{"id":404743,"date":"2026-01-12T14:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/404743\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T14:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:20:08","slug":"here-are-7-reasons-why-the-bears-are-the-nfls-comeback-kings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/404743\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are 7 reasons why the Bears are the NFL’s comeback kings"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO — Chicago Bears<\/a> coach Ben Johnson gathered his players for some film study one day in training camp, but he couldn\u2019t have known how relevant that video would end up being to his team.<\/p>\n

The tape was of Super Bowl LI. Two members of the Bears played in that game, Grady Jarrett<\/a> for the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> and Joe Thuney<\/a> for the New England Patriots<\/a>. The Falcons built a 28-3 lead midway through the third quarter and boasted a win probability as high as 99.7% before the Patriots roared back for the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history to win 34-28 in overtime.<\/p>\n

Thuney, who was a rookie with the Patriots, and Jarrett, in his second season with the Falcons, stood in front of the room and shared vastly different perspectives about the lessons learned from that game.<\/p>\n

They talked about resiliency and battling to the end, even when the outcome seemed inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just a good lesson to be learned that it\u2019s 28-3 in the middle of the third quarter, and yet the game still is being played and there is a lot of time left,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

That was the message Johnson delivered to his players inside the locker room Saturday at Soldier Field. The Bears trailed the Green Bay Packers<\/a> 21-3 at halftime in the NFC wild-card round — the largest deficit in a home playoff game in franchise history — before scoring 25 points in the fourth quarter to capture a 31-27 win and advance to the divisional round.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust reminding them that this has been done before, and rather than saying, \u2018Woe is me,\u2019 and \u2018Oh, crap, we\u2019re in a hole,\u2019\u201d Johnson said, \u201cit\u2019s more, \u2018This is a great opportunity for us to turn this around into a game we\u2019ll never forget.\u2019 And that\u2019s what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears are defined by their late-game performances that paved the way for their first playoff victory in 15 years. Williams lived up to his \u201cIceman\u201d nickname by recording his seventh winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime this season when he connected with DJ Moore<\/a> for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:43 to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no fluke,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt\u2019s no, \u2018Oh, this happened, we\u2019re lucky.\u2019 We\u2019ve done it multiple times this year. It\u2019s been proven to be for us to be a great second-half team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 seven winning drives ties him with Denver Broncos<\/a> quarterback Bo Nix<\/a> for the most in the NFL this season and are the most in a season by a Bears QB since the 1970 merger. And on Saturday, the Bears became the fourth team in NFL history to win a playoff game after trailing by 15-plus entering the fourth quarter. The Super Bowl LI Patriots were one of the other teams. Coincidentally, Packers coach Matt LaFleur was the QB coach of that Falcons team.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at how the Bears established their identity as comeback kings seven times throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Wild-card round: Bears 31, Green Bay Packers<\/a> 27<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 27-16 with 6:36 left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 4.6%<\/p>\n

The Bears scored three points on four possessions in the first half and pressured Jordan Love<\/a> on just 18% of his dropbacks. Love\u2019s three touchdown passes led the Packers to a 21-3 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

Chicago trailed 21-6 in the fourth quarter before Williams and the offense churned out three consecutive touchdown drives. Williams found Moore for the go-ahead score, a 25-yard touchdown pass with 1:43 left. That put the exclamation point on 25 fourth-quarter points as the Bears posted the largest comeback in postseason history.<\/p>\n

Week 16: Bears 22, Packers 16<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 16-6 with 5:49 left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 3%<\/p>\n

By the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter, the Bears\u2019 only points had come off three field goals. Trailing 16-9 after Cairo Santos<\/a> kicked a 43-yard field goal, Chicago recovered an onside kick and Williams found undrafted free agent receiver Jahdae Walker<\/a> on fourth down for a 6-yard touchdown to force overtime.<\/p>\n

After the Packers turned the ball over on downs in overtime, Williams found Moore one-on-one with cornerback Keisean Nixon<\/a> and launched a 46-yard touchdown pass for the walk-off win.<\/p>\n

Week 11: Bears 19, Minnesota Vikings<\/a> 17<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 17-16 with 56 seconds left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 24.9%<\/p>\n

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy<\/a> hit receiver Jordan Addison<\/a> for a 15-yard touchdown with 56 seconds to play to put Minnesota up 17-16, but returner Devin Duvernay<\/a> took the ensuing kickoff 56 yards to set up the Bears at the Minnesota 40-yard line.<\/p>\n

After three straight runs by D\u2019Andre Swift, Santos kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired. <\/p>\n

Week 10: Bears 24, New York Giants<\/a> 20<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 20-10 with 10:10 left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 9.2%<\/p>\n

Williams picked up 52 of his 63 rushing yards in the fourth quarter against the Giants, including a 29-yard scramble that set up a 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rome Odunze<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Williams had a 17-yard scramble touchdown on the Bears\u2019 next drive that gave Chicago the lead for good.<\/p>\n

Week 9: Bears 47, Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> 42<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 42-41 with 52 seconds left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 23.2<\/p>\n

The Bears had a 41-27 lead with 5:03 to play. That quickly evaporated after the Bengals scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion with 1:43 remaining and scored again after recovering an onside kick to take a 42-41 lead with 52 seconds to play. With no timeouts remaining, Williams rifled a pass over the middle to rookie tight end Colston Loveland<\/a>, who scored on a 58-yard touchdown reception.<\/p>\n

Week 6: Bears 25, Washington Commanders<\/a> 24<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 24-16 with 3:28 left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 15.9<\/p>\n

Coming off their Week 5 bye, the Bears\u2019 run game finally sprang into action behind Swift\u2019s 175 scrimmage yards and a touchdown. Chicago trailed 24-22 when cornerback Nahshon Wright<\/a> notched the defense\u2019s third takeaway of the game by recovering a botched handoff between Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels<\/a> and running back Jeremy McNichols<\/a> at the Chicago 44-yard line with 3:07 remaining in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Williams marched the offense into field goal range on a nine-play, 36-yard drive. Kicker Jake Moody<\/a> (who filled in for an injured Santos on short notice) booted a 38-yard field goal as time expired. Moody was 4-of-5 on field goal attempts against Washington.<\/p>\n

Week 4: Bears 25, Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> 24<\/p>\n

Fourth-quarter deficit: 24-19 with 6:45 left<\/p>\n

Bears\u2019 win probability at that point: 26<\/p>\n

The Bears\u2019 defense came away with three interceptions and a critical red zone stop, and it gifted the offense multiple opportunities to capitalize that went in vain until late. After struggling throughout the first three quarters, Williams led the Bears on an 11 play, 69-yard drive that ended in Swift\u2019s go-ahead touchdown, a 2-yard score with 1:39 to play.<\/p>\n

The Raiders attempted a winning 54-yard field goal with 38 seconds left, but cornerback Josh Blackwell<\/a> burst off the left edge and dove to block Daniel Carlson<\/a>\u2019s kick. The Bears snapped a skid in which they lost 12 games in a row in which they trailed by 8 or more points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO — Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson gathered his players for some film study one day in training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,134662,514,82],"class_list":["post-404743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chicago-bears-sports-football-team-team-statscom-326","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}