*The video above is from Sunday morning before the Chicago Bears’ 47-42 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
CINCINNATI, Ohio (WGN) — Sunday afternoon was as anxiety-riddled and heart-pounding as a Halloween horror film. Fortunately for the Chicago Bears, though, the only team left with nightmares after the game was the Cincinnati Bengals.
Colston Loveland described their 47-42 win over the Bengals as a “roller coaster of emotions,” while Olamide Zaccheaus said Sunday was “just straight madness.”
The game was in the bag. Then it wasn’t. Then, miraculously, it was back in the bag again, but not completely. Chicago fans, players and coaches still had to hold their collective breaths for 17 seconds before pinching themselves and wondering if what just happened was real.
Here’s how the final two minutes of the game played out, from the eyes of players and coaches, starting with Joe Flacco’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Noah Fant to cut the Bears’ lead to 41-35.
1:43 – 4th Quarter: Joe Flacco finds Noah Fant for a 23-yard TD pass
Flacco set up this play with an 11-yard shot to Ja’Marr Chase and a 19-yard completion to Andre Iosivas two plays later.
The Bears came out in nickel with two high safeties. Flacco caught Jaquan Brisker drifting slightly right to cover over the top of Tee Higgins’ vertical route, only to throw a rope to Fant on a post route over the middle for a touchdown.
“The first score, we were in zone. He just fired the ball inside the middle and I tried to make a play on it and they ended up catching the ball,” Brisker said.
Flacco found Higgins on the two-point conversion, and the dread started to set in.
1:42 – 4th Quarter: Oren Burks recovers Evan McPherson’s onside kick
When Flacco made it a one-score game, everyone knew what was coming next: An onside kick, lightly seasoned with the underlying anxiety of another potentially historic Bears collapse looming large.
Evan McPherson delivered a skipper that bounced off the leg of Daniel Hardy, and a rugby-style scrum unfolded, with special teams linebacker Oren Burks coming up with the football at the bottom of the pile.
All of a sudden, the offense had to switch from envisioning victory formation, to conjuring one more hectic scoring drive from out of thin air.
“We’re going through end-of-game stuff like Hail Mary, here’s how it’s looking, a couple other calls, certain situations, just hoping our defense goes out there and makes a play,” Loveland said. “Then they give us the ball back with a good amount of time and a timeout. We’re just in two-minute mode. Let’s go down here and let’s go win this game. Ball’s in our court.”
On defense, the mindset shifted from cheering on the offense to close out the game, to flipping the switch back on and trying to get a pivotal stop a second time around against a potent Flacco-led pass attack.
“When they got the onside kick, we were just like, we can’t let them score,” Brisker said.
0:54 – 4th Quarter: Joe Flacco connects with Andre Iosivas for a 9-yard TD pass, Bengals take the lead, 42-41
On first-and-goal the play prior, Chase Brown lost two yards on a run up the middle, which led to Johnson burning his second timeout of the half.
According to Johnson, it was all a part of the ongoing battle to control the clock between him and Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor.
“You could see it in their intent as well. They got down to the red zone. They started running the ball to drain some of the clock off,” Johnson said. “That’s part of the game. They want to have the last score themselves and win the game, and we want to have enough time, just in case, to rebuttal. That’s the strategic part of it that can be a little bit fun.”
Next, the Bengals came out in 11 personnel and, once more, the Bears matched up in nickel with zone coverage.
Chase ran an underneath curl and sat down, which held Tremaine Edmunds and Noah Sewell closer to the line of scrimmage in coverage. That opened up a giant hole over the middle in the back of the end zone for Iosivas to cut into with a post route. Then, just like moments earlier, Flacco put a frozen rope on Iosivas, who scored the go-ahead touchdown.
“They were driving. We had a lot of mishaps and they scored,” Brisker said. “But we just had faith in the offense, which they scored. That was a crazy play. That was probably the craziest play I’ve ever seen, other than the blocked field goal [last year at Green Bay].”
On first-and-goal, Chase Brown lost two yards on a run up the middle, which led to Johnson burning his second timeout of the half.
0:17 – 4th Quarter: Caleb Williams hits Colston Loveland for a go-ahead 58-yard TD pass
A 14-yard scramble play from Caleb Williams on the play beforehand set up a superb throw from the former Heisman Trophy winner.
The Bears came out in 11 personnel with Loveland, Rome Odunze and Zaccheaus in trips bunched to the right, and DJ Moore alone out left.
