With Packers' loss, Bears clinch first NFC North title since 2018 - ESPN

SAN FRANCISCO — The Chicago Bears locked up the NFC North on Saturday night at the conclusion of Green Bay's 41-24 loss to Baltimore. The Bears earned their first division title since 2018 ahead of their meeting with the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night in a game that will help determine the NFC's top seed.

Within eight days of playing their previous game that resulted in a 22-16 overtime win against Green Bay, the Bears clinched their spot in the postseason after the Lions lost to the Steelers in Week 16 and won the NFC North crown. Ben Johnson is the second Bears head coach since the 1970 merger to win the division in his first full season with the team. Matt Nagy did it in 2018.

One year after finishing with a 5-12 record that saw former coach Matt Eberflus fired midseason, the Bears head into Week 17 with 11 wins and atop their division. In 20 of the past 23 seasons (2003-2025), at least one team has won its division the season after finishing in last or tied for last place. The Bears will get to host a playoff game at Soldier Field in January, which has long been Johnson's goal, particularly after seeing how the crowd fed off the momentum shift late in Chicago's win over Green Bay on Dec. 20.

«I felt that crowd and I was so blown away by the impact that they had [last] Saturday night that I think that we all want to be playing a playoff game in front of them so they can have that same impact there, so that's going to be our focus,» Johnson said earlier this week. «We've got to win this division or earn that right to play a home playoff game. We have a chance to do that over the next couple of games.»

A 12th win Sunday would tie the Bears most in a season in the past 15 years and keep Chicago alive for the No. 1