Three Biggest Takeaways From The Miracle At Soldier Field
Look let’s be honest for a second. At halftime, you were done. I was done. The entire city of Chicago was ready to throw their remotes through the TV. It was 21-3, Jordan Love looked like a Hall of Famer, and the defense was softer than wet tissue paper.
But then the single greatest 30 minutes in franchise history happened. A 25-point fourth-quarter explosion that didn’t just win a playoff game — it validated the entire rebuild.
How the hell did they pull off the biggest comeback in Bears postseason history? It wasn’t luck. It came down to three specific, game-changing factors that we need to talk about right now: Dennis Allen’s defensive metamorphosis, Ben Johnson’s schematic masterclass, and Caleb Williams activating the clutch gene.
Grab a drink. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the miracle at Soldier Field.
1. Dennis Allen Finally Grew a Pair (and Broke Jordan Love)
For two quarters, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen looked like he was calling plays from a 1990s coloring book. It was conservative, it was scared, and quite frankly, it was embarrassing.
Jordan Love was out there playing 7-on-7 drills. He completed 9-of-12 passes for 139 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. Three. In a playoff game. Do you know how rare that is? Love became just the second Packers QB ever to do that. The Bears were generating pressure on only 18% of dropbacks. It was pathetic.
The metrics from that first half were pure nightmare fuel:
- 7.2 yards per play allowed (Turnstiles offer more resistance).
- 3-for-3 in red zone touchdowns (Automatic).
- Minimal pressure (Love could’ve made a sandwich in the pocket).
We were watching the defense get methodically picked apart because Allen was terrified of getting burned deep, so he played soft zones that Green Bay ate up with a spoon.
The Halftime “F*ck It” Adjustment
I don’t know what was said in that locker room. Maybe a chair was thrown. Maybe Allen realized his job was on the line (just a joke). But the defense that came out for the third quarter wasn’t the same unit. It was a pack of rabid dogs.
Allen didn’t just tweak the game plan; he took the old one and lit it on fire.
The Blitz Krieg: In the first half, the Bears sent extra rushers on just 31.3% of passing plays. It wasn’t working. So, Allen cranked the dial until it broke.
- 3rd Quarter Blitz Rate: 62.5%
- 2nd Half Pressure Rate: 32% (nearly double the first half)
We saw everything. Corner blitzes. Jaquan Brisker flying in from safety like a heat-seeking missile. DeMarco Jackson using hesitation moves that froze linemen just long enough to blow past them.
Visualizing the Shift:
| Stat Category | First Half (The Cowardly Lion) | Second Half (The Monster of the Midway) |
|---|---|---|
| Blitz Rate | 31.3% | 62.5% (3rd Qtr) |
| Pressure Rate | 18% | 32% |
| 3rd Down Defense | 4-for-6 allowed | 2-for-9 allowed |
| Red Zone Trips Allowed | 3 | 0 |
This pressure surge broke the Packers’ offensive line. They were already missing Elgton Jenkins and Zach Tom, and they simply couldn’t handle the chaos. Love, who looked like a calm surgeon in the first half, suddenly looked panicked. He was rushing throws, missing reads, and getting put on his back.
The Kyler Gordon Factor
We have to give flowers to Kyler Gordon. He missed the first two drives, and his replacement, Nick McCloud, got bullied. When Gordon came back in full-time at the slot, the entire personality of the defense shifted.
Was he perfect in coverage? No. Film junkies will tell you he looked “a step slow” trailing receivers. But I don’t give a damn about a half-step when you hit like a linebacker. Gordon attacked the run, blew up screens, and brought a level of violence that the Packers weren’t ready for. With him in the slot, the Bears allowed just 6 yards on 7 carries in the second half. That is absurd.
The Verdict: The Packers didn’t sniff the red zone in the second half. Three consecutive three-and-outs. A five-and-out. It was a complete suffocation. As Tremaine Edmunds put it, “We were giving them different looks… making the offense figure out what we were doing instead of just lining up.”
Matt LaFleur admitted it in his presser: “They’re firing corner blitzes and safety blitzes… multiple occasions where we should have been picked up and weren’t.”
Translation: We got out-coached.
2. Ben Johnson is a Certified Mad Scientist
If Dennis Allen saved the defense, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson orchestrated a masterclass in how to dismantle a defense that thinks they have you figured out.
The second half wasn’t just Caleb Williams running around making magic (we’ll get to him). It was Johnson identifying a weakness in Green Bay’s coverage and hammering it until it broke.
The Colston Loveland Show
Rookie tight end Colston Loveland. Remember the name, buy the jersey, build the statue.
He finished with 8 catches for 137 yards — the second-most by a rookie TE in playoff history. But it’s how he got those yards that shows Johnson’s genius.
115 of those yards came in the second half. Why? Because Johnson realized at halftime that Green Bay’s linebackers couldn’t cover a corner route to save their lives. He installed a specific concept in the locker room to attack it.
