MINNEAPOLIS — Pretty soon, even a creative screenwriter would run out of new and inventive ways for the Chicago Bears to win in dramatic fashion.
In stopping, at least for one game, a long trend of losing to NFC North foes, the Bears continued a run of pulling out victories in the final moments. Cairo Santos’ 48-yard field-goal attempt sailed through the uprights with no time remaining, lifting the Bears to a 19-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
10 thoughts after the Bears improved to 7-3 — their best record through 10 games since winning the division in 2018.
1. The Bears were 3-18 in their last 21 division games, including a 27-24 loss to these Vikings in Week 1 and a 31-point beatdown the next week in Detroit.
They blew that first game to Minnesota, coughing up an 11-point lead entering the fourth quarter. While there was nothing pretty about this game and no style points were earned, there also won’t be any apologies for winning as players who’ve been around for even a little while know the many, many ways this organization used to find to lose narrow games.
This is a much different team from the Bears of the first two weeks, and thus they were able to avoid what would have been an embarrassing loss. Devin Duvernay’s 56-yard kickoff return — his longest of the season — put Cairo Santos close to his range for the winner, making him just the most recent late-game hero.
It’s the fifth time in the last seven games the Bears have scored the go-ahead points in the final two minutes.
Josh Blackwell blocked a field goal in Las Vegas with 33 seconds remaining in Week 4 after D’Andre Swift’s 2-yard touchdown run with 1:34 remaining had put the Bears ahead. That was the beginning of a roller coaster of wild endings.
After the bye week, Jake Moody — filling in for the injured Santos — nailed a 38-yard field goal as time expired for a 25-24 victory at Washington.
Rookie tight end Colston Loveland scored on a 58-yard touchdown pass with 17 seconds remaining two weeks ago in Cincinnati. Last week it was Caleb Williams running in from 17 yards out with 1:54 left to finish off the New York Giants.
“Seven-and-three is nothing to scoff at,” coach Ben Johnson said. “As ugly as it can be at times, this group has just proven time and time again that when it’s close there in the fourth quarter that we’re capable of finding a way.”
Bears coach Ben Johnson looks on from the sideline in the first quarter against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Nov. 16, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The record is nothing to scoff at. The record of the teams the Bears have defeated is another story. The seven teams the Bears have beaten are a combined 19-50-1 with the Raiders (2-7) hosting the Dallas Cowboys (3-5-1) on Monday night. The Bears’ strength of victory is a ridiculously low .279.
Johnson didn’t select the schedule when he was hired, though. He did set out to change the culture, and that’s one of the intangible areas where the Bears have improved. This team has been poised in crucial situations, where the Bears previously were almost always good for a few flabbergasting moments to give away games.
This game shouldn’t have been nearly this close. The Bears ran 73 offensive plays to 54 for the Vikings. That led to a nearly 14-minute advantage in time of possession.
The Bears finished plus-two in turnover margin as free safety Kevin Byard III got his NFL-leading fifth interception of the season and Nahshon Wright made a pick in the end zone. Both were the result of terrible throws by J.J. McCarthy. Minnesota converted only 3 of 11 third downs (27.3%), and the Bears limited the Vikings to 265 total yards.
Add up all of that, and this should have been a two-score game at the end. McCarthy, in his fifth NFL start, had completed 10 of 24 passes for 74 yards when the Vikings took possession on their 15-yard line with 3:14 remaining. All he did was march his team right downfield. He converted a fourth-and-5 pass at midfield and then some chunk completions before Jordan Addison was open for a 15-yard touchdown.
It was much too easy for the Vikings to go downfield, but Minnesota left too much time on the clock for the Bears. Duvernay flipped the field and Johnson was able to call a couple of running plays to get in proper range for the winner after Santos had missed wide left from 45 yards earlier in the fourth quarter.
“That’s who he is,” Johnson said. “He is a high-percentage field-goal kicker anyway. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He’s proven that over the course of the season and really he’s been doing this for a long time. He doesn’t let things — one miss — faze him. We know it’s highly likely he’ll make the next one. So he really kind of embodies what we are as a team. Very resilient.”
That resiliency has been the story of the season to this point. The Bears have battled through injuries, especially on defense, and continue to deal with inconsistencies on offense. Whether it was having to deal with pressure from Brian Flores’ defense or something else, it wasn’t a great game for Williams. He completed 16 of 32 passes for 193 yards. The chunk plays that had come in recent weeks were harder to find, especially when he was outside of the pocket.