“I just told Jeff [King] that I really was hunting one coverage there before halftime and [at the] end of the game in the two-minute scenarios, and couldn’t get it,” Johnson said. “There was probably three or four calls I had, and I just didn’t get it. Then finally, we got it on that particular play. Caleb did a great job seeing it, delivered a good ball.
“[I] figured it was going to be explosive. [I] wasn’t expecting it to be a touchdown, though. I think that was Colston’s speed just taking off and going for it so, it was good to see.”
Odunze was sent in pre-snap motion out left, and Johnson ended up sending him, Zaccheaus and Loveland downfield, with Moore on a crosser underneath.
Loveland ran an in-breaking route over the middle and Williams stepped up to fit a throw through a dinner plate-sized window.
“I knew exactly what coverage [Johnson] wanted for that one play … We were hunting it the whole game,” Williams said. “And in that moment … when we were on the sideline … he was like, I think we’re going to get this coverage here. And it’s awesome that we’ve got a coach like that. We end up getting the coverage, threw a solid ball, the O-line blocked well, and Colston made a great play for us.
Loveland caught the ball, pin-balled off one safety, spun past another, and found nothing but green grass in front of him.
“In that moment, I was a little bit of an emotional roller coaster, just because it was around 30 seconds [left] … [Loveland] made a great play for us, bounced off a few tackles and took it the distance so, in the moment it’s like Steph Curry with Steve Kerr where it’s like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no, yes, yes, yes!’“
Johnson revealed after the game that Loveland was the no. 1 read on the play. When the offense got the playcall, Loveland said he was ready for the moment. Then, when he bounced off the first tackle, he had to cash in on a do-or-die moment.
“Play was called, and I’m just seeing, basically, split safety. So, I’m thinking, I’ve got a pretty good chance of getting this ball,” Loveland said. “Caleb delivered it right on the money–right on my chest–and I happened to spin around like, man, I’m still up, so I may as well go try to score this thing. It was kind of tough because if I get tackled, you might not have enough time to clock it.”
“I was just happy to be up with a lot of green grass in front of me. It’s like, man, I’ve got to get in the end zone now. I can’t leak it down to six seconds and get tackled at the one—that’s game.”
0:04 – 4th Quarter: NahShon Wright picks off Joe Flacco’s last-ditch Hail Mary attempt to seal the Bears win
On the last play of the game with one last desperation heave to defend, Dennis Allen’s defense did not play it conservatively.
Allen sent six rushers at Flacco and disrupted the Bengals quarterback enough that he wasn’t able to put enough mustard on his throw, and the ball landed well short of the end zone in the arms of corner NahShon Wright.
“Teams have philosophies on that and each week’s a little bit different,” Johnson said of sending the blitz on Flacco’s Hail Mary attempt. “But we felt pretty comfortable going into this week [with] that being our plan of attack”
Brisker said the Bears have practiced the situation before, and they were prepared for it.
“That’s why we call every single situation that we plan for during practice so, I was expecting it,” Brisker said. “But he ended up rolling out and he threw a short ball. We got him off the spot, which we did our job … We completed what we needed to.”
Bears players react to Colston Loveland’s 58-yard touchdown
“Yeah man, it was a roller coaster of emotions. But I’m just happy we got the win. That’s what I’m realizing in the NFL, anything to get the win,” Loveland said. “You can’t be mad about it. We got a lot of stuff to clean up, but we got the win and we made it out.”
“That touchdown Colston scored, I’m glad I wasn’t mic’d up. I was probably sounding like a little girl there, running down the field. I was screaming, a lot of emotion,” Kyle Monangai said. “But games like this, that’s what you play at this level for—exciting moments like that.”
“[They were] just poised, [had] composure,” Moore said of Loveland and Williams on their final drive. “Then Colston, just being a dog. He bounced off two people and cribbed it. Great play by both of them, and we definitely needed it.”
“He was picking them knees up, He was going,” CJ Gardner-Johnson said. “That’s a big-time play for a big-time player that gives us a lot of confidence going into next week.”
“That guy’s just ready. He finished all the way through the end zone. Super proud of him,” Grady Jarrett said. “He’s been working super hard, and for him to have that moment for the team, which is awesome, couldn’t have happened to a better guy … Tough dude, you know? He bounced back and did what he [had] to do to score the game-winning touchdown.”
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