Like most Bears fans, I had that all too familiar “uh-oh” moment late in the team’s 47-42 victory over the Bengals on Sunday.
Except, my moment wasn’t when the Bengals took a 42-41 lead with 54 seconds to play.
It wasn’t when the Bengals recovered an onside kick after it hit Daniel Hardy’s foot.
It wasn’t even when the Bengals scored the first of two touchdowns in the final 1:43 of the ball game.
No, my “uh-oh” happened the moment that the officials reviewed Tremaine Edmunds’ apparent pick-six and called him down by contact at the Bears’ own 4-yard line.
Despite a two-touchdown lead with only 2:42 left in the game, the ruling pinned the Bears deep in their own end of the field with their backs to the goal line and little room to call anything special to get a first down and wind the clock.
Sure enough, the Bears punted three plays later — as expected — and the Bengals offense took over for what turned into one of the wildest finishes of the season, for any team.
Offensive Fireworks vs. Defensive (and Special Teams) Failure
The scoreboard truly reflected the story of the game: 89 combined points scored.
One side of the ball was explosive and effective. The other, inept and mistake-prone. But in Chicago, we’re not used to the offense being the former and the defense — and special teams — being the latter.
The defense and special teams forced the Bears offense to play a nearly flawless brand of football. From the first drive, the unit led by Caleb Williams was dialed in. They controlled the line of scrimmage, utilized a variety of formations, and converted critical third-downs with a clinical efficiency that has been missing for years.
Every time the Bengals countered with a score, the Bears’ offense responded, chewing up clock, utilizing playmakers all over the field, and making the kind of explosive plays that define a modern NFL attack.
They were cohesive, organized, and played under pressure with the maturity of a veteran unit.
Scoring 47 points, while every Bears fan’s dream, should have been enough to bury their opponent.
But alas, there remain big holes in the other two phases of the game.
Between missed coverage assignments and inconsistent pressure up front, the defense got gashed by 40-year-old Joe Flacco. Heck, even when the Bears’ defensive backs had good position in coverage, the duo of Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase used their incredible measurables and athleticism to make it look like child’s play.
The disparity between the offense and defense wasn’t just stark; it was the core conflict of the entire afternoon, turning what should have been a comfortable win into a dog fight til the end.
Ben Johnson’s Bag of Tricks and Williams’ Unique Role
The offense was brilliant, and head coach Ben Johnson was the mad scientist conducting experiments in the laboratory.
The Bengals are a defense that cannot stop the run and have trouble keeping offenses out of the end zone and off the scoreboard.
Johnson was like Pavlov’s dog licking his chops at the sound of the bell when this thing kicked off.
Johnson called an aggressive, downhill rushing attack that blew up the Bengals run defense to the tune of 283 yards on the ground. Rookie Kyle Monangai, taking the lead running back role while D’Andre Swift sat with an injury, rushed for 176 yards on 26 carries.
This potent rushing attack was interrupted only by Johnson’s pièce de résistance. The man with the deep bag of tricks found himself dipping in regularly in this game.
There was the Caleb Williams backwards lateral throw to Cole Kmet, who completed — or should have completed, had Rome Odunze’s hands been stronger — a would-be first down throw.
Then a double-reverse where Caleb handed it to Rome going one direction, who handed it to D.J. Moore going the other, and Moore then tossed it to a wide-open Caleb in the end zone for 6.
And then there was the really fun play where they brought Tyson Bagent onto the field. Caleb threw a backward lateral to Bagent, who appeared to have the option to throw deep, but instead threw it back across the field to Caleb. QB1 caught his second pass of the day and picked up 20 yards.
In total, four different players threw a pass for the Bears — Williams, Bagent, Moore and Kmet.
The Near-Tragedy: “Same Old Bears” Resurface
For three and a half quarters, the story was about the brilliant, high-flying offense. But as the clock dipped under three minutes, a far more familiar, and frankly, maddening, narrative took over.
