Impactful decisions that will shape the future of the Chicago Bears will be based on the entire body of work this season, but a future with Matt Eberflus still patrolling the sideline would have been harder to imagine with a loss Sunday.

10 thoughts on a decisive 28-13 victory over the Detroit Lions, the NFC North front-runner, that improved the Bears to 5-8 and opened the imagination for the future.

Yes, it’s great fodder for talk shows and social media, but Bears general manager Ryan Poles — and the powerful folks in his tight circle at Halas Hall — won’t make a decision due in January based on a four-game slide to begin the season, a bad loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in late October or a meltdown in Detroit in November.

Similarly, they won’t cement a call on Eberflus’ future based on the franchise’s first two-game winning streak since the final weeks of the Matt Nagy era, when the Bears won consecutive games with Andy Dalton and Nick Foles at quarterback.

But I believe this win gives Eberflus a chance and qualifies as the first signature win of his 30-game tenure because it came against a team that entered with a 9-3 record and was completed in convincing fashion. A loss might not have done in Eberflus, but it would have been a lot more difficult to build a case for him at the end of the season with a slate of average to mediocre opponents filling the remaining four weeks of the schedule.

Here are six elements from the season — and specifically this game — that are positives for Eberflus and his staff:

• a) Eberflus has kept his team together through challenging times when other locker rooms could have fractured. The Bears had more than a year’s worth of distractions in the first half of the season: Wide receiver Chase Claypool greased the skids for his exit, defensive coordinator Alan Williams exited in bizarre circumstances and running backs coach David Walker was fired. Claypool’s antics drew attention to himself, but none of his teammates followed his lead. The departures of Williams and Walker quickly became non-issues for the players.

Add an 0-4 start, including a brutal Week 4 loss at home to the Denver Broncos, and things easily could have gone sideways. It looked like it was heading that way. But Eberflus maintained a consistent message with the players and more or less delivered the same public face with his comments, as boring as they were.

“It’s just like anything,” he said after the game Sunday. “You want to see the proof of it. I talked to you guys earlier in the week about the small wins that you have, and you can see the improvement by the unit, by the positions and stuff like that.

“Then to have a win like this, it’s proof for those guys. It’s proof for our staff. It’s proof really for the Bears fans. They were great out there today. They were loud when they needed to be loud. It was awesome. I just want to tip my hat to the fans.”

If there was any panic in the building, we haven’t seen evidence of it, and while no team wants to be three games under .500 going into Week 15, it feels like the Bears have settled down. They’re not the most talented team in the league but they’re playing hard — the kind of opponent teams don’t want to tangle with in December.

“I feel like it was a really tight group,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “I saw a group of guys that had chemistry and had each other’s back. I really admired that. I am glad to be a part of that. It wasn’t the case where I came from (in Washington). It was kind of like you’re just waiting on the season to end. Here, it’s like every week it’s a new challenge and people want to play for the man beside him.”

• b) Takeaways have been coming in bunches. The Bears intercepted Jared Goff twice — by cornerback Jaylon Johnson and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds — and linebacker T.J. Edwards fell on a botched snap by fill-in Lions center Graham Glasgow. The Bears have eight takeaways in the last three games, and that’s at the core of the Tampa-2 scheme. There were chances for more in this game, too, as the defense had seven pass breakups.
• c) Poles upgraded the defense with the deadline deal for Sweat, and his impact continues to be striking. Sweat had one sack Sunday and the defense has 11 in the last four games. That’s after totaling only 10 sacks through the first nine games. Goff was under consistent pressure and Sweat had four of the Bears’ nine quarterback hits. The coaching staff took a new piece and integrated him into the scheme immediately, and the biggest positive sign is the players around him have gotten better.

“I feel like from the beginning we knew we were going to get pressure,” said defensive tackle Gervon Dexter, who shared a sack with Sweat. “(Yannick) Ngakoue’s sack (on Goff’s fourth dropback of the game) kind of set the tone of what type of team and defense we were going to be today. That is how we followed.”

• d) The Bears took away the Lions’ best player. It sounds simplistic, but that’s the goal for a coaching staff each week: identify the player you don’t want to allow to beat you. In this case it was wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. He was targeted a team-high nine times and finished with three receptions for 21 yards. Nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon did a nice job on him in the slot, and Goff, who can do big-time damage in the middle of the field, didn’t have those throwing windows that can make him dangerous as a pinpoint passer.

