Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Mere minutes after the Bears’ season ended Sunday night, someone asked Cole Kmet about the team being well-positioned for the future.
The tight end wasn’t ready to go there. To do so would be to disrespect the opportunity the Bears had just tried — and failed — to grasp in their 20-17 overtime loss to the Rams at Soldier Field.
“The work we put in is for this year,” he said. “Not for next year.”
The Bears came within inches — maybe even 72, had they decided to go for two to win the game rather than kick the extra point at the end of regulation — from reaching the NFC championship game for the first time in 15 years.