City. "We'll either go down fighting, or we'll go down as legends."

In the 2022-23 offseason, we were in crisis mode. We were coming off of a 4-12 finish--our second in as many years and our fourth straight losing record. Then Andrew Fazande asked for a trade, Akeel Morris was just not working out, and we had to do a controlled demolition of our defensive infrastructure. If that had gone wrong, we could have been in for an even longer period of darkness. But we were fortunate to be able to flip Fazande for Randall Jones, and we drafted Ezekiel Williams Jr. to replace Fazande that same offseason. I can't say enough about how much of an impact they've had. EZW's been asked to play out of his natural scheme and it hasn't mattered to him. He's been a difference-maker in a division where we have an RBs arms race going on (plus BT). Jones has been everything you want in a last line of defense: a sure tackler, able to make defenses pay for challenging him, and this year his 4 INT led our team...by 3. And that's not to forget about Glenn McCurdy. He's the first Bear to have two career kick return touchdowns or two single-season kick return touchdowns. Special teams is important and it's something I always want to invest in. Congratulations to Ezekiel, Randall, and Glenn on earning All-Pro honors!

Mohammed Foster worked so hard just to get back on the field after his injury. For him to not only recapture the level he'd left off with, but to put together the best season by a Bears quarterback in franchise history is special. His resilience has shown up over and over again when the going's gotten tough late in games, and never more starkly than helming three game-winning touchdown drives in three games on the road to get us to the Super Bowl. Congratulations to him on winning Comeback Player of the Year!

MoFo's 7 rushing yards made all the difference in this one. Let's go NFC!

From the standpoint that a professional athlete would rather be out their competing, absolutely. On the bright side, dude's made $10 million with another $2-3 million and hasn't had to do anything other than hold a clipboard and look handsome because Skaggs is such an ironman. So from the standpoint of someone who can appreciate the reward-to-effort ratio, he's had one of the most productive careers of all time.

LAST STOP: NEW ORLEANS David Medley celebrates a sack during the Bears' NFC championship win over Washington LANDOVER, MD - "I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes," said David Medley. At minimum, he had certainly seen the Bears' Super Bowl hopes flash before his eyes. With just twelve seconds separating Chicago from its first Super Bowl, the Bears' defense was unable to prevent Tanner Bowman from threading the needle to Ty Royal in the endzone to tie the game. "It was hard not to think 'not again,'" added the veteran defensive tackle. "We didn't have to talk about last year. We just had to make sure we didn't repeat it." In last year's wild card round, the Bears took a 20-13 lead into the fourth quarter against this same Washington team at this same Monarctronics Field. They were unable to hold on, succumbing to two quick touchdowns and falling 27-23. Once again, 20-13 was the Bears' lead down the stretch. This time, though, they took the lead with 1:22 remaining. Under most circumstances, that's not a lot of time left. In this case, though, that was more clock than the Bears had left after their previous two game-winning scores combined. Unfortunately, that was also way too much time to leave on the clock for Tanner Bowman, who drove his team down the field in 70 seconds to tie the game and make Medley's life flash before his eyes. "It took me a minute to get myself back in the right mindset and remember we were still tied," Medley admitted. "By the time we got to the coin flip, we were fired up to get a stop." Which is just what they did, forcing punts on each of Washington's first two possessions of overtime. Once again, the ball would be in the hands of Mohammed Foster with the game on the line. "Our defense got us great field position," Foster commented after the game. "I had to focus on making the right read and the right throw, get us as close as possible to set up either a touchdown or a field goal." Foster delivered, marching the Bears' offense all the way down to the Washington 1. There was no contemplation of a field goal. There was no contemplation of a pass play, or even a read-option. The winning call was simple, according to offensive coordinator John Solomon: "Get hats on hats, and punch the ball in." The responsibility to punch the ball in came down to Nick Rowland. Although the title of "rookie" is still accurate, it's one he may have outgrown last week when he caught the game-winning touchdown pass in Atlanta. And if not then, he certainly outgrew it on Sunday night. "The play was designed for me to go right, but I saw Silo was getting some push," recounted Rowland. "I didn't have time to think about it, just made my cut and hoped there wasn't a linebacker or safety coming over the top." Protected by Silo--that is, left guard Silolo Siula--Rowland plunged into the crush of bodies at the goal line. And he emerged, on his feet, ball in hand, in the endzone and racing for the Bears' sideline with an unbridled scream echoed by Chicagoans and Bears fans across the world. Three weeks. Three road trips. Three dramatic wins. And now, win or lose, the ride will come to an end after just one more game for the Super Bowl-bound Chicago Bears. Last stop: New Orleans.

This team keeps finding a way. 38 seconds. 37 seconds. Now overtime. All on the road against division champions, and now we're here. Just looking at the box score, I'm glad we got so many of the little things right. We got pressure. We avoided turnovers. We didn't have a lot of penalty yardage. And we didn't let Bowman's clutch 70-second drive at the end of regulation break us. Ivory Hull set the tone for the defense early. Silolo Siula kept us from getting totally routed at the line of scrimmage. And Nick Rowland. Back-to-back game-winning touchdowns in the playoffs. I have to make sure it doesn't violate the CBA's compensation clauses to gift him a lunch pail made of solid gold for all he's done for us this year. Now it's time to read some Percy Jackson to get inspiration on facing Titans. I can't wait. GG @HAFFnHAFF and @Bellwood. This truly could've gone either way. You've got an awesome team with a great foundation and so, so much young talent. Three straight NFCCGs--all as a 1- or 2-seed--says a lot about how well your team is constructed, and you're going to be contenders for a very long time.

The Titans have become the second team ever and the first since the 2017 Miami Dolphins to win 18 games in a season including playoffs. Also, assuming I didn't screw up the Google Sheets formula to calculate it (apart from a known issue where ties get ignored), the Titans' 17-game winning streak is the longest in NFLHC history. The previous record was 15 straight won by Green Bay across the 2020-21 seasons. This has been an incredible run, and the Titans are within a game of completing the most remarkable season we've ever had. And whether we're the ones who face them or Washington is, I'm stoked to see this Super Bowl.