Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears have run out of magic but the NFL powerhouse is officially back in Super Bowl contention | NFL news
Mike Ditka’s Cigar Clothes. A glittering Soldier Field. The miracle of Caleb Williams. Chicago Bears. The Chicago Bears are hurting. It was emotional NFL basketball in its best box office.
Trailing 17-10, facing fourth-and-4 from the Los Angeles Rams 14-yard line with 18 seconds left, Williams elbowed his way deep into his magic bag. The Bears quarterback found himself running back in desperation, retreating as three running backs followed the end of the game goals, Williams, his vision almost disrupted, somehow summoned the strength of his arm to launch the ball into the back of the end zone, where Cole Kmet was running away from Cobie Durant to make a play-. Over time.
What was supposed to be a 14-yard touchdown pass actually went 51 yards, Williams’ rushing average. The camera pans intently to Rams coach Sean McVay, whose eyes widen in disbelief.
A dormant football powerhouse, Chicago is bursting with chaos that has led to their return to contention under Williams and first-year head coach Ben Johnson. But such is football, such is the Chicago Bears experience, joy turned to disappointment when Williams was caught in overtime to set up Harrison Mevis’ 42-yard field goal as the Rams escaped with a 20-17 win.
“I had a ‘What are you doing?!’ then I go up,” said Jeff Reinebold of Sky Sports NFL. “That guy is special. He’s like Patrick Mahomes x2 with the things he does.
“There was one ball that he threw, an incomplete sidearm throw as he was running right down the sideline. And I don’t know how he threw that ball to this day. And it wasn’t complete, but it was just incredible, unbelievable athleticism.
“He’s a special, special guy. So, the Bears, after all these years, you have your quarterback.
As the Rams advance to the NFC Championship Game, the Bears face the bitter test of a bitter end to a shiny, new chapter-opening campaign.
“It’s frustrating. It’s on fire,” Williams said after the game. “Those are the two words I’ll go with. I’m happy, though, too. Obviously, I’m not happy with the result. Obviously I’m frustrated with the result. But that’s over, and I can’t go back and change it.
“I’m going to go back and watch, see how I can be better in the near future and help this organization get to where we want to be.”
It was a sour note to end on for Williams, who has been a consistent architect of the Bears’ recent drama while leading seven fourth-quarter comebacks this season. Just last week he led three touchdown drives in the final quarter as Chicago overcame a 21-6 deficit to defeat the Green Bay Packers 31-27 in the Wild Card round.
The first year of the 2024 No. 1 overall pick featured a sluggish menu of jaw-dropping snaps and misfires as he went 5-12 as a starter while seeing both head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron fired. The sophomore year was a smooth, smart, ever-growing career amid an upward trajectory of wizardry, albeit marred by accuracy issues, while guiding the Bears to their first NFC North title since 2018 and the No. 2 seed with an 11-6 record.
“It’s ridiculous,” head coach Johnson said of Williams’ late touchdown pass. “That’s funny. You talk about that fourth and eighth week from last week and how outstanding that was, and I think this was probably another level before that.
“There’s some things you can’t coach. He’s got that down, he’s got the skill, he’s got the catch. He does a lot of good things. He’s an eraser. I get a lot of bad calls every week, and he helps me get ready.”
Williams, his livelihood and his child outside the building had ensured that Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers were compared coming out of college. As much was shown in the second season that suggested the Bears had found their desired, blossoming long-term quarterback-head coach marriage.
The Bears were playing in the Divisional Round for the first time since the 2010 campaign, which ended with a 21-14 loss to the Packers in the NFC Championship Game. They last reached the Super Bowl at the end of the 2006 season when they were beaten 29-17 by the Indianapolis Colts.
For the better part of a decade they’ve gone through a quarterback situation and coached in purgatory, watching Green Bay dominate the post-Aaron Rodgers division while struggling to keep pace with Minnesota and Detroit.
Johnson changed the narrative this season. This was a different team for the Bears. A united front, unimpeded by a push or pullback and a bullish attitude. They wanted to believe that everyone was against them. And it reached them so far.
“When you have a season like this, when you’re so happy all season, when you win a lot of games, you can’t let that go to waste, after a losing streak that lasted one season,” linebacker Jaylon Johnson said.
“We’ve had a hell of a ride, and each man has had a hell of a ride. We can be really thankful and very grateful for what this season has done and how we’ve grown as men and grown as a team.”
For all of their struggles in the modern era, the Bears remain one of the NFL’s strongest teams recognized around the world by the league’s most dedicated fans. Between the old wooden stores that still fill Soldier Field’s locker rooms, the city’s ice-cold fixtures, the 1985 nostalgia evoked by Ditka’s jersey vests and the Decatur Staleys’ roots that helped shape football as we know it, there’s something that feels right and necessary about Chicago’s return to prominence.
Johnson knows this is just the beginning. The Bears believe they are back.
“Next season is next season,” he said. “A completely different team. A completely different chapter. We’re going to have to write a brand new story.
“That’s the way it is. You put in all the work and sacrifice and you trust the people around you. But you can’t take shortcuts. I wish this is the momentum from the first year, we’ll take it (forward). It doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t work like that.”
Watch the New England Patriots take on the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game live on Sky Sports NFL from 8pm on Sunday, January 25.