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His completion percentage for the season has dipped to 59.7%. But he’s taking care of the football and he has had the hot hand in previous rallies.
“Hard to say,” Johnson said when asked to evaluate Williams’ play. “I’ve got to look at the tape.”
The closer you look at how the Bears have finished off some of these games, a lot of names deserve credit. The offensive line absolutely has to be mentioned for improved protection all season and a now-robust ground game.
That gives the Bears reason for confidence, that it’s spreading to all areas of the locker room. But it doesn’t look like a sustainable formula, certainly not when they encounter better teams. The Vikings (4-6) have the best record of any team the Bears have defeated.
“You can’t apologize for winning, but we haven’t developed that killer instinct just yet,” Byard said. “We had so many opportunities in the third and fourth quarter to be able to really put that team away. When you have an opponent like that and especially with a coach like that, for as talented as that team is, you give them opportunities to keep chopping wood and they’re eventually going to make a play at the end.”
Would this effort beat a better opponent?
“Personally, I don’t want to find out,” Byard said. “That’s why I am saying we have to continue to develop that killer instinct because, you know, I hate to try to use what my dog A.J. (Brown) is saying in Philly, but you don’t want to keep slapping a Band-Aid on these types of things.”
That’s a reference to Brown, with whom Byard played for the Tennessee Titans, publicly venting about the Eagles’ ongoing offensive struggles.
“If we’re really focused on winning and doing our job, we can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble,” Brown told Philadelphia media. “At what point are we going to pick up our slack as an offense?”
At what point will the Bears not need a score in the final two minutes to pull out a win?
“You want to be able to play better and not continuously be in this situation,” Byard said. “But we are battle-tested. Last year, how many times were we in these one-score games and losing? That’s the difference. We’re going to have to win a few of these. We just don’t want to have to win as many (like this).”
2. It looked like an old-fashioned counter on Devin Duvernay’s 56-yard kickoff return to set up the victory.
Bears’ Devin Duvernay runs back a kickoff for positive field position late in the fourth quarter of a game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Nov. 16, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower has consistently said the group has been close to hitting a big return. A holding penalty on Jahdae Walker wiped out a 52-yard return at Cincinnati two weeks ago. There have been a couple of other spots where he’s been one block or missed tackle away from getting out.
Reality, too, is that it’s a new adventure every week for special teams coaches around the league as they adjust to the dynamic kickoff rules. They’re reviewing their own game tape and then they’re looking at what everyone else has done for tips, clues or ideas. It’s a copycat league for a reason.
We’ll see what Hightower has to say later this week but it looked like a counter, one that was set up nicely with some earlier returns in the game, including a 30-yarder by Josh Blackwell that was very close to being much longer.
On this play, Blackwell was the off-returner and he blocked the No. 1, or coverage player on the far right for the return team, Vikings safety Tavierre Thomas. That didn’t happen until Duvernay pressed the return up the middle with the front line inviting the coverage team on the inside. The Bears set up as if it were a left return and had Duvernay break it back across the field.
“Just the design of the play,” Duvernay said. “Design of the play where it’s supposed to hit. And we executed it almost perfectly.”
Running back Travis Homer had a nice block on 6-foot-5, 290-pound defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins in the middle of the formation. He did enough to turn Ingram-Dawkins away from the play and hold him off.
Closer to the point of attack, safety Elijah Hicks and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga double-teamed outside linebacker Tyler Batty. That block was completed at about the same instant Blackwell arrived and kicked out Thomas, opening a huge alley.
“We knew the ball was going to bounce to the right,” Hicks said. “(Blackwell) had a similar return that damn near he hit. The dude (Batty) that almost got (Duvernay), I let him go at the perfect time. Because, you know, they throw flags on that play like a mother.
“The return was going for a long time and I was like, ‘All right, even though I am in the double, when the dudes start to move and re-direct, you’ve got to let go.’ So, in my head as he was moving, I was like, ‘let me just let go.’ That was my thinking. It’s a game of inches. It’s crazy. (Duvernay) hit it so hard. Dude had no chance to re-direct and grab him. It was a team effort.”
It looked like the Bears also tinkered with how they had players on the front line for the final return. That’s not out of the ordinary. It’s just like a wide receiver moves to different areas of the formation on different plays. Hightower does the same thing on occasion with his players when hunting specific matchups or in a bid to set up a certain type of return or even coverage.
