The next men up: How the Bears’ unlikely heroes helped spark a surprising season

Game on the line. Season at a fork in the road. Fourth-and-everything from the 6-yard line.

It’s mid-December, Week 16, and the Chicago Bears are staging a furious rally at Soldier Field. They need a touchdown to tie the Green Bay Packers.

Twenty-eight seconds remain. First place in the NFC North is at stake. The offense hasn’t visited the end zone all night.

So where is Caleb Williams’ answer as the Packers send extra pressure with defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. popping as a free runner to Williams’ left? Where is the Bears quarterback going with the football?

Not to the highest-paid offensive player on the roster, receiver DJ Moore.

Not to the emerging tight end, Colston Loveland, drafted in the top 10 in April.

Not to the longest-tenured Bear, sixth-year veteran Cole Kmet.

And not to dangerous running back D’Andre Swift, on his way to 1,386 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns for the season.

Plus, Williams’ favorite target, Rome Odunze, is standing on the sideline, missing his third of five consecutive games with a foot injury.

So …

Naturally, it’s rookie receiver Jahdae Walker breaking loose from a coverage breakdown. It’s Walker streaking to Williams’ right in the back of Soldier Field’s north end zone. Walker: undrafted out of Texas A&M, playing his 25th NFL offensive snap, just seven possessions removed from his first career catch.

That’s where the football is thrown, this Williams pass with so much riding on it. Walker, with no Packer within 5 yards of him, feels like this has become a “routes on air” rep, just a routine catch with so much extra meaning.

He springs to the football and hauls it in. Touchdown Bears.

No. Way.

But also … of course.

Of course, in a season as improbable as this, it’s another unlikely hero emerging for the Bears, corralling a clutch TD, then floating across the back of the end zone with his Jubi Slide celebration.

Walker’s score pushes the game into overtime, setting up a walk-off TD — Williams to Moore. Bears 22, Packers 16.

It’s the Bears’ 11th win in 13 games on the weekend they clinch the NFC North. It’s added evidence of a team that has accumulated and developed quality depth, with so many players deep down the roster itching to contribute. Able to contribute.

“This finally showed how I’ve tried to be ready for my opportunity,” Walker said. “And trying to make the plays when they come to me.”

With the playoffs arriving Saturday night — and, naturally, the Packers again visiting — who might the Bears’ next surprise standout be?

The group photo for the Bears’ “Next Man Up” fraternity is now packed, a portrait of resolve and readiness that has allowed numerous players not only to become contributors but also to seize their moments.

Kyle Monangai was the 233rd player and 22nd running back drafted in April. Yet in Week 9 on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals, after Swift was declared inactive with a groin injury, Monangai trampled the defense for 176 rushing yards in the Bears’ 47-42 win.

D’Marco Jackson? A rash of injuries to fellow linebackers T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds and Noah Sewell thrust him into a starting role against the Pittsburgh Steelers in late November. Jackson responded with 15 tackles as the Bears won 31-28.

Amen Ogbongbemiga, normally a special teams standout, made 14 tackles that same afternoon, with his opportunity knocking after linebacker Ruben Hyppolite suffered a shoulder injury on the opening drive.

“Our coaches have done a great job keeping guys engaged and understanding that you don’t know when your time is going to come,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said.

Cornerback Nahshon Wright might be the headliner of this bunch, the poster child of patience and preparation. Wright signed with the Bears in April — for one year, $1.1 million — and figured to be competing just for a roster spot. But when Jaylon Johnson spent all of training camp on the non-football injury list, Wright snatched a Week 1 starting job. Then, for four months, he just kept snatching the football, too.

Five interceptions this season. Two fumbles forced. Three recovered. Most of them in huge moments, too.

“The way so many guys have stepped up,” Wright said, “is a testament to the coaches and leaders on this team — believing in guys like me, D-Jack, Jahdae, whoever else. They prepare us and allow us to let it loose.”

When C.J. Gardner-Johnson signed on Oct. 29, the Bears became his fourth team of 2025. Traded by the Philadelphia Eagles. Released by the Houston Texans. Cut from the Baltimore Ravens practice squad.

With the Bears, though, Gardner-Johnson has become a solid fill-in during the absence of slot cornerback Kyler Gordon, contributing two interceptions, a forced fumble and three sacks in 10 games.

Even kicker Jake Moody, a Bear for 67 days, made the best of his time at Halas Hall. Shortly after being cut by the San Francisco 49ers, Moody found his safety net on the Bears practice squad. Then, when Cairo Santos suffered a quadriceps injury that kept him out for two games in October, Moody delivered eight field goals on nine attempts, none bigger than his 38-yard game-winner as time expired to stun the Washington Commanders 25-24 on “Monday Night Football” in Week 6.

That special delivery came one game after Josh Blackwell earned NFC special teams player of the week honors for his win-saving blocked field goal in the final seconds of the Bears’ 25-24 road win against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 28.

Without Blackwell’s preparation, without his ability to key on a subtle ball tilt by Raiders long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer, without his cannon explosion at the snap and an athletic dive to deflect Daniel Carlson’s potential game-winning kick, the Bears likely would have fallen to 1-3 that afternoon. With a disappointing loss to a very bad Raiders team. Heading into their bye week. Imagine the heaviness of all that.

Instead? Blackwell’s timely playmaking seemed to set off a monthslong chain reaction of magical moments.

Jackson, named NFC defensive player of the week in December after his interception of Cleveland Browns’ Shedeur Sanders ignited a blowout win, believes this emergence of so many surprising standouts has been a contagious thing.

“From the D-line to the linebackers to the DBs,” Jackson said, “you look around and you see so many guys just waiting for their time. With what has happened this season, I think it speaks heavy on us that our 2s and 3s aren’t average Joes. We’ve got a group of detailed guys who have the ability to be starters in this league.”

Monangai had only 186 rushing yards and a touchdown through October and only one game with more than seven carries. Then, on the Saturday before the Bears played the Bengals, he learned Swift would be out.

A window of opportunity opened. And Monangai crashed through it like the Kool-Aid Man. Twenty-nine touches for 198 total yards.

“That was a fun moment for me,” he said. “One I’ll remember forever. Rookie year, first game starting. What I remember most, though, is how I wanted that to be the start of something.”

Twenty-six days later, even with Swift back in the mix, Monangai went for 130 more yards in a statement victory over Philadelphia. With Swift also contributing 125 yards that day, the running backs became the first Bears tandem to each amass at least 100 yards in the same game since Walter Payton and Matt Suhey did so against the Detroit Lions in 1985.

Said: Monangai: “We all train with the mentality that at any moment, it could be on us to make a play to win a game.”

A coaching component has helped create this readiness, constant pressure applied that fortifies depth.

“This is all about the attention to detail we go through each week,” Jackson said. “It’s really honing in on technique and fundamentals. And, to be honest, our walk-throughs are so intensely detailed that when you become the next man up for a game, you’re just going out and playing. You’ve been through tougher situations in practice.”

Walker was pushed daily. For months. Receivers coaches Antwaan Randle El and Robbie Picazo constantly reminded the rookie of the importance of his scout team work, the need for constant growth.

In August, a receiver who started his college career at Grand Valley State was on the phone with his uncle, “bawling,” recognizing his gratitude for the road he traveled and sensing the possibilities ahead. From Division II to the SEC to the Chicago Bears.

“It’s finally paying off,” Walker said.

“You don’t even know,” his uncle responded. “It’s just starting.”

By December, in a defining moment of a huge game against the Packers, Walker was split to the right. Fourth-and-everything from the 6. Game on the line. He was ready.

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