Chicago Bears Tight End Cole KmetPhoto byChicago Bears website

A win yanked from the Bears' hands in the game's last minutes perfectly describes the battle between the team and the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Bears fans don't want to hear any positive talk after the Lions grabbed a 31-26 victory despite the Bears being up 26-14 with about four minutes left.

Yet, to get your mind off the pain and disappointment, let's focus on the fact that the Bears were highly competitive in this game.

There are a lot of positive takeaways from this loss that prove the team has talent and isn't too far away from being good as a whole. Yes, wins matter more than anything, but consistency and learning from past game mistakes, plus playing hard, will get those wins. For the most part, the team has shown growth in some areas they lacked in last year's season and is, slowly but surely, moving in the right direction.

Although they've now dropped to a 3-8 record, two things stuck out: Justin Fields looked great in his first game back, and the defense dominated most of the game.

Justin Fields is proving that he's the Chicago Bears' franchise quarterback.

After missing four and a half games, Justin Fields made his highly anticipated return to the field. Fields' thumb injury impeded him from playing for a month as backup rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent got a chance to show the league what he could do.

Many fans hyped his long-awaited return, and Fields came out swinging. Here are the stats for the third-year quarterback: 16/23, 169 passing yards, one passing touchdown, 105.2 QB rating, and 104 rushing yards (273 yards in total).

Fields made smart decisions that enabled the offense to be competitive against one of the best defenses in the league.

The defense garnered multiple INTs.

The defense has lacked major takeaways for the past few games but turned it around on Sunday. The defense kept snagging interceptions from LB Tremaine Edmunds to CB Tyrique Stevenson.

They played hard until the last few minutes, but seeing the guys show up the way they did was thrilling.

Will the Bears make it to the playoffs this season? Most likely not. Do they currently have two first-round picks in the 2024 Draft? Yes, which they should use to continue to put talent around Justin Fields.

The Bears will be a dominant team soon; let's speak it into existence. Bear Down.

This is an opinion piece on a mission to spread positive Bears news and support current and former players, plus the positive things they're doing around Chicago.