Now, two weeks after a bad special teams effort at Cincinnati, the Bears were pretty darn good here. Not perfect, far from it. Cairo Santos pulled a 45-yarder wide left earlier in the fourth quarter. But he hit a season-long 54-yarder in the third quarter that looked like it would have been good from probably 60. He also made 34- and 33-yarders. Santos did a terrific job with kickoffs. Minnesota’s average starting field position on kickoffs was its own 23-yard line.
Bears kicker Cairo Santos stares at the uprights before kicking a filed goal in the second half against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
But Myles Price got loose for a 43-yard punt return that enabled the Vikings to have a two-play, 24-yard touchdown drive. As usual, there’s stuff to fix and this unit’s miscues were one of the reasons the Bears were backed against the wall with 50 seconds to play when Duvernay fielded the kickoff.
“We’re always confident,” Blackwell said. “It’s never like we’re not confident about stuff. (Duvernay) has the juice. We just have to get him free. We blocked everything right and he had to make one cut and go. He’s been a Pro Bowler for a reason.”
Duvernay reached the Vikings’ 40-yard line.
“We absolutely needed that,” Ben Johnson said. “He had kind of been waiting for one of those, to be honest with you. He’s come really close a number of times and then he was able to capture it and got us right there on the cuff of field goal range.”
The Bears were close enough to run it three times and send Santos on for the final play. Now, the Vikings can answer the kind of question that has popped up for the Bears earlier this season: Why didn’t they go for a touchback to eliminate the possibility of a big return?
3. It will be interesting to learn how Ben Johnson evaluates Caleb Williams and the passing offense.
Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze can’t catch an overthrown ball by quarterback Caleb Williams in the first quarter during a game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
The Bears won’t have to deal with the constant unknown of going against Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores again this season. After not pressuring as much as expected in the first meeting, it looked like Minnesota amped things up.
Williams finished 16 of 32 for 192 yards. He ran four times for 26 yards, including a 16-yard gain in the third quarter. He was sacked twice. A week after bad hands hurt the Bears, there might have been only one blatant drop for a big play. DJ Moore came open on an in-breaker on a second-and-13 play late in the fourth quarter. He just didn’t make the catch. Fortunately, Colston Loveland did pull in the ball that came his way on third down and then broke tackle efforts by safeties Josh Metellus and Harrison Smith to gain 24 yards.
A handful of the incomplete passes you can chalk up to scrambles where Williams made the right decision. No question. Were there checkdown targets available sooner in a few of the plays? We’ll see. Every quarterback deals with these kinds of things and Williams’ completion percentage is dipping, now to 59.7%.
He was particularly off on some deep balls early in the game. Rome Odunze had a step on the first third down of the game. A perfect throw was needed. It wasn’t close. DJ Moore was open deep on the second series on third down. It was an interesting play. The Bears had three tight ends on the field with Moore and Odunze. The deep corner route was wide open by NFL standards and it wasn’t close.
“He still misses on the deep balls,” said a pro scout, who has watched Williams last season and this year. “That remains an issue for him. You can almost count on it that he’s going to sail those specific throws. He’s gotten better at some of the other ones. But deep corner routes? He’s missing those by a lot.”
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams points up filed after escaping being tackled by Vikings defensive tackle Jalen Redmond in the third quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Williams specifically said the Vikings were more aggressive with corner blitzes.
“We were able to pick it up or get the ball out or I would see him and throw hot or throw a checkdown,” he said. “I think overall we did a good job with that and that was one of the wrinkles. He has a bunch more wrinkles that he’s thrown in there. He had a couple times throughout the game, dropping back, you’re trying to figure out the coverage and a bunch of different guys are flying in different areas. It’s always fun playing versus (Flores) because he’s such a good D-coordinator and he has such good talent over there. Lot of respect for them.”
With all the pressure Minnesota sent, the Bears weren’t able to make them play with anything big, over the top. An offense that has produced a ton of explosive plays of late was held in check. When the quarterback’s completion percentage isn’t ideal but he’s hitting chunk plays, that balances out. It didn’t balance out here, but Williams didn’t turn the ball over and did do a heck of a job keeping the sack number at two instead of something more like five.
4. When this season ends, folks are going to take a look at the Vikings and point out they ended 2024 with Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones on their roster.
Bears middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds (49) tries to block the pass of Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy on a fourth down play late in the fourth quarter of a game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Nov. 16, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
I’m not faulting their process and I’m not going to pretend to know everything that went on in the decisions they made. I doubt there are a lot of folks out there who were seriously floating the franchise tag as an option for Darnold. Short of that, free agency is a two-way street.