“It’s knowing what they want to do and just taking it away,” Johnson said. “Putting ourselves in coverages and leverages where we could take away the inside. I think we were well-prepared. They didn’t have too many explosive plays.”

• e) While the Bears aren’t running the ball quite like they did last season, when they set a franchise record with 3,014 yards, they’re still effective on the ground and had 142 yards Sunday on 30 carries. It’s the seventh time this season they have been over 140 rushing yards.

The combination of D’Onta Foreman, Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson mixed with quarterback Justin Fields — and, in this case, wide receiver DJ Moore — proved effective. The run defense wasn’t great Sunday — Jahmyr Gibbs got loose for a 36-yard gain, and the Lions had 140 yards on 24 carries — but that area of the defense has been stout all season.

• f) Adjustments. The Lions threw one wrinkle at the Bears they were not expecting, using backup tackle Dan Skipper as a lineman eligible. Gibbs busted off his 36-yard run on the final play of the first quarter with Skipper on the end of the line of scrimmage. On the next series, David Montgomery had a 7-yard run with Skipper in the formation, and Gibbs had another 4-yard gain with the extra lineman.

“We just have to get lined up faster,” defensive end DeMarcus Walker said. “Shout-out to them for throwing in something we weren’t ready for. When they brought extra offensive linemen in the game … they disguised it a little differently. We just had to adjust.”

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It looked like Dexter was out of his gap on Gibbs’ long run, but when the Lions came back to the strategy early in the fourth quarter on fourth-and-1 at their 34-yard line, the Bears stuffed it. Free safety Eddie Jackson came on a run blitz, and on a slow-developing counter to Gibbs, the Bears swarmed the play. Sweat defeated his block and linebacker Jack Sanborn and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson stuffed Gibbs for a 4-yard loss.

An overview of Eberflus and his staff won’t be complete until the season ends. But this game was probably bigger for Eberflus than for anyone else at Soldier Field, and the decisive nature of the victory gives him a chance.

And a chance is what the Bears believe they have. They’re 1 1/2 games behind the Green Bay Packers (6-6), who visit the New York Giants on Monday night. The Packers currently hold the seventh and final NFC playoff spot, with four 6-7 teams also ahead of the Bears.

“It’s opportunity,” Eberflus said. “It’s opportunity for us to put our best foot forward and be able to stay the course and keep coming together and keep executing at a higher rate, and there’s a lot of things out there that we can learn from. We’re going to take the same mindset, we’re going to look at the tape and we’re going to try to make sure we look at it the right way.

“It’s not all rose-colored glasses because you won the game. You’ve got to learn from this game and get better.”

Brisker didn’t have his bell rung, so it’s a little amusing that after the game the Bears strong safety figured he finished with “five or six” tackles.

How about 17 — 13 of them solos?

According to the team, it’s the most tackles by a Bears defensive back since at least 1960. It’s the most by any NFL defensive back in a non-overtime game since Tennessee Titans safety Michael Griffin had 18 in a 38-10 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sept. 16, 2012. Jacksonville Jaguars safety Rayshawn Jenkins had 18 on Dec. 22 last season in a 40-34 overtime victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

According to Pro Football Reference’s records, the most tackles by a defensive back is 21 by Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots in a 34-20 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 31, 2004.

“Nah,” Brisker said. “I didn’t realize (I had so many).”

Weak-side linebacker T.J. Edwards was credited with 17 tackles in the Week 3 loss in Kansas City. The last time a Bears player had more was when Jamar Williams was credited with 18 in a 17-9 win over the St. Louis Rams on Dec. 6, 2009. In case you’re wondering, the official total for Brian Urlacher in the “Monday Night Miracle” game at Arizona on Oct. 16, 2006, was 19. Bears coaches, after reviewing game film, credited Urlacher with 25 tackles in that game.

The team used to share coaches’ statistics upon review with media, a practice that ended when John Fox arrived in 2015 as it was deemed something that could be a competitive advantage for opponents. How that could prove disadvantageous for the Bears beats me, but the point is Brisker had a whale of a game.

