Jordan Love fumbled the snap with no time left. The ball squirted backward. He scrambled, heaved a desperation pass into the end zone. Jaquan Brisker batted it down. Soldier Field erupted.
The Chicago Bears had just completed an 18-point comeback to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-27 in the NFC Wild Card round on January 11, ending a 15-year playoff drought with their most improbable win of the season.
Caleb Williams threw a 25-yard touchdown to DJ Moore with 1:43 remaining for the go-ahead score. The rookie quarterback finished 24-of-48 for 361 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in his playoff debut. His numbers weren’t pretty, but when Chicago needed him most, he delivered.
“Belief. That’s all you need,” Williams said afterward. “You got belief in the coaches that they’re gonna call the right play at the right time. You got belief in the players on the field that you’re gonna make the right play at the right time.”
Table of Contents
How the Comeback Unfolded
Green Bay dominated the first half. Love connected with Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson and Jayden Reed for three first-half touchdowns. The Packers led 21-3 at halftime and 21-6 through three quarters.
Then Chicago scored 25 fourth-quarter points.
D’Andre Swift punched in a 5-yard touchdown run early in the fourth to cut it to 21-16. Green Bay answered when Matthew Golden broke three tackles and leapfrogged a defender on a 23-yard scoring catch. Brandon McManus missed the extra point. 27-16 Packers.
The Bears drove 76 yards. Williams hit Olamide Zaccheaus for an 8-yard touchdown, then found rookie Colston Loveland for the two-point conversion. 27-24 with 4:18 left.
Green Bay drove to the Chicago 21-yard line. McManus lined up for a 44-yard field goal that would have sealed it. The kick sailed wide right.
Williams took over at his own 24. Six plays later, Moore was streaking down the left sideline, wide open. Williams pump-faked, then floated the ball perfectly into Moore’s hands. Touchdown. First lead since the opening quarter.
Williams vs. Love: The Numbers
| Quarterback | Comp/Att | Yards | TD | INT | Sacks | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caleb Williams (CHI) | 24/48 | 361 | 2 | 2 | 1-9 | 71.6 |
| Jordan Love (GB) | 24/46 | 323 | 4 | 0 | 1-1 | 103.8 |
Love’s stat line looked better. He threw four touchdowns without an interception and posted a 103.8 passer rating. But he hadn’t played in two weeks after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Austin Booker in Week 16. The rust showed when it mattered.
“Jumping out to a lead and doing what we wanted in the first half and then the second half kind of a completely different story,” Love said. “I think for any team that’s going to be frustrating.”
Loveland’s Playoff Statement
The rookie tight end caught eight passes for 137 yards on 15 targets. No Bears receiver had been targeted more in a playoff game since 2011.
Loveland became Williams’ security blanket when nothing else worked. His 29-yard catch in the third quarter set up Cairo Santos’ second field goal. His two-point conversion grab made it a one-possession game.
Receiving Stats Leaders
| Player (Team) | Rec | Yards | TD | Long | Targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colston Loveland (CHI) | 8 | 137 | 0 | 29 | 15 |
| Romeo Doubs (GB) | 8 | 124 | 1 | 34 | 11 |
| Matthew Golden (GB) | 4 | 84 | 1 | 36 | 5 |
| DJ Moore (CHI) | 6 | 64 | 1 | 25 | 7 |
Doubs had eight catches for 124 yards and a touchdown for Green Bay. Golden’s 84 yards came on just four receptions, including his first career touchdown. But the Packers couldn’t sustain anything in the second half.
Where McManus Lost It
Green Bay’s kicker went 0-for-2 on field goals. He missed an extra point. That’s seven points left on the field in a four-point loss.
The 44-yard attempt with 4:18 left would have given Green Bay a six-point lead and forced Chicago to score a touchdown. Instead, the Bears got the ball back down three with good field position.
Kicking Comparison
| Kicker | FG Made/Att | Long | XP Made/Att | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairo Santos (CHI) | 3/3 | 51 | 2/2 | 11 |
| Brandon McManus (GB) | 0/2 | 0 | 3/4 | 3 |
Santos hit from 51, 33 and 25 yards. He didn’t miss. McManus missed twice from makeable range and pushed an extra point wide left after Golden’s touchdown.
The Ground Game
Neither team ran effectively. Chicago averaged 3.3 yards per carry on 28 attempts. Green Bay averaged 4.3 on 23 carries.
Josh Jacobs led all rushers with 55 yards on 19 carries for the Packers. Swift had 54 yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts for the Bears. The game was decided through the air.
Rushing Leaders
| Player (Team) | Carries | Yards | Average | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Jacobs (GB) | 19 | 55 | 2.9 | 0 | 13 |
| D’Andre Swift (CHI) | 13 | 54 | 4.2 | 1 | 8 |
| Kyle Monangai (CHI) | 8 | 27 | 3.4 | 0 | 9 |
Defense Made Plays
Ty’Ron Hopper intercepted Williams near the goal line in the third quarter, killing a Bears scoring threat. Carrington Valentine picked off another Williams pass. Green Bay’s defense forced two turnovers and still lost.
Brisker led all tacklers with nine total stops. Edgerrin Cooper had eight for the Packers. Austin Booker recorded Chicago’s only sack.
The numbers don’t tell the full story. Green Bay’s defense allowed 25 fourth-quarter points after holding Chicago to six through three quarters. That’s the game.
Team Stats Breakdown
| Category | Green Bay | Chicago |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 421 | 445 |
| First Downs | 21 | 24 |
| Third Down | 6-15 (40%) | 10-19 (53%) |
| Fourth Down | 3-3 | 2-6 |
| Turnovers | 0 | 2 |
| Penalties | 7-65 | 2-5 |
| Time of Possession | 27:19 | 32:41 |
Chicago controlled the ball for five more minutes and converted 53% of third downs. Green Bay won the turnover battle but couldn’t finish drives when it mattered.
What It Meant
Ben Johnson won his first playoff game as a head coach. The Bears won their first postseason game since January 16, 2011, when they beat Seattle in the divisional round before losing to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the NFC Championship.
This was Chicago’s seventh fourth-quarter comeback in Johnson’s first season. The Bears finished 11-6 in the regular season and won the NFC North for the first time since 2018.
Green Bay dropped its fifth straight game to end the season at 9-8-1. The Packers acquired Micah Parsons from Dallas in late August, but the All-Pro pass rusher tore his knee in Week 15. The defense fell apart without him.
“I know we fought through a lot of adversity this year,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Unfortunately we didn’t do enough to overcome that adversity.”
The Final Play
Love took the snap from the Chicago 28 with three seconds left. The ball hit the ground. He picked it up, rolled right, launched the ball toward the end zone.
Brisker timed his jump perfectly. The pass fell incomplete. Bears players stormed the field. Packers players walked off in silence.
The Bears-Packers rivalry runs 205 games deep. Chicago has won three of the last five. For one night at Soldier Field, Williams and a group of young Bears proved they belong in January. The playoff stats show a team that refused to quit, even when trailing by 18 points against their biggest rival.