But, boy, the Vikings have gone from a 14-win team to one that’s scuffling and just about to the point where they will be playing out the string. That might not be fair to J.J. McCarthy, drafted in the first round in 2024 before a knee injury shelved him as a rookie, but life isn’t always fair to quarterbacks drafted in the first round.
McCarthy was bad in this game. He’s struggled for the majority of his five starts this season. His best ball probably came in the fourth quarter of the opener at Soldier Field. The Vikings ran the ball well enough to support him here too. They had 22 carries for 115 yards (5.2 average) but they couldn’t stay on the field.
McCarthy was missing targets by so much that the Fox broadcast crew could have used the late, great Bob Uecker in the booth today.
“Juuuuust a bit outside.”
At one point, McCarthy put both his hands on his head after one errant throw. Wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who has been pretty restrained to this point, looked ready to blow on the sideline.
Like Williams, McCarthy was 16 of 32 for 150 yards and he didn’t get any sort of groove until the final possession. It’s not like he was under the kind of pressure the Vikings threw at Williams, either.
Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson is pressured by Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright (26) and safety Kevin Byard III during the second half at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
His two interceptions were really bad throws. Kevin Byard baited him a little on the first throw but it was bad. McCarthy was intercepted on the next possession right before halftime when Jordan Addison had Nahshon Wright beat in the end zone and the ball was underthrown right before halftime.
Make that throw and it’s a touchdown. That’s the one thing Wright has. He’s got exceptional length at 6-foot-4. Guys like that, when they’re trailing and sort of in position, they can recover where a shorter defensive back cannot. But only if the ball is underthrown. If that play is to the upfield shoulder, there’s nothing Wright can do. It’s an easy touchdown.
“We did a lot of the things that we talked about not doing and the main thing being the turnovers. Gotta take a look at them, obviously,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “But I was proud of the way we ran the ball, tried to stick with it as much as we could. For the most part the guys up front, I felt like we protected. We limited the negatives for the most part, we just felt like we were a play away all day.
“Felt like we were one or two pitch and catches away from maybe having a little bit of a different dynamic to the game throughout.”
O’Connell has done great work with quarterbacks since he took over in Minnesota. It’s still early with McCarthy and he’s missed so much time — all of 2024 and then a big chunk of this season with a high ankle sprain. The coach has his work cut out for him because this was reflective of struggles McCarthy has had when he’s been on the field.
And everybody knows it who is watching with sober eyes. Emmanuel Acho tried to gas up McCarthy for having that “clutch gene” after the touchdown drive late in the game. It was a nice drive.
Vikings Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter, who was at the game, provided some perspective.
“Did you watch the first 59 mins?” Carter wrote in a social media post. He also added a thumbs down and that about summed it up.
5. The run the Bears are on is a good reminder of why teams strive to keep a quality backup quarterback on the roster.
Bears quarterbacks Caleb Williams, right, and Tyson Bagent have a laugh as they warm up for a game against the Vikings on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
It’s something you can keep in the back of your mind almost weekly with the way the schedule has fallen. Now, Aaron Rodgers’ status for Sunday’s game at Soldier Field is up in the air. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback sat out the second half of a 34-12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals with a left wrist injury that will be further evaluated Monday.
If Rodgers can’t go Sunday, the list of opposing quarterbacks in a six-week span would look like this:
Week 7: Spencer Rattler, Saints
Week 8: Tyler Huntley, Ravens
Week 9: Joe Flacco, Bengals
Week 10: Jaxson Dart, Giants
Week 11: J.J. McCarthy, Vikings
Week 12: Mason Rudolph, Steelers
It was the 13th start of Rattler’s career, and the Bears intercepted him three times. He got the start the following week and then was sent to the bench, replaced by rookie Tyler Shough. Then the Bears missed two-time MVP Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in consecutive weeks. That’s the kind of run of luck usually associated with table games in Las Vegas, right?
They caught the rookie Dart making his seventh start and then McCarthy in his fifth career start. Rudolph has been around for a while. He’s on his second go-round with the Steelers.
The Bears obviously feel pretty good about their No. 2. That’s why they went to Tyson Bagent before the season with a contract extension, giving the former undrafted free agent a nice pay bump to stand ready behind Caleb Williams.
