CHICAGO — Who would have ever imagined the Chicago Bears would be here on Christmas morning, with nary a football present and a dark lump of something beneath a scraggly tree that looks like it belongs on Mount Crumpit.

This, certainly, wasn’t what was promised. This wasn’t what anyone was imagining back in the summer when the “Hard Knocks” hype was peaking, when all the growing optimism felt justified, when general manager Ryan Poles was touting the leadership style of his head coach and the depth of the offensive line he built.

Back then, the positive energy inside Halas Hall and all around Chicago was infectious. Visions of meaningful football being played around the Christmas holiday were everywhere. The playoffs felt like a possibility.

Turns out that was all flimsy, hope-filled delusion.

Those cinematic HBO slo-mo shots of a made-over Matt Eberflus? They feel so comical now. So does the current state of Poles’ O-line.

And all that outside optimism? Destroyed like a recklessly handled Amazon package.

Holy cow.

So how exactly did the Bears get here — to 4-11; to loss No. 9 in an interminable losing streak; to frustrated, exhausted and totally out of hope? It has been a whirlwind of misfortune and failure.

And, oh, by the way: The Bears still have two games to play, including a quick-turnaround home finale Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field. That’s the type of holiday-week test that would challenge even the sharpest and most focused team. Instead, the Bears must get themselves locked in with little left to play for and with the psychological bruises of four consecutive blowout losses still throbbing.

And if they can’t rise up to meet this particular moment? Well, they risk further humiliation with the threat of matching the longest in-season losing streak in franchise history.

It’s downright depressing, isn’t it, to stare into that fireplace and see the team’s playoff dreams as a pile of ash?

And all those inevitable reflections on this 2024 season? Why do they seem to be accompanied by the jarring, shrieking soundtrack of a horror film?

Let’s get reel

Is anyone really up for taking inventory on all the times this season that the Bears have been on the wrong end of viral embarrassment? From Doug Kramer’s fumble to Tyrique Stevenson’s premature “Hail Mary” celebration to Cairo Santos’ blocked kick to Eberflus’ Thanksgiving day audition for “Frozen.”

Every game, it seems, brings at least one “Hold on ... is that even possible???” moment. And Sunday wasn’t any different as the Detroit Lions came to Chicago rolled to a 34-17 win, laughing all the way.

Take your pick at the Bears blunder that felt most stupefying.

Was it “Stumble Bum,” the Lions’ trick play that fully flummoxed the Bears defense with a pretend fumble in the backfield and then a nifty 21-yard touchdown pass from Jared Goff to tight end Sam LaPorta? (Wouldn’t it be fun to be so good that you have to fake your mistakes?)

Shortly after, Goff was seen on the sideline reviewing the play with coach Dan Campbell with both of them delighted and amused.

Was it Austin Booker’s neutral-zone infraction just before the two-minute warning of the first half when football logic, basic math and Goff’s exaggerated signaling gave a strong indication that the Lions had zero intention of snapping the ball before a fourth-and-1 from the Bears 25-yard line? (To be fair to Booker, teammate DeMarcus Walker also jumped into the neutral zone but just didn’t get nabbed for it.)

Or was it that odd fourth-quarter possession in which the Bears had first-and-5 at the Lions 22 and somehow ended the drive with — wait for it — a 30-yard punt!

Yep. You read that right. First-and-5 at the Lions 22. And they wound up punting.

Incomplete pass. Loss of 1. False start. Sack. Delay of game. Punt.

From the Lions 42. Down by 17 points with a little more than eight minutes remaining.

Wow.

No wonder veteran tight end and Bears captain Cole Kmet was so agitated after the game, declining the opportunity to identify a few silver linings within an offensive performance that netted 17 points in a blowout loss.

“I’m kind of done doing that,” Kmet said. “I’ve been through this. Two years ago, you’re trying to find positives to things (after losses). But it’s hard for me to be real with myself and find positives when it’s 34-17. So.”

So.

Lost

To add context to Kmet’s real talk, the Bears have gone five consecutive games without holding a lead after halftime. In the last three losses, they have trailed by double digits the entire second half.

So, yeah. No. There are no positives to cling to. Not until the Bears can at least get themselves back into another meaningful fourth-quarter moment. And who knows whether even that might trigger a collective case of post-traumatic stress disorder given the last meaningful fourth-quarter moment this group was in.

Remember that? Back on Thanksgiving. Final minute in Detroit.

Nope. This wasn’t how this season was supposed to unfold. At all.

There were supposed to be meaningful games all the way through December. And all the critical moments folded into those games were supposed to test the Bears and help them grow into a playoff contender.

This was supposed to be a season in which — regardless of the final record — the Bears were making undeniable advancement toward a more meaningful future. The Bears were supposed to be building a staircase to the next level. Instead? They made a stack of banana peels held together by thumb tacks and tried to climb it.

And the accidents just kept coming. For almost three consecutive months. Error after astounding error. Loss after demoralizing loss.

Even the mostly encouraging season of quarterback Caleb Williams has felt worrisome to some. Because of all these damn losses. Because of this post-Thanksgiving dearth of game-on-the-line challenges.

Williams sure seems like he might be the answer to stabilize the sport’s most important position. But at the end of a rookie season in which the Bears fired his offensive coordinator in Week 10 and his head coach three weeks later, it’s still very much a guessing game. Especially as Williams prepares to unite with an entirely new coaching staff in the next six weeks or so.

There will be a restart. There will be new questions to answer. The obstacle course will be challenging.

For the entire team, it’s truly daunting now to consider just how much hard work and heavy lifting is ahead for the Bears just to reach a destination in 2025 they had confidently believed they had made earlier this fall — the NFL’s middle tier.

But nope. This isn’t that. No way. This is 4-11. Nine-game skid. Last place. New coach needed.

This is a roster that needs major upgrades and a locker room that needs a new start and a fresh vision.

This is a Bears team that’s now nine games behind the NFC North-leading Lions and Vikings and seven games out of third place.

This is Christmas in Chicago, 2024. And even with all of its familiarity, that void beneath that scraggly tree sure produces an empty feeling. How many more holidays like this can one organization truly tolerate?

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