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“Isn’t that crazy?” Matt Eberflus said. “Sounds like my college stats, for crying out loud. It’s unbelievable to get 17 tackles. That’s unheard of. I don’t think that’s ever happened in my career to have a guy have that many tackles.

“What Brisker brings is the reason we drafted him. Ryan (Poles) and I always talk about guys we acquire and bring in here. They have to love football. What does that do, loving football? It brings a passion and a juice to everybody else. If we get enough guys like that, which we have a bunch of guys like that, then you can tangibly see that on the field. You can feel that energy, and that’s what he is.”

Brisker had a hot throw from Jared Goff go off his hands, and it looked like cornerback Jaylon Johnson, in coverage behind him, would have been in position to make the play had Brisker not deflected it. It was one of two pass breakups for Brisker.

“Yeah, I was going to get that one too,” Johnson said. “He got in the way. It was good. We made the play. At least if he would have caught it, it wouldn’t have been bad. If he catches it, we’re good.”

Brisker had an interception and a half-sack in the Week 12 win at Minnesota. His previous season high for tackles was 10 in the Oct. 10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

“He’s starting to come on,” safeties coach Andre Curtis said Thursday. “The past couple games he got nicked up and injured, and then he came back and found his rhythm. He’s getting close to the ball.

“He’s great about doing whatever we need him to do in order for us to be competitive and find a way to win. And his skill set allows that. He’s been deep some, he’s been dropping down some. So we’re just using him in different ways. He’s all for it.”

The passion Eberflus referenced rubs off on teammates too. Brisker is one of the bigger talkers on the field when it comes to mixing it up with opponents. That’s only good if you back it up with your play, and he’s doing that.

“If you’re around him outside of football, he’s kind of a low-key, mellow guy,” Curtis said. “But out there, he’s got juice. He loves playing the game, he’s got passion for it. He’s a striker, he likes being in the mix. That’s just what he brings. That’s his style.

“I don’t know if you ever want to coach a player out of what their natural gifts and talents allow. As a coach, you give them scheme, you give them structure, and then the really good ones let their personality show in their play, and that’s just how he plays. When you are confident, you know what you’re doing and you play free. That’s when it works the best.”

Afterward, Brisker was more interested in talking about the achievement of the unit as a whole. He lamented not getting the takeaway when the ball came his way.

“We’ve been playing great,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out how to score on defense. Like I said last week and I’m going to keep saying it, we have to figure out how to cause more fumbles, get more picks for our offense to score. We’ve got to do more. Even me, I dropped one. Probably should have had a second one.”

He played turnover-free, and he was able to get Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson to jump offside for a free play on fourth-and-13 from the Lions 38-yard line at the end of the third quarter. It was the biggest play of the game, as Fields connected with DJ Moore for a touchdown.

“That’s just a momentary lapse in judgement,” Hutchinson said. “Disgusted with it, that play. That play changed the momentum of the game, and that’s on me.”

“Usually it doesn’t work,” Bears tight end Cole Kmet said. “I gave (Darnell) Mooney some weird sign and Mooney looked at me like, ‘What the hell?’ I just knocked my head. I can’t believe they jumped, but they did and we took advantage of it.”

Moore knew it was a free play. At worst the Bears would have fourth-and-8 from the 33, and maybe they try a 51-yard field goal. With a hard count, Fields got Hutchinson to move and then it was on.

“Basically we were just lined up in a formation, and we tried to get them to jump offside,” Fields said, with the Bears likely to punt if the Lions didn’t fall for it. “Just one-on-one and did a dummy protection adjustment to make it feel like a real play, and of course the second one we got (Hutchinson) to jump.

“(Left guard Teven Jenkins) did a great job selling it and DJ ran hard. We practice that each and every week, so it was great execution by everyone.”

Fields said the key was selling it like a normal play. Sometimes you see a quarterback super animated when the offense is attempting to get a defensive player to jump. The antics rarely work. In this instance it did, and the 38-yard connection put the Bears in the lead for good at 19-13.

Two plays later, Graham Glasgow, who was filling in for injured Lions center Frank Ragnow, botched a snap. The Bears recovered and turned that takeaway into an 11-yard touchdown run around the right side by Fields, and the lead was 25-13.

