Greenberg: Bears shocked the world, but not themselves, with Packers win

Posted December 21, 2025 5:24 pm

By Jon Greenberg

DJ Moore was getting mobbed in the north end zone, where he lay down with his arms wide and his heart full after catching the winning touchdown pass.

Caleb Williams was swarmed around the Bears’ 45-yard line, where he threw Moore the pass that won the game and sent Soldier Field into a frenzy.

Meanwhile, away from the tumult on the field, there was cornerback Nahshon Wright, running around by himself in the opposite end zone, high-fiving and hugging and not trying to make sense of what he just witnessed.

“Everybody ran to go celebrate with DJ. I ran with the other side of the field,” Wright said. “I was just running. I didn’t know what to do. I just ran.”

You can’t blame him. Who knew how to react after that improbable, insane, incredible Bears comeback and heart-stopping 22-16 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers Saturday night. These types of wins don’t happen every season for this franchise. They don’t happen every decade. This is the first time the Bears have beaten the Packers at home since 2018 and only the sixth time they’ve beaten them at all since 2009. Two weeks ago, Williams threw an interception in the end zone to cap off a loss at Lambeau Field, and for three-plus quarters Saturday, it looked like the game would end in another typical defeat.

And then, as it so often has happened this season, the narrative changed. History receded and the present emerged.

How did the Bears (11-4) win that game? How?

“I got the best coach in the world, let’s put it that way,” Williams said after the game. “And we have the best coaching staff in the world. And so you put the talent, the coaches and the people that care (together), you can strive for anything. You can reach anything. You can go after any goal. … And you have outcomes like this.”

Well, when you put it like that, sure.

In reality, the Bears had done nothing offensively and were down 10 points when they got the ball with 5 minutes left in the game. It took them a dozen plays and three precious minutes of game action to get a field goal to cut the deficit to 7. They even kind of botched the execution of that play by losing the two-minute warning in the process.

In other seasons, that minor miscue would’ve presaged a bitter and deserved ending and another loss to their rivals, who were operating with their backup quarterback Malik Willis after Jordan Love left with a concussion in the second quarter.

But not this time. Not this season. The Bears have a knack for winning late — it’s their sixth fourth-quarter comeback win — though this turn of events was a bit absurd even for them.

Cairo Santos, who had just kicked a 43-yard field goal, nailed the onside kick, and Green Bay receiver Romeo Doubs let it fall through his arms. As he fell to his side, Bears special teams ace Josh Blackwell found the ball and recovered it.

It wasn’t fate or divine intervention. Just a lucky bounce off a sure-handed receiver and a heads-up play.

“It kind of went through his arms and I was right place, right time,” Blackwell said. “You know what I mean?”

We do. In Week 4, Blackwell blocked a Raiders field goal to secure the win. He has a knack for finding himself in the right place at the most important time.

“It’s been like that all year,” he said. “We’re never out of it. So until the clock hits zero, I mean, we’re never in doubt, always just trying to make the next play.”

Winning teams are full of players like Josh Blackwell, who make things happen when it matters most. Belief is one thing, coming through is another. But yeah, the Bears felt confident they were going to finish the comeback.

“As soon as he got it, I’m like, yeah, (we’re) winning the game,” said Wright, who forced a fumble near the goal line in the third quarter, as the Bears held Green Bay without a red zone touchdown. “As soon as he got that, I was all, yeah, it’s over. I honestly thought we were gonna go for two to just finish ’em. But we took it into OT and took care of business.”

There’s an alchemy to winning, but it’s not magic.

After Blackwell’s recovery, the Bears tied the score on a 6-yard touchdown pass on fourth down as Williams found undrafted rookie Jahdae Walker in the back of the end zone. The Packers went with a Cover 0 defense for the second straight play, and with the Green Bay pass rush coming down on him, Williams knew that Walker, who caught his first pass of the season on the team’s first drive, would be open running toward the back pylon.

“I didn’t second-guess,” he said.

Walker was only playing because Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III were injured. Right place, right time, right guys making the right read.

“That’s where we’re at as a team right now,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said. “I just feel like everyone trusts that whoever’s out there on game day, they’re going to come through for us. It doesn’t matter who it is at this point.”

The stadium was rocking, and the Bears were rolling.

In overtime, Willis fumbled a snap on fourth-and-1 in Bears territory, giving Williams and the offense the ball on their own 36. Two runs and 18 yards later, it was first-and-10, and instead of playing it safe, Williams found Moore streaking down the field on the left side for a 46-yard score. He let loose the perfect ball, the kind of pass that made him the No. 1 pick in the draft and the prospective savior of the franchise.

It fell perfectly into Moore’s arms as he fought off a defensive back draped over his shoulder. He collapsed, rather dramatically, and spread his arms wide as if he had died and gone to heaven.

“It means a lot,” Moore said on the broadcast after the catch. “At the end of the day, it’s F the Packers always.”

To make his point clear and boost his sky-high standing among meatball Bears fans, Moore wore a cheese-grater hat in the post-win locker room.

“It always means more, beating Green Bay,” Blackwell said. “But we’re 11 and 4 and it’s really about us at the end of the day.”

When’s the last time it’s been about the Bears in a good way?

Getting 11 wins was a main goal for this team, with the thinking that number would get them into the playoffs. And it might if the Steelers score a road win against the Lions Sunday. If that doesn’t happen, the Bears, who are 2-3 in the NFC North, will still need to win one of their two remaining games against the 49ers next week on the road and the Lions at home in the season finale. It’s not an easy task, but this team has been surmounting challenges all year.

“I’m happy for our guys, I’m happy for Chicago, I am happy for this moment, and I’m very grateful for it,” Williams said. “But we got some really good games coming up.”

With the way this season has gone for the Bears, you can forgive people who never want it to end.