CHICAGO — Caleb Williams’ postseason debut ended the way so many other Chicago Bears games have gone this season, with a frantic finish sparked by his clutch play.
Chicago trailed 21-6 at the start of the fourth quarter before scoring 25 points in the final frame to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-27 on Saturday night in the NFC wild-card round. The No. 2-seeded Bears were down 21-3 at halftime.
Williams was the catalyst of the Bears’ largest comeback in franchise playoff history when he led three consecutive touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. After D’Andre Swift ran in a 5-yard touchdown with 10:12 to play, Williams threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Olamide Zaccheaus then connected on a 2-point conversion with Colston Loveland to bring the Bears within three at 27-24.
Chicago took the lead for good when Williams found DJ Moore wide open near the front pylon for a 25-yard touchdown with 1:43 to play. That marked the quarterback’s seventh game-winning drive of the season, which is tied for the most (with the Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix) and is the most by a Bears quarterback in a season since 1970.
This déjà vu of frantic finishes after slow starts is baked into the identity of the 2025 Bears and has them moving on to the divisional round of the playoffs, where they will host either the Philadelphia Eagles or the Los Angeles Rams next weekend.
“It’s no fluke,” Williams said. “It’s no, ‘Oh, this happened; we’re lucky.’ We’ve done this multiple times this year. It’s been proven for us to be a great second-half team.
“In the playoffs, you can’t get behind every game. You can’t have the miscues and things like that. So, we’re going to go back and fix it. But if the game comes down to it, we’re going to keep fighting. If the game comes down to the last play, if the game comes down to the last two minutes, I believe in us, and that’ll keep going forever.”
Bears coach Ben Johnson offered his take.
“I think it’s our identity here at this point,” he said. “Some people say it’s not sustainable. I don’t know. The takeaways, that’s who we are on defense; and on offense, it’s explosive plays. That’s kind of what we’ve done all year long and coming up in big moments. As a team, it’s just resiliency and knowing that late in the fourth quarter, that’s really when we’re at our best as a football team.
“We’ll keep striving to be better earlier in games and starting faster and all that, but that gives us something to work towards. I can’t be any more proud of that crew than I am now.”
The Bears had four possessions in the first half and only came away with three points. Chicago was aggressive in going for it in fourth down despite unsuccessful results, especially in the first half. The Bears finished 2-of-6 on fourth down, and their four failed fourth-down conversions tied the most for any team in a playoff game this century.
“We knew we was gonna possess the ball,” Chicago wide receiver Luther Burden III said. “We knew we was going for it on fourth down pretty much anywhere. Because the last time we played them, they had the ball way too long. So, that was the game plan going in.”
Saturday night’s outcome was familiar territory for Moore, who caught a game-winning pass in overtime to beat the Packers 22-16 the last time these teams played, on Dec. 20. The 28-year-old wideout is the first player in NFL history with a game-tying/go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes versus a single opponent in both the regular season and the playoffs.
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“It feels amazing, especially to send them home and us keep going,” Moore said. “We still got to keep fighting and get better at the little things that we need to get better at. A win is a win. Even better when we play the Packers.”
Tempers flared between Chicago and Green Bay players during pregame warmups to the point officials had to intervene.
Several Bears players cited comments made by Packers players and coaches — including Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s guarantee he would be back for his media availability ahead of the divisional round — as adding fuel to the legendary rivalry’s third postseason matchup.
“It definitely got us riled up,” Chicago safety Kevin Byard III said. “It got us amped up for the game. But we still didn’t start well; we didn’t start as fast as we wanted to. But like I said, man, just this team, the resiliency. I didn’t think that we were gonna be able to top some of the wins that we had earlier in this season, as far as the comebacks. But this one, this one was just the most special one.”
Johnson fulfilled his promise of beating Matt LaFleur twice a season after the Bears secured victories over the Packers in Week 16 and in the playoffs.
Johnson is the first head coach in Bears history to win a playoff game in his first season with the team.
Moments after the clock hit zero, a normally stoic Johnson erupted in celebration with his players on the field.
“There was probably a little bit more noise coming out of their building up north to start the week, which we heard loud and clear, players and coaches alike,” Johnson said. “This one meant something to us.”
In a video posted by the Bears social media team inside the postgame locker room, Johnson expressed his disdain for the Packers that was met by resounding approval by players, coaches and support staff.
“Man, f— the Packers, man,” Johnson screamed.