The three plays before Moore’s touchdown were wonky. Fields floated a wobbly pass to fullback Khari Blasingame that went for a 3-yard loss. On a zone-read keeper, Fields was rocked by linebacker Derrick Barnes for no gain on second down, and Romeo Okwara beat left tackle Braxton Jones on third down, pressuring Fields on a play that looked like it could have been deemed intentional grounding. There wasn’t a receiver anywhere nearby, but officials ruled the hit could have altered the trajectory of what looked to be a throwaway.

Fields finished 19 of 33 for 223 yards with the one touchdown and ran 12 times for 58 yards, doing most of his damage on the ground in the first half. When he plays turnover-free, especially when the defense is getting takeaways, the Bears are difficult for anyone to beat.

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Fields was measured during the week when asked how the final stretch of games could affect his future. He was even-keeled after the victory, with a two-game winning streak — if you can call two a streak — a long time coming.

“We’ve always had confidence,” he said. “If you don’t have confidence in yourself, you have no shot. We have confidence as individual players, as a team we have confidence. We know who we are as a team and we know what we can do as a team.

“It’s just not getting too high or too low, not getting too cocky and knowing that we have areas that we can improve in and that we just have to go in (Monday), keep getting better and practice. Just keep focusing on the details and the little stuff in the game.”

I wrote last week about the significant improvements since the addition of defensive end Montez Sweat, and that trend is really developing. It’s a long shot that the Bears would make the playoffs — more on the vibe in the locker room on that front in a little bit — but the defense is playing high-level football that can be challenging in January.

The addition of Sweat has allowed the Bears to be more creative up front with schemed pass-rush matchups. Sweat continues to be a multiplier — the players around him have taken significant steps forward since he arrived — and that’s one reason I believe Poles went after Sweat and not Chase Young when he talked trade with the Washington Commanders. He felt Sweat would be the superior player, and that looks to be true in a small sample size.

Maybe the Bears aren’t complete defensively just yet, but they’ve physically overmatched the Lions twice now in a short span. They beat them up front in both games. When they line up Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith at cornerback opposite Jaylon Johnson — the two rookies split time Sunday — they’re going to give up a couple plays each game. The rookies are developing, but you know what? They’re going to make plays too.

Johnson has been one of the better cornerbacks in the league this season and got his fourth pick of the year Sunday. Strong safety Jaquan Brisker is improving and free safety Eddie Jackson, while he hasn’t had a lot of plays on the ball, still has the range on the back end that causes quarterbacks to pause when they get to the top of their drop and spot him.

The pass rush is getting home with regularity, and just as important, the Bears are forcing quarterbacks to reset. They can’t sit in a clean pocket and just drive the ball snap after snap, and that was happening at the start of the season.

Tremaine Edmunds is playing better at middle linebacker and weak-side linebacker T.J. Edwards has been a tackling machine. Edwards has six quarterback hits, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Jack Sanborn is a solid role player at strong-side linebacker. He’s on cue with alignment and assignment, and if the ball carrier is in front of him, he’s going to make the tackle.

The Bears have gotten better on defense almost overnight, and they’re getting better. They held the Lions’ big-play offense to a season-low 267 yards. They’re playing with confidence and you can see the energy growing.

A key point in the game came at the start of the third quarter. The Lions had flipped momentum with two touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 13-10 lead. They got the ball to start the second half and you had to wonder if they could double up after going ahead with 26 seconds remaining before halftime.

There was no fear from the Bears defense.

“Watch the same game last time,” nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon said. “We just had to execute last time. That’s all it really was. That’s why I told everyone, ‘Just win your one-on-ones.’ That’s all it really is. Just execute your job and we’re going to win. That’s exactly what happened. Everyone was winning their one-on-ones, everyone was making plays all around. Complementary football.

“It’s all about responding. We’ve seen it all before. Been there before. We weren’t fazed. I don’t feel like we were worried about them doubling up. We were just like, ‘Three-and-out.’ We started like that in the beginning. Just do it again. Just execute.”

Not only did the defense get a three-and-out, the Lions started the second half like this:

• Three plays, punt
• Three plays, punt
• Three plays, punt
• Two plays, lost fumble
• Four plays, turnover on downs

“We’ve always been good,” defensive end DeMarcus Walker said. “We’re better than our record tells us. We just have to continue developing.”