Three times, Loveland ran that corner route. Three times, he was wide open. It requires precision, timing, and protection, but when you have a mismatch like that, you exploit it.
The dagger was the two-point conversion. Johnson called an isolation route for Loveland against Nick Niemann — a Packers linebacker who had played one defensive snap all night. Think about the stones on Johnson. In the biggest moment of the season, he isolated a rookie tight end on a special teamer. Caleb read the leverage, motioned to isolate Niemann, and Loveland cooked him.
ESPN noted, “These isolation routes typically go to star receivers. The Bears called it for their rookie tight end.” That’s trust. That’s coaching.
The “Reckless” Fourth Downs Were Actually Genius
I know, I know. You were screaming at the TV when Johnson kept going for it on fourth down. Six attempts! Two in his own territory while trailing! It felt like panic.
But it wasn’t panic. It was math.
Johnson knew the Bears couldn’t win a shootout if they gave the ball back to Rodgers — sorry, Love — too often. He told ESPN, “The aggressive fourth down mentality had something to do with time of possession… maximizing our possessions.”
He was stealing drives. By going for it, he kept Love on the bench. The Bears ended up winning the time of possession battle by six minutes (32:19 to 26:41).
- The 4th-and-8 from the Packers’ 46: This was the season on the line. A punt is a surrender flag there. Instead, Caleb scrambles left, throws a missile to Rome Odunze, and the drive stays alive. That leads to the touchdown making it 27-24.
If they punt there, game over. Johnson played to win, not to lose by less.
The Fake Screen That Ended It
The game-winning touchdown to DJ Moore? That play started in the first quarter.
Johnson called screen passes to rookie Luther Burden all game. It looked repetitive. It looked annoying. But it was bait. He was conditioning the Packers’ defense to sprint downhill the second they saw that formation.
With 1:43 left, trailing by 3, Johnson called the fake. The Packers bit hard. They jumped the screen, leaving DJ Moore streaking down the sideline with the nearest defender five yards away.
“This is simply excellent play calling,” one analyst noted. “Execute the screen effectively several times to entice the defense… Save this strategy for crucial moments.”
It was checkmate.
3. Caleb Williams: The Inefficient, chaotic, Clutch King
Let’s address the elephant in the room. If you look at the box score without context, Caleb Williams looked mid.
- 24-of-48 passing (50%)
- 2 INTs
- 71.6 Passer Rating
The haters are already screenshotting that completion percentage. “Oh, he’s inaccurate.” “Oh, he’s barely a 50% passer.”
Shut up. Watch the tape.
This was the “Caleb Williams Rorschach Test.” If you hate him, you see the inefficiency. If you know ball, you see a quarterback who has ice water in his veins.
The Fourth Quarter God Mode
When the pressure was highest, Williams played his best football. Period.
- 184 passing yards in the 4th quarter alone.
- 2 Touchdowns in the final 4:18.
- 3 Consecutive Scoring Drives of 66, 76, and 66 yards.
He became the third-youngest #1 overall pick to win a playoff game, joining Burrow and Stroud. He now has seven game-winning drives this season. You can’t teach that. You can’t coach that. You either have the gene or you don’t. Caleb has it.
The Deep Ball Transformation
First half Caleb couldn’t hit the ocean from the beach on deep throws (2-of-5, 40 yards, 1 INT). Second half Caleb turned into a sniper. He went 7-of-13 for 166 yards on deep balls.
Why the change? He stopped overthinking. He trusted his arm. The 27-yard laser to Odunze on 4th-and-8 wasn’t a “scheme” throw. That was pure talent — rolling left, off-platform, firing a strike to the sideline. That is the play you draft him for.
Contextualizing the “50%”
Why was his completion percentage so low?
- Throwaways: He stopped taking sacks. He threw the ball away to live another down. That kills your stats but saves the drive.
- Degree of Difficulty: He threw 13 deep balls in the second half. Those are low-percentage throws by nature.
- Fourth Downs: He was throwing in do-or-die situations where defenses are tightened up.
As one analyst perfectly summarized: “Jordan Love’s completion percentage was 66… Jordan Love’s playoff win percentage is 25.0; Caleb Williams’ playoff win percentage is 100.”
I’ll take the win over the completion percentage every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Final Verdict
This wasn’t just a win; it was an exorcism.
The Bears beat the Packers by beating them at their own game: coaching adjustments and quarterback play. Dennis Allen confused Love. Ben Johnson out-schemed LaFleur. And Caleb Williams out-clutched everyone.
The Bears are the first team in NFL history to win a playoff game after trailing by 15+ entering the fourth quarter since… well, since a long damn time. They showed resilience we haven’t seen in Chicago since the Lovie Smith era.
Green Bay collapsed. Their O-line crumbled, their defense got fooled, and they choked. Chicago rose up.
If this is what the future looks like — imperfect, chaotic, heart-attack-inducing, but winning — then sign me up.
Bear Down.