The Bears’ ability to come back late in games is starting to surprise even Ben Johnson, and he’s the chief catalyst for this unlikely story.
Saturday night’s 22-16 Bears miracle comeback win in overtime had Johnson trying to explain what it is about his team that says they can refuse to lose even against good teams in big-game situations. Basically, the Bears say “It’s not over until we say it’s over.”
“I don’t think I have been around a team that just, when it’s this late in games, just they don’t bat an eye,” Johnson said. “You don’t feel any despair on the sideline from any of the phases.
“You might feel it in the stadium a little bit. I could feel the fans kind of coming to life again once we got a little momentum going in the fourth quarter but our guys, they don’t miss a beat. They just keep plucking along and they know good things will come if we keep swinging away.”
“We’re going to fight until the clock says zero.”@ChicagoBears QB @CALEBcsw joined @TomBrady after an emotional victory over the Packers in OT! pic.twitter.com/tYnelpumjX
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 21, 2025
They had no business winning this one, just like they had no business winning over Cincinnati in the last few seconds, the Raiders on a blocked field goal, the Commanders on Jayden Daniels’ late fourth-quarter fumble or the Giants, when they stunk everything up for 3 1/2 quarters and stole one at the end.
They just keep winning.
“Winning games like this isn’t easy but it’s something we’ve built from camp, the foundation that we have,” cornerback Josh Blackwell said. “It just carries over.”
Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from about the wildest Bears finish until their next one, which seems like it should be next week.
The GoodRed zone defense
In his postgame locker room speech, Johnson pointed out how he had told the team red zone defense would be a key. They gave up way too many yards on the ground to a team that didn’t have Josh Jacobs much of the game as he tried playing through a knee injury.
Yet, when it mattered most near the goal line, the Packers were 0-for-5 at scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
They to take three field goals, a fourth-down incompletion at the 8 and Nahshon Wright’s most recent strip of the ball in the third quarter, with Tremaine Edmunds recovering. It happened inside the 5-yard line.
It couldn’t have been a bigger defensive stand even if at the time it all seemed in vain.
“It was big for us to just go stop them in the red zone and hold them to field goals,” said Wright.
A Packers media type wanted to know if Johnson felt frustrated watching his defense pushed around for three quarters as Green Bay piled up 192 yards rushing, accumulated 38:57 of possession time, and climbed to a 16-6 lead using a backup QB.
“I don’t know that it’s frustrating especially when your defense is holding them to threes instead of giving up seven,” Johnson said. “You know that even though they’re possessing the ball as long as they are, that you’re still in it, you’re only down by a score and you’re going to be just fine.”
Captain Comeback
Caleb Williams’ best comeback might have been this one because the Bengals game was just on miraculous play and the Giants game was his legs getting the job done.
He had only 107 yards passing going into the fourth quarter and wound up with 250. Three of the five longest Bears pass plays came in the fourth quarter and overtime, including the 46-yard game-winning throw to DJ Moore.
After producing just a field goal through three quarters the passing game stepped up and the Bears finished with two field goals and two TD on their last four possessions.
“We got the ball with five minutes and right at 5:50 maybe or 5:05 or something Ben walks over to me and said we need to score before four minutes,” Williams said. “Whether it’s a field goal or anything, we go down, put the points up and at that point, it’s just belief and faith.”
They didn’t do it, as it took them until 1:59 remained to get the field goal they needed. They still found a way.
That is the biggest Bears win in 15 years. Unbelievable comeback. What a throw and catch to win in OT. That’s the Ben Johnson effect. That’s why he was no nonsense In training camp.
— John Flynn (@JohnFlynn97) December 21, 2025
“In the second half we just had to go out there and turn it up, more in the fourth quarter and going into overtime,” Moore said.
Foot fetish
Johnson gave a game ball Cairo Santos for the three field goals he made, including a 51-yarder as the wind got worse and worse to handle as the game went along. It had only been 6 mph when the game started but that didn’t last long.
But the other reason Santos got a game ball was the outstanding onside kick he put down that hit Romeo Doubs and was recovered by Josh Blackwell to make the tie possible.
“He did a phenomenal job,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a big asset for us. He’s been here.
He understands that wind. He does a great job in practice. He gets a lot of time-on-task with it. I thought he handled it really, really well. Huge reason why he got a game ball.”
The BadDeja vu
The Bears defense knocked Jordan Love out of the game with a second-quarter concussion and Malik Willis has started five games in four seasons but they managed to do with him what they also did to another mobile backup—Baltimore’s Tyler Huntley. They elevated Huntley by not playing his scrambles and designed runs correctly. Willis hit them for 44 key rushing yards and then they failed to prevent him from throwing a critical 33-yard TD pass to Doubs in the third quarter.
Tremaine Edmunds got left grasping at air on one Willis run.
Flag Day
Besides Austin Booker’s roughing-the-passer penalty when he knocked Jordan Lov out of the game, the Bears had two roughing-the-passer penalties, and two unnecessary roughness penalties. Their 11 penalties in general was reminiscent of the first half of the season whey they routinely rang up big penalty yardage.
Ben Johnson gets cute in a big game, where have I seen this before?pic.twitter.com/hxQMpZOKp2
— Hazel Myers (@MyersHazel62610) December 21, 2025The UglyFourth-down call
Ben Johnson’s play call on fourth-and-1 in the first quarter was about as unnecessary as it gets. They’d rammed the ball down the Packers’ throats all drive on the ground. Then he turns to a trick play on fourth-and-1 from the 4 and puts Kyle Monangai in wildcat.
Sometimes overthinking it is bad. The only break the Bears got is Matt LaFleur’s fourth-and-1 call for a pass at the goal line on their first drive was useless, as well.
*Bears 1 yard from 1st down*
Ben Johnson for no reason: pic.twitter.com/jsPJN62zCp
— Positivity Bunny (@YoNipplesSoft) December 21, 2025Fourth-down snap
You could tell center Drew Dalman is no long snapper from the way he snapped the ball far over Monangai’s head on the failed fourth-down play.
Outta time
The Bears’ clock management on their drive to Santos’ 43-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter was a debacle. They couldn’t manage to get the clock stopped to get the field goal team on the field in time to make sure they were in possession of enough time to get the clock stopped to make a last drive for the tying TD.
So they were forced to try the onside kick.
Williams’ sliding
He keeps coming up short of the line to gain and they’re constantly in short-yardage situations.
The 4th-phase towel
Of all the cheap lowdown stunts, they gave white towels with the 4th phase on them. They just weren’t impressive enough. Should have used orange towels.
It would have cost a little more but they could be saving their money for that stadium in Gary, Ind.
ELECTRIC: #BEARS HEAD COACH BEN JOHNSON GAVE ONE OF THE ALL-TIME POSTGAME LOCKER ROOM VICTORY SPEECHES.
THE PLAYERS WENT ABSOLUTELY CRAZY.
Johnson has every single one of his players and staff members bought in and has turned Chicago into a winner.pic.twitter.com/dh2OYeOnsL
— MLFootball (@MLFootball) December 21, 2025
X: BearsOnSI