5 Things We Learned: Chicago Fire vs. CF Montréal

The Chicago Fire's winning run came to an end last night when the team tied CF Montréal 1-1 at a rainy Soldier Field, with Dante Sealy's second half goal canceling out Philip Zinckernagel's opener. The draw means that the Fire's search for a first home win will be extended until at least April 13th, and the hunt for a first clean sheet also goes on. Nonetheless, results elsewhere ensured that the Men in Red actually climbed one position to 4th behind just Miami, Philadelphia, and Columbus.

1. The team can occasionally coast and get results

Let’s just get this out of the way: The Fire didn’t play well. The team was out-shot and, for lengthy stretches, simply out-played on the night. Despite Montréal being content to sit deep and counter, the Fire were out-possessed on the evening.

The team took until the 18th minute to register their first shot on the night – a low-percentage chance from Andrew Gutman outside the box on one of the team’s two corners of the match – and they didn’t have a shot registered after the 55th minute (although they did have some solid pressure late in the game). They were just outworked and outplayed against a Montréal team that was on a goalless drought stretching to its sixth hour by the 2nd minute of the match.

And yet, despite all of that, Chicago walked out of this game with a point, becoming one of just four teams, alongside Miami, Columbus, and Minnesota, to be undefeated in their last five games.

After the draw, the Fire locker room was a somber place, with players looking at their shoes or the floor. The group took it as a loss.

All of that is a big shift from recent years when it feels like Fire squads struggled to get results in games they should have won, let alone in games they shouldn’t. Is that much of a silver lining?

No, but it goes to show that the team is making progress, and isn’t content to grind out results, despite not having lost in five games and finishing matchday 6 in 4th place in the Eastern Conference.

2. The defense has bright spots but is still a work in progress

Throughout these first six games of the season, the defense has been one of the most hot-and-cold areas of this team. Despite the fullbacks providing help in the attack and transition and the center-backs proving good distributors of the ball, there have been some struggles defensively, leading to the team still not having recorded a clean sheet.

Fullbacks Leonardo Barroso and Andrew Gutman have been excellent in attack, each scoring goals and providing multiple assists. In terms of 1v1 defending, Barroso has also been praised by Berhalter, and the minutes Justin Reynolds has played have also been solid.

One open question is positioning of Gutman and Jack Elliot on some plays, which, throughout the last few games, have ended in easy goals for the opposition. The goal conceded yesterday against Montréal, the goal conceded against Toronto, and some of the goals conceded in the Columbus game could have been prevented were it for better positioning and defensive organization.

In terms of the bigger picture, however, the team has held a good amount of opponents to under, or slightly over, one expected goal. Although there remains work to be done, the defense is having steady improvement, a trend that is backed by numbers, and the team still hasn't conceded multiple goals in a match since Jacob Murrell's stoppage-time equalizer in the Fire's home opener back in early March.

3. Chris Brady is really, fully back

Brady’s strong start to 2025 continued, and it’s gotten to the point where even shaky performances look confident. His six saves on the night are the most he’s made since the 2-1 loss in Ft. Lauderdale to Inter Miami last year.

In the 59th minute, Brady was caught out 30 yards from his goal and still managed to recover. Part of that is, despite being the most dangerous-looking player on the pitch, Prince Owusu can’t do a convincing impersonation of Lucho Acosta, let alone Messi, but the other part is, Brady's just playing more confidently.

That’s a welcome return to form after he dipped in his sophomore year as a starter. In addition to the saves, he’s looked more comfortable, both in the build-out and in breaking up plays. When MIR97 Media asked him about his comfort level disrupting oncoming attacks, Brady said “I think the confidence has increased, but it's actually a bad thing we're seeing more of it because more action means bad. But yeah, in terms of making saves and breaking up their offensive situation, I think I’ve had a bigger role to play and I’m more confident in that role.”

The loss in Columbus is still hurting his numbers on advanced metrics, but based on the form we’ve seen from him in 2025 if he keeps his performance level at what we’ve seen, he’ll remain in the conversation for one of the league’s best young goalkeepers. While conceding that it wasn’t anyone’s best game – including Brady's’ – Berhalter said that he’s been “fantastic all year,” calling him a “great young goalkeeper.”

4. Midfield works with the depth, but isn’t productive in the final third

The Chicago Fire midfield in these first six games, which has consisted of an injury-forced rotation between Brian Gutiérrez, Sergio Oregel Jr., Sam Williams, Kellyn Acosta, Rominigue Kouamé, and Mauricio Pineda, has been able to hold the ball, averaging 52% a game against some strong opponents.

While this is a great building block, and the ability to maintain possession in the middle of the park against the competition in MLS, the midfield has still had difficulty connecting to the attack and creating chances in the final third. Out of the seven midfielders who have appeared for the Fire this season, only Gutiérrez and Kouamé have scored goals, with Kouamé’s being his last-minute goal on his debut last week.

Ultimately, with the injuries and inconsistency in playing time as a result, it is to be expected that there will be trouble in some departments. The defensive side of the midfield, the ability to keep possession, and the chemistry with the back-four have been fine. With a lot of season still to come and with Acosta and Gutiérrez set to return soon and Kouamé looking ready for his first MLS start, productivity in the final third should improve. Until then, however, the Fire's depth has looked defensively competent but hasn't made as much of an impact offensively.

5. The squad needs to learn how to get their hands a little dirty

We’ll just turn this one over to Gregg Berhalter, who, when MIR97 Media asked about his fears that “complacency” had begun to set in on his squad after four straight undefeated matches heading into this one, said this:

“I was worried about complacency, but I don’t think complacency was the issue in this game. I really think it was about embracing what type of game it was going to be, and we did a poor job of that. It was going to be very physical, very little space because they are man-to-man marking. And we were going to have to have guys that were brave and wanted to embrace that battle.”

“And unfortunately today, we lacked that a little bit. So that’s what we’re most disappointed with. It’s not always going to be beautiful. And today, with the rain and the weather, it was a great opportunity to roll up your sleeves and say, ‘Okay, it's not beautiful, let's just go get this done.’ And we got the 1-0 lead and then, unfortunately, didn't deserve getting a point in that game.”

With rain coming down and Montréal more than content to put numbers behind the ball to defend, the Fire relied too much on building out of the back – not necessarily a great choice with a wet pitch –  and didn’t do a good job winning physical battles.

After the match, winger Philip Zinckernagel said, “we know we have the quality, and winning three games away, maybe against teams that wanted to play a little bit more, then you come here and you meet a team that's really physical and direct, and maybe surprises you a little bit,” calling it “something we need to improve on.”

At the end of the day, it’s still MLS, and however skilled your squad may be, you have to be able to win tough, physical games against teams that are more than content to make life difficult and get goals off quick counters. That’s not a lesson that the Fire have learned so far, dropping points in winnable games against the two opponents – D.C. United and now Montréal – that played that way.