We were this close to the Packers having the same record as the Bears after week 15. Think about how horrific that would be. Thankfully, the Bears did a Bears and the Packers were able to sustain a gut-punch level loss without having to sink to the Bears' level.  

Bears

The Bears choked in a 20-17 loss to the Browns. 

Game Notes

• The Bears are sort of a mirror image of the Packers right now. Their defense is pretty good, but their offense is a perennially underachieving unit thanks to underperforming former first-round picks and a coordinator that basically every fan hates. 
• Chief underperformer is Justin Fields who was 19/40 for 166 yards, 1 TD and 2 picks in this one. Sure, the Browns have a top defense and the Bears had a few key drops, but games like this happen too often for the Bears to be even an average team. 
• The defense is just good now. Ever since Eberflus took over calling the defense, they traded for Montez Sweat, and they started getting multiple interceptions every game the defense has improved almost every week. Time will tell whether it's enough to convince the team to keep him on for another year or not. If not, don't be surprised to see him on the sidelines calling defensive plays for another one of the NFC North teams next year. 

Former Packers

• Big Bob Tonyan had a huge drop on a would-be long touchdown. He ended the game with no stats. 

• TJ Edwards had 6 tackles and a sack and Jack Sanborn had another low snap game with only 11 snaps played. 

Next Week

The Bears play the Cardinals on Christmas Eve.  

Lions

The Lions embarrassed the Broncos, 42-17. 

Game Notes

• Last week, I said that we had enough evidence to say Jared Goff was a bad QB again but that me writing that would probably prompt him to have a good game. He had five touchdowns and a 134.6 QB rating (note Baker Mayfield's QB rating against Joe Barry was over 20 points better than what Jared Goff had with 5 touchdowns and no picks).
• The Lions also had a another huge game by both running backs. The two combined for 185 yards and a TD. Interestingly, Gibbs did all his damage on the ground. The Sun God and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta were responsible for the air damage. The Sun God had 112 yards and LaPorta had 3 TDs. 
• The Broncos were just what the doctor ordered for the Lions defense. They held Russel Wilson to 18/32 for 223 yards and the team to 83 combined rush yards. The Broncos strategy during this win streak has been to hide Russel Wilson behind downhill running, with both Wilson and various RBs, defending that si the Lions' bread and butter so don't be convinced that they've fixed their defense just yet. 

Next Week

The Lions take on the Vikings

Vikings

The Vikings also choked in a 27-24 OT loss to the Bengals. 

Game Notes

• The Vikings went with a QB change in this game and started Nick Mullens who was 26/33 for 303 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 picks. The Vikings clearly have good pass catchers and a good scheme on offense. All they need at QB is someone who won't turn the ball over and they just can't find it this year. 
• Speaking of pass catchers, rookie Jordan Addison had 6 catches for 111 yards and 2 TDs in his first full game with Justin Jefferson taking away coverage in a while. 
• The Vikings may have found their running back too. Second-year man Ty Chandler has played better each week as he has taken carries away from Alexander Mattison and in this one he had 132 yards and a TD. Chandler ran a 4.38 40 and compared athletically to Lamar MIller.
• This game demonstrates that in today's NFL you can have an extremely creative defensive scheme, with all the players bought in, shut out a team one week, and then give up 27 points to a back-up QB the next week. There just aren't defenses that hold teams under 10 or even 20 points every single week. NFL offensive schemes and offensive players are just too good. You can make great calls with great players and then a 6'4" 220-pound receiver who runs a 4.50 makes an insane catch and scores.