At times that might have been the result of a young player pressing to make something happen. You have to think Trent Taylor, a six-year veteran whom the Bears signed because they wanted a sure-handed option, was at least thinking about pressing. He hasn’t had a lot of space this season — his high in punt-return yardage for a game was 17 yards back in Week 5 at Washington.

So when Taylor returned the first punt of the third quarter for 15 yards, that was a boost for him and started a possession that ended in a field goal. Then Taylor ran back Jake Fox’s next punt 31 yards, his two longest special teams plays of the season.

“Man, you’re telling me,” Taylor said. “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been waiting for a little (opportunity), a little space for a while now. It felt good to get loose a little bit.”

It also had to be a boost for special teams coordinator Richard Hightower. His unit has been hit for some big punt returns by opponents, and finally the Bears got a little momentum with their return unit.

“(Fox) might have outkicked his coverage a little bit on those two,” Taylor said. “Our guys on the outside really locked up their gunners on those plays as well, left me with plenty of space to work with.

“It has been a little bit frustrating compared to my years in the past. I feel like I’ve been a lot better than how this year has gone so far. Not as many opps, not as much space. Today was completely different. It was a blast.

“(On the second one), just as the ball is in the air, I am looking and there is space everywhere. Our guys really locked them up on the outside and the inside as well. So I had all the space in the world to work with. It was a middle return so I am just getting upfield as fast as I can. Our guys were doing great out there blocking, so it left me with two-way gos to work on people. That’s when I was able to make the cut and go outside and get a little extra.”

I asked Taylor if he was beginning to press after being hemmed in for so much of the season and forced to fair catch a lot of opportunities.

“Not really,” he said. “When you mess up is when you start trying to make a play happen, trying to force things to happen. So that’s kind of the key to the game. Stay patient. Stick to what you’re told to do. Stick to what you know and had to be a little more patient than I wanted to be. Hopefully we can continue doing what we did today and pop one for a touchdown here sooner or later.”

This one did not quite qualify as it was 36 degrees at kickoff with a 12 mph wind out of the southeast, mild for the second Sunday in December. The Bears have a good record in frigid conditions when they have a good team. When they’re not as competitive, their record in suboptimal weather along the lakefront isn’t so hot.

You can find home-field advantages, though, and one is kicker Cairo Santos.

Santos, the NFC’s special teams player of the month for November, continued his hot streak by hitting three field goals of 46, 25 and 28 yards. If you go back to the beginning of the 2020 season, when he replaced the injured Eddy Pineiro, Santos is 44 of 48 (91.7%) on field goals at Soldier Field. After the Lions’ Riley Patterson did not attempt any field goals Sunday, visiting kickers are 49 of 59 (83.1%) in that span. Santos is a perfect 11-for-11 this season through six home games. He did have an extra point blocked Sunday.

That difference won’t necessarily show up every game, but Soldier Field is one of the tougher stadiums in the NFL to kick in. Its unpredictable wind patterns can be difficult to gauge based on how it redirects off the stands to the west sideline and suites to the east sideline,

The 32-year-old Santos considers himself a student of how conditions affect ball flight, and that’s probably one explanation for why he has become so consistent. He set a franchise record for accuracy in 2020, when he was 33 of 35 (93.8%), and he also has surpassed Robbie Gould as the franchise’s career leader for accuracy (minimum 100 attempts) at 90.4%.

“I am still kind of learning Soldier Field,” Santos said. “I have started to understand more patterns, where the wind is coming from, what it does when it hits the stadium and whips back onto the field.”

Santos began keeping a journal on his phone at the beginning of last season. Every time he’s at the stadium for a game or practice, he notes which direction he was kicking, where the wind was coming from and how strong, and how the ball traveled in terms of distance and movement from left to right.

Before he goes to the stadium, he checks the forecast to get an early scouting report on how he thinks the conditions will play that day.

“Then when I am there, we know, ‘It should be doing this, this and this,’” Santos said. “When it’s doing that, it’s like, ‘Awesome, we’re starting to figure it out.’”

Of Santos’ four misses at Soldier Field, two were blocks, which can be the result of a missed blocking assignment, poor trajectory or a combination of factors. The other two misses were wide left from 50 and 40 yards.