This was the moment the “Same Old Bears” resurfaced, finding a new, spectacularly frustrating way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The defensive implosion was instant and total. And you could see the writing on the wall all week, leading up to a contest with two Top 15 wide receivers whom the Bengals boast.
Giving up 15 points in the final moments of a game where the offense had ultimately scored 47 is almost impossible to comprehend. The defense bent all day and suddenly shattered at the worst possible moment.
The psychological blow, however, came on special teams.
After a quick touchdown drive by the Bengals, the Bears had only to secure the ensuing kickoff and this game would be a wrap.
They failed.
The successful onside kick was the ultimate bitter pill to swallow — although that’s putting it too lightly. This was like a kick to the nutsack — begging the pardon of any ladies reading this post who can’t relate.
As a former kicker myself, I highly doubt that onside kick was what the Bengals intended. It looked like it came off the kicker’s foot awkwardly. Fortunately for the Bengals but not for the Bears, it worked out to their benefit as Hardy was caught in an odd place and ultimately couldn’t get out of the way.
It was a chaotic, frustrating sequence that perfectly encapsulated the recent history of this franchise’s inability to close games and to find new ways to lose.
The Game-Winning Drive: Clutch DNA
As the refs were trying to untangle the bodies on the onside kick, and then after the Bengals took the lead, my heart was seriously pumping faster than if I had been exercising.
Instead, I was sitting motionless on the couch with a half-empty beer can in my sweaty palm.
The momentum was entirely gone — now 180 degrees in the other direction — and it felt like the team was mentally prepared for the inevitable collapse.
In fact, safety Kevin Byard even said after the game that he was sitting and stewing with “bad body language” as the Bears offense took the field.
This was the moment where the “Same Old Bears” were supposed to commit the final turnover, take the inexplicable penalty, and lose in heartbreaking fashion.
But these aren’t the same old Bears. And this isn’t the same old head coach and quarterback.
This is where the new identity of the Bears was forged.
Johnson has told Caleb himself, and we’ve heard it said of him, that this is when the young signal caller is at his best. Take the ball and go win us the game.
This drive wasn’t about desperation or trick plays. It was about a solid young playmaker living out another clutch performance.
Of all the possible targets with whom Williams could have connected, he found a guy under total fire from the fan base, really through no fault of his own.
That would be 10th overall selection Colston Loveland.
The young tight end, who already scored one touchdown earlier in the game, found an open space in coverage. Williams delivered one of the best passes of the game in between three defenders. One of those defenders inexplicably attempted to deliver a hit to knock down Loveland rather than wrapping him up and bringing him down. Loveland bounced off the hit attempt, spun, and sprinted for the end zone, putting the Bears back on top.
It was another milestone notch on the ol’ belt for Comeback Caleb.
Conclusion & Looking Ahead
What the Bears achieved in their ridiculous, 47-42 slugfest against the Bengals was not a perfect win. And believe me, I was still sour about the manner in which they won, rather than happy they fought back and actually won it.
I can only imagine what the perfectionist Ben Johnson was inwardly thinking, when he wasn’t giving the team a rousing pep talk in the locker room.
Yes, a win is a win, and you should never apologize for winning in the NFL. All wins are difficult, especially on the road.
But giving up 15 points in the final minutes is a glaring red flag that cannot be ignored.
Still, the lasting legacy of this game will be the comeback that replaces the tired, old narrative.
The Bears didn’t lose.
They battled back after an utter defensive collapse. They fought through their own worst tendencies and overcame the “Same Old Bears” stigma.
This game was exactly what the team needed to get back on track after the collapse in Baltimore last week.
Now, right in the thick of things in the NFC North, the team still firmly has playoff aspirations.
Looking ahead, the focus must shift to stabilizing the defense and special teams. But to finally have an offense playing this well feels awfully good.
This is the new standard.