As I mentioned in the top item, the Bears are 7-3 for the first time since 2018. They were also 7-3 to begin the 2011 season but missed the playoffs. Jay Cutler suffered a broken thumb, and when Caleb Hanie was pressed into action, he couldn’t deliver. The Bears lost five straight games to slide out of postseason contention. It was at least a factor in general manager Jerry Angelo being fired.
The Steelers will try to hang on with Rudolph if he has to replace Rodgers, and the Bears could be the beneficiary. It makes you realize there’s something to be said for Williams’ durability. He has started 27 consecutive games. It’s definitely different when it’s the opponents riding the QB carousel with regularity and not the Bears.
6. The Bears might have a chance this week to do something they’ve done only once in the last decade: beat Aaron Rodgers.
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looks on during a game on Nov. 16, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Durisko)
Perhaps it’s dwindling now because of his injury situation. If healthy, the future Hall of Fame quarterback will lead the Steelers into Soldier Field on Sunday for what likely would be the 41-year-old’s final appearance against the Bears. I’m guessing that if you asked Chairman George McCaskey, he’d very much prefer to face Rodgers on Sunday. But that’s just a hunch.
More so than any other opponent I’ve covered, Rodgers has a deep appreciation for the history of the Bears, the Bears-Packers rivalry and Chicago sports in general. He’s not unlike Ben Johnson in that he has noted how, as a youngster, he grew up watching Cubs and Bulls games on WGN-TV.
“I’ve been a fan of Chicago sports for a while,” Rodgers said before a December 2022 game at Soldier Field, the last time he faced the Bears. “I have a lot of respect for the city and the legacy of excellence that the team and the region has. I always enjoy playing against the Bears.”
Over the years, Rodgers was quite open and direct in praising Lovie Smith, Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Vic Fangio, Eddie Jackson and more recently Jaylon Johnson. When I visited with Rodgers during training camp back in 2017, I asked what he thought about Urlacher’s candidacy for the Hall of Fame.
“Brian Urlacher should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” he said. “He is one of my favorites if not my favorite (opponent) … because he is hypercompetitive. He is a tough human and he does it the right way. He plays with a lot of passion, lot of grit and a lot of class. I always enjoyed our battles.”
Bears fans have come to loathe Rodgers because, well, they got tired of seeing him beat their team time and again. Rodgers is 25-5 as a starter against the Bears, including the postseason, with 12 wins in his last 13 starts.
There was the infamous moment after he scored on a 6-yard run in the 2021 meeting at Soldier Field when cameras caught him saying, “I own you. …. I still own you.” I left an expletive out of the quote because this is a family publication.
“Sometimes you black out on the field, in a good way,” Rodgers said. “But I looked up in the stands and in the front row, all I saw was a woman giving me the double bird. So I’m not sure exactly what came out of my mouth next.”
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers on the field after a win over the Bears on Dec. 4, 2022, at Soldier Field. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)
There was a fun story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette about a chance encounter a young Mount Prospect boy and his mom had with Rodgers walking downtown the night before a Packers-Bears game in 2017. The boy, 11 at the time, recognized Rodgers at a busy crosswalk. They started chatting with him and spent 20 minutes walking with him.
Bears secondary coach Al Harris, who is in the Packers Hall of Fame, was playing in Green Bay when Rodgers was drafted in 2005 and when he replaced Brett Favre in 2008.
“Man, let me tell you, a lot of things that I preach and talk about now, I saw as a player looking at that guy,” Harris said of Rodgers. “Looking at (Rodgers), Brett Favre and those guys and how they went about their business, their reads and things like that. For him to still be playing at a high level and to have been in the league this long, hats off to him.”
Harris got a good idea of what kind of player Rodgers would be long before Favre took off for the New York Jets and eventually wrapped up his career in Minnesota.
“He was the scout-team quarterback, so I saw it early,” Harris said. “I saw the no-look passes, the arm talent. I witnessed it. I saw this movie early.”
The first start of safety Kevin Byard III’s career came in Week 10 in 2016. The Tennessee Titans were hosting the Packers.
“Dick LeBeau was our coordinator and he called a safety blitz,” Byard said. “I was so amped up. I didn’t have a celebration or anything and I did some weird leg kick. To get a sack against Aaron Rodgers was special.”
Tight end Cole Kmet recalled his rookie season in 2020 at Lambeau Field, where, because of COVID-19 restrictions, there were no fans in the stadium. He described it as surreal to hear Rodgers pushing back on coach Matt LaFleur about certain play calls and essentially running his own show at times. From the Bears sideline, with no crowd noise, you could hear everything.