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“In previous years, I had a mental snapshot of it,” he said. “(Former special teams coordinator Chris Tabor) really liked going on Fridays before home games and we did that up until last year. It was good to get those reps in your mental library, but it was always, ‘What’s it going to be doing Sunday?’ That was the biggest thing. The knowledge helped but we were always learning on Sunday.

“Patterns started to develop, and that was interesting because I always thought it was a place that had no patterns because flags are blowing one direction but sometimes the wind is going a different direction when you kick. The flags outside the stadium don’t help much. The U.S. flag doesn’t help much on the north side. So what are the patterns that do help? We’re still figuring that out.”

Santos and the specialists have, on occasion, practiced at Soldier Field since Richard Hightower was hired as special teams coordinator before last season. Hightower is open to it, but the group feels like it has a pretty good handle on the conditions at this point.

Hightower said Phil Dawson, whom he coached in San Francisco, kept a journal with notes on every stadium in the league, something Hightower shared with Santos.

“Cairo has done an outstanding job for us,” Hightower said. “The next kick is the most important kick to him. Those other guys on the field-goal team have done a phenomenal job helping him, and he has a lot of confidence and we have a lot of confidence in him.

“It’s normal to me for guys to have a journal. They take sight lines. They have notes. There’s a gap there (in Santos versus visiting kickers at Soldier Field). That’s a home-field advantage.”

Interestingly, Santos said the playing surface also has contributed to his consistency. The Chicago Park District replaced a Kentucky bluegrass surface with Bermuda grass at the start of last season.

“After they put in the new grass, that was huge,” Santos said. “The biggest element for us was how was the field. Since the (Bermuda) grass came in last year, it’s been fantastic. I always thought the hardest element at Soldier Field was the field itself. The last two years, that element has been good.”

Santos is one of the pending free agents on the roster general manager Ryan Poles needs to consider. He’s in the final year of a three-year, $9 million contract and is likely due a nice pay bump. His annual average of $3 million is tied for 14th in the league among kickers.

Overthecap.com estimates the 2024 franchise-tag number for specialists will be $6.15 million, and there’s no way the Bears will want to head down that avenue. Six kickers currently average more than $5 million per season.

The victory improved the Patriots to 3-10, putting them two wins ahead of the Carolina Panthers when looking ahead to the 2024 draft order and the pick that belongs to the Bears as part of the blockbuster trade in March with the Panthers.

Trubisky struggled in place of the injured Kenny Pickett, finishing 22 of 35 for 190 yards with one touchdown, one interception and two sacks. With two minutes to play and the Steelers at midfield, he missed on a deep shot for George Pickens on third-and-2 and was off the mark on a deeper throw for Diontae Johnson on fourth down with the Patriots bringing all-out pressure.

The outcome increased the Bears’ likelihood of owning the No. 1 pick to 86% entering Sunday’s games, according to Seth Walder of ESPN. The Panthers’ pick that’s coming to the Bears is now 94% likely to be a top-two pick, per Walder, while the Patriots’ chances of moving into the top spot plummeted. The Bears’ chances bumped up again Sunday when the Panthers lost 28-6 in New Orleans to drop to 1-12.

So there was joy for Bears fans in seeing Trubisky — whom the team traded up to draft at No. 2 in 2017 — stumble in a bad loss for the Steelers. Not as encouraging are the numbers Trubisky posted through his first 34 starts versus the statistics of Justin Fields, who made his 34th start against the Lions. It’s illuminating when considering the decision the franchise needs to make this offseason regarding the future at quarterback.

There’s a huge disparity in what Fields adds to the offense in being able to escape the pocket and threaten the defense with his athleticism as well as produce on designed runs. But the passing numbers are almost mirror images. Midway through Trubisky’s third season in 2019, when he reached his 34th start, it was pretty apparent he wasn’t going to be the long-term solution at the position.

The Bears won’t spend time comparing Fields against Trubisky when they make a decision. GM Ryan Poles had nothing to do with the acquisition of either one. If anything, the Bears will evaluate Fields against the better quarterbacks in the league to determine if they believe the offense is on a path toward success. That the passing numbers — the most important evaluation of the position — look so similar over such a sample size isn’t a good sign.

It’s remarkable Mike Ditka still holds the distinction of most receiving yards by a rookie tight end from 1961. Ditka had 1,076 yards as a rookie after the Bears drafted him at No. 5. LaPorta, after catching two passes Sunday for only 23 yards, is at 702 yards with four games remaining.

