QB Caleb Williams rallies Bears to 25 fourth-quarter points to stun Packers
Caleb Williams came to the Bears planning to win eight Super Bowls, one more than Tom Brady.
His first playoff win seemed just as impossible.
Williams rallied the Bears on Saturday night, the way he had all season. Playing the Packers in the playoffs for just the third time in the 213-game rivalry series, the Bears stumbled to an 18-point halftime deficit, sputtered on offense for three quarters and didn’t find life until the fourth frame.
That’s when the Williams led the Bears to three touchdowns and an eventual 31-27 victory.
Down by three, Williams took over at his own 34 with 2:51 to play after Brandon McManus pushed a 44-yard field goal wide right.
Five plays later, on third-and-four, Williams threw a pass to D’Andre Swift in the flat that gained 23 yards when Swift was shoved out of bounds at the Packers’ 25. On the next play, the Bears faked a screen pass. Williams pump faked and looked down the left sideline to find DJ Moore wide open in the end zone.
Williams completed half his 48 passes for 361 yards and two touchdowns.
“We understand what this means to the city, we understand what this means to the organization and we understand what this means to us,” Williams said. “You keep going and you keep fighting, and when the clock hits zero, you’ll look up and see who wins.”
Before the last drive, Williams led the Bears to two touchdowns in a span of six minutes in the fourth quarter. Swift ran for five yards to put the Bears down five with 10:16 to play. After the Packers scored — but missed the extra point — Williams moved the Bears down the field and threw an eight-yard touchdown to Olamide Zaccheaus with 4:21 to play. He hit tight end Colston Loveland at the front left pylon for the two-point conversion, pulling the Bears within three.
Williams led the NFL with six fourth-quarter comeback drives this season. Saturday night, like many of those games, the Bears’ deficit came in part because of his own struggles earlier in the game. Amazingly, the Bears didn’t punt a single time Saturday. Even more amazingly, they struggled to score anyway until they were forced into scramble mode.
One week after the Bears were held scoreless through three quarters, they were held without a touchdown until the fourth quarter.
Four of their first six drives ended with either an incomplete pass on fourth down — or an interception on it. The other two were Cairo Santos field goals of 27 yards on the first drive of the game and 34 on the first drive of the second half.
Williams threw two interceptions, his most since the third game of his NFL career.
Two-and-a-half minutes into the second quarter, Williams threw a pick on a fourth-and-six pass from the Packers’ 40. Cornerback Carrington Valentine picked off Williams’ pass at the Packers’ 13 after a miscommunication between the quarterback and receiver Luther Burden. The rookie believed he was open as he sprinted down the field and signaled for Williams to throw him the ball where he was. Instead, Williams threw the ball toward where the route should have taken him.
Trailing the Packers by 15 with about three minutes left in the third quarter, Williams went under center on fourth-and-one from the Packers’ 6. The Bears were one short throw away from pulling within one score. Williams went under center in an I-formation, faked a handoff and dropped back. Defensive tackle Karl Brooks sprinted right at him, slipping between the Bears’ center and right guard. Williams backpedaled and backpedaled — and at the 21, desperately heaved a pass toward tight end Cole Kmet. It was intercepted by linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper.
The Bears stressed all week that they wanted to start the game hot. When they won the coin toss, they took the ball and immediately marched down the field, recording four first downs. They got down to the Packers’ 9 before Williams threw incomplete on third-and-five and the Bears had to settle for a Santos field goal.
Williams threw an interception to end the next drive and turned the ball over on downs — at their own 32 and then the Packers’ 37 — the next two drives.
None of that mattered by the end of the fourth quarter.