Green Packers’ Aaron Rodgers passes against the Bears’ Julius Peppers, Stephen Paea and Brian Urlacher in the second quarter at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Sept. 13, 2012. (Scott Strazzante/Chicago Tribune)
“I was like, ‘Holy (smokes)! This is amazing,’” Kmet said. “I was 9 years old in 2008 (when Rodgers replaced Favre). Much respect to him. He’s an all-time great. Probably the most talented quarterback to ever play in terms of arm talent and escapability, all that stuff.”
Rodgers has contemplated the possibility of his final appearance at Soldier Field in the past. His recall of plays is next level and always has been. He can even cite pregame moments with a high degree of accuracy.
“I’ve had a lot of great moments in this place,” Rodgers said after the 2022 game. “As much as the fans don’t really like me, I do have respect for the city of Chicago and their great sports fans here and the stadium. It’s been a lot of fun over the years to go to battle, win or lose.
“There’s some really cool, like, Chicago moments. Colbie Caillat did the national anthem back in 2010 with, like, a guy on a ukulele. That’s a cool moment. Just night game, the energy, the guy (Jim Cornelison), the baritone that sings. That opera voice. Those are cool moments.
“The in-between timeout stuff that they do here, I’m not crazy about the song. It gets a little old. But there’s a lot of cool things about this sports town and this city and the stadium, and I’ve enjoyed playing here.”
One more time. Maybe.
7. Playoffs? It’s what everyone who is not inside Halas Hall is going to want to talk about.
Keith Kinzleo of Joliet stands with a sign of Ben Johnson and celebrates a Bears touchdown in the first half against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Nov. 16, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
“We’re midseason right now,” Ben Johnson said when it was pointed out after the noon slate of games how close his team was to being alone in first place in the division. “So we’re not even looking at that. We’ve earned seven wins so far and we’re really looking for the opportunity to go 1-0 next week.”
That’s what they will preach to the players all week because unless they keep stacking wins, the Bears will not remain atop the NFC North, which is where they found themselves all alone after the Philadelphia Eagles finished their win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday night.
There are nine NFC teams above .500 right now and, having won seven of their last eight, the Bears are a game behind the Eagles and Los Angeles Rams in the conference. Both of those teams are 8-2. If you want to get wild, sure, go ahead and dream about the Bears battling for the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. That seems rather unlikely. But everything is in front of this team.
You could toggle with playoff simulators from now until next month and come up with all sorts of odds and percentages. There’s so much action remaining — seven weeks — and it’s impossible to say how injuries are going to impact teams in the mix.
Here’s what I know: Of the Bears’ remaining seven opponents, only the Cleveland Browns (2-8) are currently below .500. The remaining opponents have a collective winning percentage of .592. That’s the same winning percentage the Packers’ remaining opponents have. Two games with Green Bay in a three-week stretch will be pivotal. Something seems off for the Packers, especially without tight end Tucker Kraft in that offense.
The Lions (6-4) have a slightly easier schedule but it’s not filled with cupcakes. Detroit’s remaining opponents have a .529 winning percentage. Four of the Lions’ next five games are at Ford Field before they close the season at Minnesota and at Soldier Field.
The Bears could have an impactful game with the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17 at Santa Clara, Calif. The Niners are 7-4 and they have the easiest remaining schedule of all the teams I’ve referenced. They host the Carolina Panthers (6-5) this week and then go to Cleveland before a Week 14 bye. The winning percentage of San Francisco’s remaining seven opponents is .508.
We could dive into all of the contenders and schedules. I don’t know that we’d really learn a ton. There’s just too much football remaining to be played to get too deep into it. So, on to Pittsburgh, right?
8. It looked like Andrew Billings got another false start called against an opponent with his “move” call.
Bears defensive tackle Andrew Billings rushes Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in the first quarter on Oct. 27, 2024, at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Minnesota was facing a third-and-2 on its own 38-yard line in the third quarter. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw was flagged before the snap, turning it into a third-and-7 that led to a punt.
Billings got one last week against the Giants when guard Jon Runyan jumped. I don’t know for certain Darrisaw’s head start on the play was because of Billings, but it’s a weapon and something the Bears love to use.
And it’s as simple as Billings calling out “move” before the snap — preferably right before it — to signal his teammates to shift laterally. It’s been in football forever. It’s perfectly legal. And Billings is very effective at it.
