All that mattered Sunday was that the Bears found a way to escape with a win over the Giants in the final minutes.
Everything that led to them being in such a desperate, adverse situation faded, for the day, in the glow of a 24-20 victory that got them to their high-water mark of the past five years at 6-3. The offense stalled and the defense faltered most of the game, but they’ll reckon with those problems another day.
Victories of any variety should be celebrated, but when the Bears come down from this high, they’ll weigh that late surge against putting themselves in that position in the first place.
“We don’t want games to keep coming down to this, but great teams find a way to win and that’s what we’re learning,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “In previous years, this would never happen.
“This is a different team, a different story. That’s a credit to the players, the coaches, everybody involved all sticking together. Ugly, nice, pretty, whatever, we find a way to win.”
It is progress, no doubt, that the Bears no longer live under the here-we-go-again cloud that darkened their skies under former coach Matt Eberflus. Ben Johnson has pumped confidence and determination into a previously listless team.
There was no gloom when the Bears got the ball at their own 9-yard line down 20-10 with 6:13 remaining. Quarterback Caleb Williams led them to a touchdown in just 2:17, then the defense forced a three-and-out that took up just 55 seconds to give him another shot.
Williams delivered, as so often he has late in games, with a 27-yard pass to get the Bears deep into Giants territory and a 17-yard scramble for the go-ahead touchdown.
All the Bears needed was one last stop, and the defense kept the Giants from crossing midfield as they ended the game with three consecutive incomplete passes.
“Gritty,” defensive end Montez Sweat said. “When we needed a stop, we got one, and Caleb took us home.
“There’s definitely still a lot of things to clean up. The win sometimes hides those things, but there’s a lot we can get better at.”
It was good, but also not good enough going forward.
The Giants are 2-8 and going nowhere. They’re one of the NFL’s worst defenses. Their best wide receiver and running back are out for the season. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart made just his seventh career start and lit up the Bears for three quarters before leaving with a concussion.
And, despite all of those disadvantages, the Giants were up 20-10 with the ball with under seven minutes to play.
As the Bears’ schedule ramps up with a visit to the Vikings next, which of their upcoming opponents would squander that leverage? They still play the Browns, so that helps, but no decent opponent would blow that lead, let alone contenders like the Packers, Lions and Eagles.
“We have a gantlet of games coming up here,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “It’s a chance to really prove we are a good team.”
That’s the big picture, and the Bears have tons to prove.
As Dart ripped through the defense for 242 yards passing and 66 and two touchdowns as a runner, Williams didn’t break 100 yards passing until late in the third quarter. His receivers dropped at least six passes, but he didn’t play like a quarterback on the brink of stardom and finished 20-for-36 for 220 yards with a touchdown for an 83.1 passer rating.
He’s growing, though it’s debatable to what extent and at what pace, but the corner has yet to be turned. And the offense won’t take off until he does.
The Bears managed 10 points on their first eight possessions, and through three quarters they averaged 5.3 yards per play and Williams had a 73.1 rating. In total, they went 3-for-11 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth.
There was improvement by going 3-for-4 scoring touchdowns in the red zone and having just one pre-snap penalty, but most of what the offense did would be insufficient against a better team.
“We’d like to take it to the next step where we’re up by a score or two in the fourth quarter early on,” Johnson said. “Hopefully next week. But we found a way to win, and that’s the most important thing.”
A good team would’ve destroyed the Giants. The Bears know that.
“We’re getting ourselves some wins, but we want to get to that point where we’re blowing people out,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said.
With a young quarterback in Williams who has a high ceiling, there’s still potential for the offense to make strides. Defensively, though, it’s hard to see how the Bears will get better.
That side of the ball has been a concern since the opener, before injuries to cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, linebacker T.J. Edwards, defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and others.
The Bears found help in combustible-but-gifted defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who had nine tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Sweat is on a hot streak with 4½ sacks in his last four games. Gordon and Edwards could return in the next couple weeks. They’re hoping that propels them, but hope is not a plan.
This already has been the best Bears season in years, but that speaks more to how bad things have been than to any certainty about where they’re headed now. Their four fourth-quarter comebacks have been thrilling, but there’s a reason they’ve come against four of the league’s worst teams. It’s about to get a lot tougher, and the formula that got them by the Giants isn’t likely to work against heavyweights.
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