That he’s even in a conversation to potentially eclipse Ditka’s record at this point in the season is remarkable. But it’s crazy that Ditka’s rookie season has stood the test of time as the position has evolved and NFL passing games have become far more intricate and high-powered.

Kyle Pitts (1,026 yards for the 2021 Atlanta Falcons) is the only other tight end even to reach 900 yards as a rookie. To put LaPorta’s season in perspective, only three other rookie tight ends have had more yardage: Jeremy Shockey (894 for the 2002 New York Giants), Keith Jackson (869 for the 1988 Philadelphia Eagles) and Charlie Young (854 for the 1973 Eagles).

After the Bears shut down LaPorta, he’s 374 yards from tying Ditka, meaning he would need to average 93.5 yards over the final four games. He has reached that total only once this season, catching nine passes for 140 yards last week in New Orleans.

It was a heralded tight end class with Dalton Kincaid going in the first round to the Buffalo Bills at No. 25 and LaPorta (No. 34) the first of five chosen in Round 2 ahead of Michael Mayer (35th, Las Vegas Raiders), Luke Musgrave (42nd, Green Bay Packers), Luke Schoonmaker (58th, Dallas Cowboys) and Brenton Strange (61st, Jacksonville Jaguars).

LaPorta’s production really jumps out, as he has become the No. 2 option for Jared Goff after wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

“The interesting part of it, that position is such a difficult one to find people usually,” Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said. “This past draft a lot of people were going crazy over how many guys people liked and everything, but it’s such a hard position. From that perspective, I’m not totally shocked (Ditka’s record stands), but the length of time and the evolution of everyone wanting to throw the ball all over the yard, it’s pretty insane.”

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LaPorta is from Highland, Ill., a town of about 10,000 in the southwest corner of the state, 35 miles from St. Louis. He was a three-star recruit for Iowa, a program that has become Tight End U. The Hawkeyes have had 12 tight ends drafted into the NFL since Kirk Ferentz became coach in 1999, a list that also includes George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson, Dallas Clark, Noah Fant, Tony Moeaki (Wheaton-Warrenville South, C.J. Fiedorowicz (Johnsburg), Scott Chandler and Brandon Myers.

“I don’t think you’re going to find too many people in this building that are shocked,” Hawkeyes tight ends coach Abdul Hodge told me. “Because of the way he handled his business and who Sam really is. Sam is just doing what he was doing when he was in college.

“He’s not a 6-5 guy but he can handle his business on the line of scrimmage. He was our best blocking tight end when he was here. When scouts asked me about him, I said, ‘You’re just seeing a guy that is 6-3ish, 245 pounds. If he was 6-5, there’s no way he would be in the second round.’”

I asked Hodge if Iowa’s success in sending tight ends to the NFL, where they’ve flourished, has made it easier to recruit the position.

“It definitely helps,” Hodge said. “But it doesn’t feel like it, man. We’re still fighting to get guys. We hone in on a few guys that we think fit this place and we go after them and we hope our story and our background and our culture and the standard in the room, they want to be part of it.

“There’s no secret sauce. The sauce is in guys like Sam LaPorta and George Kittle and T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant. That’s the secret sauce because those guys have to come here and do the work. It comes down to the individual. This is just the beginning for Sam.”

As bright as the future looks for LaPorta, whom the Bears will have to contend with for seasons, it’s wild Ditka still has the record 62 years later. Also, Ditka produced that yardage in a 14-game regular season, averaging 76.9 yards per game and a whopping 19.2 yards per catch.

As Getsy said, that’s maybe because every time you see a Ditka highlight, he’s breaking tackles left and right, rumbling downfield.

The Bears’ win moved their pick to No. 7 based on the standings Monday morning, but they could be back at No. 5 before the day is over. It would require some upsets.

The Miami Dolphins (9-3) are hosting the Tennessee Titans (4-8), and the New York Giants (4-8) are hosting the Green Bay Packers (6-6). Wins by the Titans and Giants — I realize that combination is a long shot — would move the Bears back to No. 5, according to tankathon.com. A win by either the Titans or Giants would push the Bears to No. 6.

The Bears remain a huge favorite to have the No. 1 pick from the Carolina Panthers, who are 1-12, two games worse than the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals.

