In the Bears’ final practice of the week, leading up to Saturday’s game, Ben Johnson installed a play call that Caleb Williams and DJ Moore felt good about, and it was executed to perfection. When Johnson relayed the call into Williams’s headset Saturday night, there was a chance the play was going to hit that same way. 

“That was one that we put in and ran on practice on Thursday, and it almost looked identical,” Johnson said. “I thought Caleb threw a dime in practice, and DJ came down with it, and we were hopeful that it may, or may not be there, but we timed that one up right, DJ ran a great route, and Caleb threw him a great ball.” 

The night before the play was first executed in practice, Williams and Johnson went over it as the two watched the film in Johnson’s office at Halas Hall, breaking down the nuances and making sure every ounce of the play was understood. 

“Yeah, that play went in this week, Ben and I was watching film in his office, and we just kind of went over small details throughout the play, and the next day we came out, discussed it, and hit itin practice, and ended up working out just how we thought,” Williams said.  

The game-winning pass went 46 yards into the North endzone of Soldier Field to give the Bears the 22-16 overtime win over the Green Bay Packers, taking sole possession of first place in the NFC North with two weeks left. 

Williams, in 32 career NFL games thus far, has not been one to air it out. As a matter of fact, both Johnson and Williams, following the Philadelphia Eagles game in week 13, said they weren’t big on 50/50 balls, which wasn’t part of Williams game or part of Johnson’s track record. 

But on Sunday, the 46-yard pass was Williams’ second-longest completion of his NFL career, only behind the flea-flicker to Lurther Burden III in week 3 that also went for a touchdown. 

Chicago came into Saturday’s pivot game down wide receivers Rome Odunze and Burden, which shifted the attention to Moore. It’s been an up-and-down season for Moore with career low numbers in receptions and yards, but since his one catch for -4 yards against the Packers two weeks ago, he’s come into his own. 

Saturday as the feature wideout, Moore had five receptions for 97 yards and the game-winning touchdown. For the first time in his 11-year football career, both at the University of Maryland and in the NFL, Moore is finally a part of a team with a winning record, playing meaningful football late in the season. 

“It was amazing,” Moore told Jeff Joniak following the game. “Caleb put it right on the money. We practiced that, we hit it on the money in practice, and in the game, it came to fruition. I’m walking on clouds for real, to 11 wins, first time, it feels amazing.” 

Moore was immediately swamped by teammates as he ripped off his helmet, and the Bears players celebrated with the faithful fans. There was a feeling in Chicago leading up to the game and throughout as 60,152 waved white 4th Phase towels. It had a playoff feel to it, and Chicago, in cardiac fashion, delivered in possibly the most important game since the 2018 Wildcard game against the Eagles. 

Chicago scored 16 unanswered points from 5:03 on in the fourth quarter, two touchdowns, a field goal, and a recovered onside kick to put on another late-game touch to their worst-to-first turnaround season. 

Significance of the win 

Countless times over the last 20 or so meetings between the Packers and Bears, Chicago has been on the receiving end of the kill shot. But on Saturday, the play-action fake and deep pass for the win was one that Chicago’s sellout crowd of 60,152, the highest this season, got to celebrate and remember for a lifetime. 

The Bears had a 0.9% chance of winning the game following Green Bay’s field goal to put the Packers up 16-6 with 3:27 left, but the never giving up mentally came through yet again for Chicago. 

Saturday’s come-from-behind win was the sixth for the Bears this season, most in the NFL, and for Williams, he joined Peyton Manning for the most fourth-quarter comebacks in a season by a player under the age of 25 in NFL history. 

“This is a special group, I felt that early in the season with some of those wins. The Raiders game, the Washington game, you start feeling it, belief coming. This group, I’m talking about coaches and players combined, it’s rare, it really is. I can’t say enough things about the people in this building. Ryan’s done a great job bringing this collection of people together, and man, they are mentally tough, physically tough, and I know we’re going to fight you for 60 minutes.” 

Now that Chicago has won, a loss or a tie from the Detroit Lions on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers clinches the Bears a spot in the playoffs. The Bears’ win also gives Chicago a 74% chance to win the NFC North.