It’s probably the last place you’d look if you were trying to find what sparked the Bears’ run to a No. 2 seed in the playoffs and their most surprising season this decade — a September game in which they were lucky to beat the worst team in football.
The Bears were headed to their third loss in their first four games — a stretch that included a 14-point Vikings rally and a 31-point Lions whupping — when Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson jogged onto the Allegiant Stadium turf to line up a 54-yard field goal to take the lead with 38 seconds to play. First-year coach Ben Johnson spent all week telling the team that the Bears’ reputation throughout the league, dating back years, was that they would fold when games got close. That was about to happen again.
As the Raiders’ Jacob Bobenmoyer got ready to snap the ball, cornerback Josh Blackwell thought of the scouting report presented to the team by the Bears’ own long snapper: before he snaps, he turns the ball slightly.
Blackwell waited for the turn, then sprinted, getting a jump on his blocker before jumping and blocking the kick to seal the win.
“I think everybody has belief,” Blackwell said minutes later. “I don’t think there was any doubt in anybody’s mind.”
In retrospect, it was better than a blowout. It provided a template for an identity that would carry them to their first NFC North title since 2018. The Bears will once again try to lean on that late-game success in the first round of the playoffs Saturday night against the rival Packers. If their first two matchups were any indication, they’ll need it.
“I said it behind closed doors, that a win like that could have been the best thing for us,” Johnson said last month. “Because I think you really felt the belief starting to build then. Just that we’re close in a game at the end and we found a way to win instead of lose.
“So that moniker has kind of stuck with us there the rest of the way.”
During the following week’s bye, Bears coaches focused on schematic tweaks they wanted to emphasize with players gone — namely, perfecting pre-snap motion to give them an advantage in the run game. That, combined with budding confidence and better play from quarterback Caleb Williams, proved deadly. Since the Bears resumed play in Week 6, they’ve ranked second in the NFL in rushing yards, fourth in scoring — and tied for fifth in wins. Amazingly, their 11-6 season was bookended by two losses to start and two to finish. In between, they won 11 of 13 games.
After the bye, the Bears beat the Commanders in Week 6 when quarterback Jayden Daniels fumbled the handoff to Jacory Croskey-Merritt with 3:07 to play. The Bears recovered it and marched for a game-winning field goal at the gun.
Three weeks later, rookie tight end Colston Loveland rumbled for a 58-yard touchdown catch-and-run to win a fever dream of a fourth quarter against the Bengals. The next week, the Bears scored two touchdowns in the final 3:59 to beat the Giants. One week later, Devin Duvneray returned a kickoff 56 yards with 50 seconds left to set up Cairo Santos’ game-winning kick against the Vikings. And the next week, safety Jaquan Brisker tipped Mason Rudolph’s pass at the Bears’ 47-yard line to clinch a three-point win against the Steelers.
All were prelude to the most ridiculous finish of the season. The Bears trailed the Packers by 10 with 2:05 to play in Week 16 before making a field goal, recovering an onside kick and throwing a six-yard touchdown on fourth-and-four with 24 seconds to play in regulation. Caleb Williams then launched a 46-yard touchdown to DJ Moore, the longest play by either team all night, to end overtime.
Williams led the Bears to six fourth-quarter comebacks this year, the most in franchise history and the most of any quarterback this season. It could have been seven on Sunday had the Bears, who once trailed by 16, scored when they took possession in a tied game with 2:11 to play.
It’s a testament to their season that their three-and-out was met by utter shock.
“That’s one thing you can definitely take away from this game is, we’re never out of the fight. …” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said.
“When we were down 16-0, we thought we had it. A little Bears magic, you know what I’m saying?”
It’s a certain kind of sorcery the Bears found in the last place you’d look — Las Vegas, one of the few places where performing magic can lead to riches.
“This is a special group,” Johnson said minutes after they beat the Packers in overtime. “I felt that early in the season. You get with some of those wins, the Raiders game and the Washington game and you start feeling it, the belief coming … It’s rare. It really is. …
“They’re mentally tough. They’re physically tough. I know we’re going to fight you for 60 minutes and a game like that, even though the odds are against us there that late, we’re going to keep on swinging and make some plays when we needed to.”
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
