CHICAGO — It’s not the cheese-grater foam hat that has suddenly become a new wardrobe staple for the Chicago Bears. Bears leaders aren’t hitting back at Green Bay Packers players for saying they would “opt” Saturday’s playoff game just for the chance to end Chicago’s season. That wasn’t even Bears head coach Ben Johnson’s postgame locker room speech, in which he yelled “F*** the Packers” in a clip that was eventually posted on Chicago’s social media channels.
These are not words. This is not a reciprocated taunt. Behind it all lies the arrogance of competition.
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That’s what really makes it feel like these bears are changing in meaningful ways.
You saw it late in the fourth quarter Saturday on the Packers’ 25-yard line — with 1:48 remaining on first-and-10. Trailing 27-24 but with the Packers on their heels, Johnson launched a drive to quarterback Caleb Williams that Chicago had practiced and patiently conserved for nearly a month. Earlier in the game, the Bears had set the table on the same spot on the screen and suddenly felt the Green Bay defense tilt. A mistake is about to happen.
The ball broke. Williams used another fake screen to block Luther Burden III in the apartment. Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine is holding tight, believing his man of charge – Bears wide receiver DJ Moore – is about to create a block on the play. Instead of stopping to stand in front of Burden and throw the ball, Moore sprinted past Valentine along the sideline.
Johnson saw this within a microsecond. His quarterback saw it quicker than that, and by the time Valentine understood what had just happened, he was halfway through his throwing motion. What matters most now is that Williams did something he has frustratingly failed to do so many times in his short NFL career: make the simplest of throws. A non-contact route made Moore look like a man running down Lake Shore Drive in a solo marathon. It’s something you practice for a month and then deploy when your opponent claims they want to finish you off in the playoffs.
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Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams and the fourth-quarter comeback typified the Chicago Bears. Believe in the competitiveness you can do. The arrogance of executing it. The 25-yard touchdown unfolded, propelling Chicago to its seventh win of the season and second against the Packers, a 31-27 wild-card victory at Soldier Field. Williams later called it “the perfect game.”
“When the lights were bright, he was brighter than the lights are today,” Moore said of Williams.
What about Williams? He emphasized it with something more personal.
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“They want us,” he said. “That’s what I’m hearing. They wanted it and they got it.”
Yes, the Packers did. A week later, cornerback Keson Nixon and wide receiver Christian Watson told the media this was the playoff run they wanted. It was a chance to tie the game after Moore, Williams and the Bears beat the Packers 22-16 in overtime in Week 16 with a 46-yard touchdown run. The moment hurt Green Bay and emboldened Chicago, which nearly lost that game in the regular season but tied it with a 10-point run in the final minutes of regulation.
That moment pales in comparison on Saturday, when the Bears rallied from a 21-3 halftime deficit and scored a ridiculous 25 points in the fourth quarter to send Green Bay into the offseason. The Packers lost their final four games of the regular season and then dropped their fifth straight game on Saturday, raising questions about whether Matt LaFleur, who has one year left on his contract, could become the ninth NFL head coach to be fired this season.
LaFleur was asked twice about his future in Green Bay. He twice declined to talk about the incident.
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Instead, he talked about his team looking “messy” in the second half, struggling to deal with the Bears’ pressure on quarterback Jordan Love in the third and fourth quarters. Asked if the team lacked composure, he called it “a good question.” When asked about the team’s maturity, he called it “a good question.”
“Of course, it’s my job to find the answers to these questions,” LaFleur said.
In the midst of arguably the greatest rivalry in NFL history, the Bears suddenly became this. The Packers not only have to consider, but actually want, revenge on this team in the playoffs. The head coach of this team is Johnson, who began his latest chapter as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator by declaring how much he loved beating Green Bay, then gave a postgame “F*** Packers” speech that injected battery acid into the team’s rivalry.
As Johnson later said, “They started the week probably making more noise in the building up north, and we heard it loud and clear – players and coaches alike. So that means something to us.”
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If that meant anything to Johnson, it meant everything to the Bears fans, who were on their feet at Soldier Field and shaking for nearly the entire fourth quarter, reaching a new fever pitch with every missed field goal, missed receiver and missed defensive assignment. They stayed for a while after the win, too, serenading Johnson, Williams, Moore and any Bears player within earshot.
All believe this is a real and lasting journey that has really only just begun. Williams was convinced that as the game entered fourth-and-eight and the Bears trailed 27-16 late in the fourth quarter, Williams could roll to his left, evade the defender’s fingernails and complete a arcing downfield pass to wide receiver Roman Odunze without him having the business or body mechanics to throw. This roster is young, growing, and the quarterbacks are getting better, whether it’s Burden or running back Kyle Monangay or Odunze, who is still finding his way. Or maybe the best discovery of all — rookie Colston Loveland, who looks like he could end up being a league-shaper at the tight end position.
All of these players left their fingerprints on Saturday night. All of them have stamped themselves with a swagger that’s similar to how the Packers have played in this rivalry in the past. Aaron Rodgers has the kind of swagger that suggests ownership. This previously belonged to Green Bay, but the balance of power seemed to shift Saturday night.
When asked what message he wanted to convey Saturday night, Williams was crystal clear.
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“We’re here,” he said. “I’ll be here for a while, [that] is my plan. I’m going to be here with my coach, winning a lot of games, winning in these moments. That’s the mindset this year, right now. This is also the way of thinking in the future. “
If there was a space where competition and arrogance could find balance, this is it. The Chicago Bears aren’t afraid to talk about it, and they aren’t afraid to play.