“As the game goes along, you get a feel for the snaps,” Billings said. “You get a feel for the cadence and what formation they’re really going to run out of. Sometimes there’s a motion. If the quarterback is doing this (motioning behind his back), he’s not going to snap it. He’s getting a receiver to move. After that happens, then you do it. It’s gotta be timed. It’s pretty much gotta be late (right before the snap).”
It’s not whenever Billings wants to call it. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen will tag his call with a move. Players get that relayed pre-snap. Allen picks and chooses his spots and looks for bigger spots in the game. Defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett said on average, it’s maybe called two or three times each week and usually not early in the game because it takes Billings a while to get a feel for the quarterback and how he’s operating. In order to scout it, the Bears will watch TV copies of opponents — not just the All-22 film.
Garrett saw Billings put it to work on film when he was watching last season after arriving. Billings said he drew five false starts in 2024.
“The move call, honestly, I get more tight ends than offensive linemen,” Billings said. “Because linemen are keyed into the cadence. It’s mostly tight ends. It’s become a part of my game. I’m not going to lie.”
9. Eyebrows were raised when Jaylon Johnson returned to practice Friday for the first time since undergoing core muscle surgery and was listed as limited and questionable for Sunday’s game.
Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson smiles as he chats with officials during a commercial in the second half against the Viking at U.S Bank Stadium on Dec. 16, 2024, in Minneapolis. The Vikings beat the Bears 30–12. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Johnson was about as questionable as Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was a full participant in practices before they played the Bears last month. The difference, of course, was the Ravens were (apparently unknowingly) skirting league rules for injury reports. The Bears did nothing wrong by labeling Johnson as questionable and then downgrading him to out less than 24 hours later.
But it raises a legitimate question: What’s a timeline for the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback to be back on the field? Instinct tells me the Bears will want more than just three days of practice this week before the Steelers come to Soldier Field to get him ready.
He has missed two months and, remember, Johnson was sidelined for all of training camp and the preseason too. Every injury situation is treated differently, but it’s at least worth noting the team was conservative with defensive end Austin Booker and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga coming back off IR. Both used the entire 21-day practice window, although, at least in the case of Booker, the team felt like it had some depth at defensive end and roster needs in other places.
If Johnson doesn’t suit up against the Steelers, then you’re looking at the Nov. 28 game in Philadelphia in Week 13 or the Dec. 7 game at Lambeau Field against the Packers. What could be tricky about the Eagles game is I don’t know what kind of practice schedule the team will hold with a rare Friday game. Is there a light practice during the week, or will Ben Johnson opt for more walk-throughs, which is what teams normally do in preparation for Thursday games?
“You probably need a couple weeks from the football conditioning standpoint and the movement perspective,” a pro scout told me. “The hardest thing when you miss that much time with an injury and come back as a defensive back is the lower-body soreness you get when you first get back on the field. It’s hard to get your legs conditioned to change directions, to stop and start and not knowing when you have to stop and start because you play defensive back. As a defensive back you have to make so many sharp, sudden moves instantly.
“His hip mobility has to be on. I don’t have any idea what kind of running he’s been able to do before getting back to practice, but I would guess he’s going to need at least two weeks of practice where you’re going at top speed. The next part is he hasn’t hit anyone for a long time. Anyone can run, run hills, sprint, do treadmill work. Until you start hitting, that physical impact is different.
“From a selfish coaching perspective, that Eagles game would be the one game you want him back for. I don’t think Chicago has anyone right now that can body up A.J. Brown. He really takes advantage of DBs with smaller frames and ones that don’t play physical. You saw it against Minnesota. Byron Murphy and those guys couldn’t handle him. They’re just not strong enough.”
Brown has been plenty outspoken about the number of opportunities he’s getting in the Eagles offense this season. But he was targeted six times in that game against the Vikings last month and had four catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns.
He torched the Bears the last time he played them, catching nine passes (16 targets) for 181 yards in a 25-20 Philadelphia win Dec. 18, 2022, at Soldier Field. That’s the most receiving yards an opponent has had against the Bears since Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown went for 196 in a 2013 game. A.J. Brown had four catches for 101 yards and a touchdown against the Bears when he was with Tennessee in 2020.
Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown catches the ball against Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin during the first half on Nov. 16, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Could Tyrique Stevenson potentially handle Brown in certain situations?
“He could,” the scout said. “But I don’t think he possesses the top-end speed like Jaylon does, and that’s where it could be a mismatch. Nahshon Wright could not. A.J. Brown would run through him.”
