The short list of the most gut-wrenching losses in Chicago Bears history really isn’t that short. Just say the words “Marion Barber III” and Bears fans will recoil in horror from the 2011 defeat in Denver that happened in part because of two huge blunders from the veteran running back in crunch time that allowed Tim Tebow to win the game in overtime. There are a million Packers losses that fit this criteria, but the first that comes to mind is the 2013 Week 17 game when Aaron Rodgers hit Randall Cobb for the game-winning TD in the final minute with a playoff berth on the line. There is also, of course, Jayden Daniels’ Hail Mary last season that triggered a 10-game losing streak and forced Chicago to fire a coach mid-season for the first team in their 100+ year franchise history.
It felt like a Week 9 game against the Cincinnati Bengals was destined to join the list. The Bears were up 41-27 with under three minutes remaining when Bears linebacker Tremaine Edmunds intercepted Joe Flacco and appeared to take it to the house for a touchdown. After a review, the refs ruled that Edmunds was touched by the Bengals defense on his way to the ground, putting into motion what looked like one of the great meltdowns for a franchise defined by them.
The Bears melted down from there. A three-and-out led to a Bengals touchdown drive that only took 32 sounds off the clock capped by a Joe Flacco strike to Noah Fant. Cincinnati went for two and got it to make it a six-point deficit. Then the Bengals recovered an onside kick. Cue a six-play, 57-yard Cincinnati touchdown drive in under a minute to take the lead. My dad texted me “I’m buying a Jordan Love jersey,” and I sent some texts back to various friends that are not fit for print in a family publication like SB Nation.
Caleb Williams got the ball back with 51 seconds left, and in this game, it was too much time. With 17 seconds remaining, Williams hit rookie tight end Colston Loveland for a pass that should have put them in field goal range. Instead, Loveland broke two tackles and sprinted free to the end zone. This is what a modern day miracle looks like.
Chicago beat the Bengals, 47-42. Cincinnati’s final Hail Mary fell short, and the Bears had earned an unbelievable wins amid a collapse that felt way too believable for Chicagoans with a serious amount of scar tissue built up since 1985.
The Bears, defined by defense and special teams for the entirety of their history, put together one of the worst defense and special teams performances imaginable. The Bengals returned the opening kickoff of the game for a touchdown, and it only got worse from there. Flacco, 40 years old, threw for 470 yards and four touchdowns in a game he was questionable to play in. Chicago missed a key field goal at the end of the first half, and would have missed another one if not for a Bengals penalty. Tee Higgins and Ja’Mar Chase tore through a banged up secondary. Williams’ accuracy problems were rearing their ugly head throughout the afternoon.
This is a crushing Bears loss in any alternate dimension, but somehow not in the one that matters. Williams is carving out a knack for clutch drives late in the game, and the pass to Loveland marks his most memorable comeback throw yet. Chicago ended the game with 576 yards of total offense. It used to take three weeks to get that many before Ben Johnson arrived.
Johnson is working miracles to get this Bears team to 5-3 on the season. He was deep in his bag of tricks throughout the afternoon, with Williams catching two huge passes, including one of the Bears’ first touchdown on a gutsy 4th-and-one play call:
Without injured running back D’Andre Swift, the Bears ran the ball better than they have at any point this season. Rookie back Kyle Monangai, selected in the 7th round with the No. 233 overall pick, was incredible, gaining 176 yards on 26 carries.
Backup Brittain Brown added an impressive 22-yard touchdown scamper after not getting a carry all season before this game.
Rome Odunze had zero catches, and the Bears still put up 47 points with nothing but offensive touchdowns.
I felt my soul leave my body when the Commanders came down with the Hail Mary that broke the Bears mentally and physically last year. It happened again after the Bengals took the lead with under one minute left in this game. A loss to the Bengals could have tanked this Bears season just like the Hail Mary did a year ago. Somehow, the Bears pulled out a win from the hands of defeat and kept their playoff hopes alive. Hopefully this will be remember as the first time the connection between Williams and Loveland — the team’s first-round pick in 2025 — began to blossom after the tight end scored his first career touchdown on a five-yard strike earlier in the game.
This Bears season felt like it was on death’s door after the Bengals took the lead. Now Chicago has new life, and a real chance at the postseason. After so many heartbreaking losses through the years, the Bears finally got a life-affirming comeback win of their own.
