THE CHICAGO BEARS ARE GOING TO THE PLAYOFFS
Saturday night was one of the most miraculous, emotional, and memorable nights for the city of Chicago in years.
With 3:15 left to go in the 4th quarter and the Bears down 16-6, facing a 3rd and 20 – you could feel the upcoming week of absolute despair knocking on the door. The Bears are well on their way to losing to the Packers once again. The opportunity to win the NFC North would essentially be lost, with the possibility of maybe even missing the playoffs entirely creeping in.
On 3rd and 20, the ball is snapped, and Caleb Williams is eventually sacked for a loss of 6 yards, but then you hear the phrase from Kevin Burkhardt that can sometimes be one of the most beautiful things you can ever hear from the broadcast booth.
“There’s a flag on the play.”
Green Bay is called for a face mask, 15 15-yard penalty, and an automatic first down. Desperately needing to score before the 2-minute warning, the Bears sent Cairo Santos to kick a field goal after a completion to DJ Moore was short of the first down by about 4 yards. Clock is running; Bears have to save their timeouts for defense, so this is a fire drill to get this attempt off and good before the stoppage.
Cairo Santos made the field goal, but boy oh boy did he take his sweet time. Clock stops 1:59, burning the 2-minute warning and forcing the Bears to attempt an onside kick.
Well, we know what happened there. Shoutout Romeo Doubs!
Caleb Williams leads the Bears down the field and connects with Jahdae Walker for a game-tying touchdown, forcing overtime. The Packers started out with the ball in OT, and the defense forced Malik Willis to fumble on 4th and 1 – Bears take over on downs.
Three plays later, Caleb Williams threw an absolute dime to DJ Moore for a 46-yard walk-off touchdown, and the Bears beat the Packers 22-16.
Heading into that 3rd and 20 play with just over 3 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Green Bay Packers held a 99.1% win probability.
Within 24 hours, not only did the Chicago Bears end up winning that football game, but with the help of the Pittsburgh Steelers defeating the Detroit Lions 29-24 on Sunday afternoon, the Chicago Bears have clinched a playoff berth.
When it comes to teams that seem to be on a championship path, there are always a few moments throughout the regular season that you can point to as a sign of ya know what … this team is different. There’s just something about it. Something in the air. An example I like to use is back in 2016, when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, the moment I knew this team might be the one to break the curse was on May 8th, 2016, when Javy Baez hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 13th inning to beat the Washington Nationals, 4-3.
It may have been early in the season, but the energy in that moment during one of the most anticipated Cubs baseball seasons in years, the expectations … .that was it. That was a sign.
The Chicago Bears gave us a sign on Saturday night.
Caleb Williams is different. Ben Johnson is different. This team is different. Over the years, the Bears would find a million ways to lose that game against the Packers a million times—no more.
The Chicago Bears are heading to the playoffs.
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