There’s no question Dennis Allen is looking forward to being able to design game plans that involve Johnson. His availability could bring with it more options in the secondary.
“Just consider what he can do facing trips when there are three receivers to one side of the field,” the scout said. “If you can lock that back-side X in single coverage using Johnson, now you get the flexibility of pushing that boundary safety to the front side. It opens up everything for you.
“Now, the offense can’t run those deep in-breakers and crossers because the defense has someone waiting there. You can bracket the receivers on the front side. There are so many things the defensive coordinator can do if he’s got the confidence that he can take away that boundary receiver. That’s one thing Johnson can do when he’s in football shape and ready to go.”
10. I wrote last week that, excluding the 2023 trade for Montez Sweat and special teams moves, I couldn’t recall a player added to the roster during the season who made an immediate impact like C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
Bears safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson tackles Vikings tight end Josh Oliver in the first quarter of a game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Nov. 16, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
I checked in with some former Bears players from the past two decades. They were stumped as well.
Gardner-Johnson had four tackles, one for a loss and one quarterback hit against the Vikings. Last week, he had two sacks and a forced fumble in the victory over the Giants. The Bears found a perfect fit for their nickel cornerback need with a former Dennis Allen player on the street.
At least now I have a marquee name to offer in terms of an in-season acquisition who was immediately impactful, thanks to an email from discerning reader Tom Nichols.
Nichols pointed out that the Vikings released Alan Page after the first six games of the 1978 season. They felt his passion for running had led him to lose too much weight to remain effective. The Bears claimed Page on waivers the next day. He had 11 1/2 sacks (before it was an official statistic) in the final 10 games. The future Hall of Fame defensive tackle totaled 40 sacks in 58 games over four seasons with the Bears to complete his distinguished career.
Page was bound for the Hall of Fame — the first Canton, Ohio, native to be enshrined — before he got to the Bears. But they sure got immediate results from the move for a defense that Buddy Ryan was just beginning to construct.
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Gardner-Johnson doesn’t have the same career arc, but he has helped — so much so that there are already questions about what kind of role he will play when Kyler Gordon returns to the field.
That’s probably a few weeks away. This was the fourth game Gordon missed on IR, so the team can open the window for him to return to practice any day. Given that he has missed eight of 10 games and has been listed with calf, hamstring and groin injuries, they will likely ramp him up with some caution to prevent yet another setback.
“There’s probably a lot of things we could do,” secondary coach Al Harris said. “But that’s just a bridge we’ve got to cross when we get there.”
Gardner-Johnson could potentially be used as a dime safety. We’ll see how it plays out. First, Gordon has to be back on the field.
10a. As much as I wrote about targeting tight ends earlier in the season, I’d be remiss to not mention that they accounted for 12 of Caleb Williams’ 28 targets. Cole Kmet caught all five targets for 45 yards. Colston Loveland had three catches on four targets for 40 yards and Durham Smythe hauled in one of three targets for 8 yards.
It’s possible they were hot reads and going against the pressure, but Williams did a better job of using them as outlet receivers. It was notable to see the ball going their way that often.
10b. My unofficial snap count had rookie wide receiver Luther Burden at 35 plays, including those wiped out by penalties. So, that’s about where it was last week. As some wondered, Olamide Zaccheaus’ action took a hit. He had some bad drops against the Giants and I only counted 10 snaps for him. He was not targeted.
10c. This was the first game the Bears have not gone for it on at least one fourth down. They are 6 for 14 on fourth down on the season. That led to six punts for Tory Taylor, which tied a season-high.
10d. The CBS crew of Ian Eagle, J.J. Watt and Evan Washburn will call Sunday’s game against the Steelers at Soldier Field. It’s the second Bears game the crew will call and the fifth time they will work a Steelers game this season. The savvy veteran Eagle and fast riser Watt are the B crew for CBS and they do a nice job.
“It turns out that the second-best AFC games on CBS every week generally does tend to involve the Pittsburgh Steelers,” Watt said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in October before the third Pittsburgh game he called.
Conspiracy nuts probably already have Watt feeding information to his brother T.J., the edge rusher for the Steelers. As we learned during the Raiders/Tom Brady/Fox non-story in September, if J.J. has any worthwhile intel to pass along to his brother, it’s because the Bears had a slip of the lip. I wouldn’t worry about that happening.
10e. The Bears opened as a 2 1/2-point favorite (-120) over the Steelers for Sunday’s game at Soldier Field at Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/17/chicago-bears-10-thoughts-brad-biggs-week-11/