A Giants win also would help the Bears in their bid to close out the season with a six-game winning streak and earn a wild-card berth at 9-8.

“You’re building something,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “You’re not going to throw a parade for winning two games in a row. Definitely positive and it’s nice to see the results. We’ve been seeing things on tape that have been showing up and we’ve been really liking it, but it’s nice to see the result go our way.”

I asked cornerback Kyler Gordon if he wished there were eight games remaining instead of only four considering how the team is playing.

“As in getting some games back?” Gordon said. “Of course. There’s so much (crap) that obviously we’d love to flip all those games around, execute some of the last-second, last-minute things. I wish we could have eight more games or replace those losses with wins, but you have to take some of the L’s and learn from it. We’ve got high standards. We know we should have those. Right now, we’re on track to get six in a row. That’s what we’re focused on. The past is the past. Learn from it and grow.”

I’m certain by the time Wednesday rolls around and the Bears are back on the practice field, all we will hear is how they’re focused on the Cleveland Browns. They can’t afford to get caught up in talk about a winning streak or what might happen if they can put a run together. It has to be one at a time.

Yes, more wins would continue to drop the Bears’ first-round pick, but that’s a trade everyone in Halas Hall is willing to make as they begin to see their work pay off with positive results.

Nope. Turns out the last time the field was replaced was Oct. 8. The switch to a cold-tolerant Bermuda grass, engineered at Oklahoma State, was made a year ago. With more time on task for the Chicago Park District and the team’s head groundskeeper, Ken Mrock, maintenance of the playing surface has evolved.

They’ve used ultraviolet lighting, which can be moved around the field, to promote growth this year. The upshot is this is the best the playing surface has been in December in the 21-year history of the remodeled stadium.

The improvements were noted above by kicker Cairo Santos, and it wasn’t lost on Justin Fields either. He said he saw open green grass when he rolled out on his touchdown run and then was asked specifically about that grass.

“It’s funny you say that because when I stepped on the field, I noticed how green it was,” Fields said. “Whoever is keeping up with the field is definitely doing a great job of handling the grass and making sure it’s good to go when we go out there.”

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The park district and the Bears have been beaten up over the years when the playing surface has been a mess. But this is evidence that, working together, the sides have come up with improvements to make it a much better field.

10a. December is the time of season Canadian Football League players get a close look from NFL teams on the tryout circuit. Some wind up signing contracts with NFL teams for the coming season.

Speaking to a personnel man who works for a CFL team, I got a list of names who could pop for NFL teams this year (in no particular order):

• RB Brady Oliveira
• RB Kevin Brown
• RB/returner Javon Leake
• QB Chad Kelly
• WR Alexander Hollins
• DB Marc-Antoine Dequoy
• DB Evan Holm
• DL Mustafa Johnson

10b. Wide receiver Darnell Mooney had seven targets, tying the opener against the Green Bay Packers for his season high. I wrote about Mooney’s season and how opportunities have been tough to come by. He had two catches Sunday for 44 yards, his most since a season-high 82 yards Nov. 5 in New Orleans. There was room more for completions too.

“There’s some plays today where I might have missed him or we just didn’t connect,” Fields said. “But that’s why we work after practice doing extra routes and stuff like that. I’ve been telling you since I got here, one thing about Darnell Mooney, he’s going to put in the work to be successful. I’m not really worried about that at all. We’re just going to keep working and going at it.”

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10c. With 1 1/2 sacks, defensive tackle Justin Jones is up to 3 1/2 for the season. He will be a free agent at the end of the season and the Bears surely will take a close look at the position. I know the team values him for leadership. Maybe the Bears don’t want him in a front-line role, but we’ll have to see if they envision a spot for him in the rotation. He’s finishing a two-year, $12 million contract and doesn’t turn 28 until August.

10d. Three other things stood out to me about such a strong defensive effort. The Lions converted only 1 of 7 third downs in the second half. For the game, they were 1-for-5 on fourth down. As one personnel man texted, that’s like seven takeaways when you consider the two interceptions and the fumble recovery. Last, running back Jahmyr Gibbs is so dangerous as a receiver out of the backfield. He had three catches for 16 yards.

10e. The Browns opened as three-point favorites over the Bears for Sunday’s game in Cleveland.