Bears' late-game sorcery started with season-turning victory against NFL's worst team
It’s probably the last place you would look if you were trying to find what sparked the Bears’ run to the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs and their most surprising season this decade: a September game in which they were lucky to beat the worst team in the NFL.
The Bears were headed to their third loss in their first four games — a stretch that included a 31-point whupping at the hands of the Lions — when Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson jogged onto the field at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to line up a go-ahead 54-yard field goal with 38 seconds left.
First-year coach Ben Johnson had spent all week telling the team that the Bears’ reputation in 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 Bobenmoyer snaps, he turns the ball slightly.
Blackwell waited for the turn, then sprinted. He got a jump on his blocker before leaping and blocking the kick to preserve the Bears’ victory.
‘‘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 the Bears to their first NFC North title since 2018.
The Bears once again will try to lean on that late-game success in the first round of the playoffs Saturday against the archrival Packers. If their first two matchups this season were any indication, they’ll need it.
‘‘I said it behind closed doors that a win like that [against the Raiders] 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 has kind of stuck with us the rest of the way.’’
During the Bears’ bye the next week, coaches focused on schematic tweaks they wanted to emphasize with players gone — namely, perfecting pre-snap motion to give them an advantage in the running 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 victories. 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 a handoff to running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt with 3:07 left. 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 game-winning 58-yard touchdown catch-and-run to cap 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 Duvernay returned a kickoff 56 yards with 50 seconds left to set up Cairo Santos’ game-winning field goal against the Vikings. And the next week, safety Jaquan Brisker tipped a pass by quarterback Mason Rudolph at the Bears’ 47-yard line to clinch a three-point victory against the Steelers.
All served as a prelude to the most ridiculous finish of the season. The Bears trailed the Packers by 10 with 2:05 left in Week 16 before making a field goal, recovering an onside kick and throwing a six-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-four with 24 seconds to play in regulation. Williams then launched a 46-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DJ Moore, the longest play by either team all night, to end overtime.
Williams led the Bears to six fourth-quarter comebacks this season, the most in franchise history and the most of any quarterback this season. It could have been seven Sunday had the Bears, who once trailed by 16, scored when they took possession in a tie game with 2:11 left.
It’s a testament to their season that their three-and-out was met by utter shock.
‘‘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 would look: Las Vegas, one of the few places where performing magic can lead to riches.
‘‘This is a special group,’’ Johnson said minutes after the Bears beat the Packers in overtime. ‘‘I felt that early in the season. You get 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 late, we’re going to keep on swinging and make some plays when we need to.’’