-- In his first year as a head coach, Matt Nagy led the Bears to a 12-4 regular-season mark and their first playoff appearance since 2010. The season was fun, exciting and unpredictable. To clinch the division crown and a playoff spot by beating the rival Packers was satisfying, to describe it in one word.
-- As an observer, you go into every Packers game worried. It didn’t matter that they were eliminated from playoff contention and winless on the road. Star quarterback Aaron Rodgers haunts you.
-- Many times throughout his career, Rodgers has struck first against the Bears, building enough cushion to stay one step ahead of a rival. In this game, that didn’t happen. Bears running back Jordan Howard’s nine-yard touchdown run with 2:08 to play in the first quarter capped a nine-play, 60-yard drive and gave Chicago a 7-0 lead. The Bears never trailed in the game. At some point in every game in 2018, they held a lead.
-- Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky threw two touchdowns, including one to running back Tarik Cohen on a 12-yard strike to give Chicago a 14-3 lead that it took into halftime. Trubisky played one of his better games, ignited by a quick passing game and good protection up front.
-- Rodgers and the Packers owned the third quarter, rallying to tie the game at 14-14 after running back Jamaal Williams' 10-yard touchdown run was followed by Rodgers connecting with receiver Davante Adams on a two-point conversion. It felt like an "uh-oh" moment at Soldier Field.
-- Trubisky engineered two scoring drives less than five minutes apart in the fourth quarter. His 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end Trey Burton was followed by kicker Cody Parkey converting a 24-yard field goal. Packers kicker Mason Crosby booted a 45-yard with 11 seconds left to give the game its final margin, but the Bears recovered the ensuing onsides kick to seal the win.
-- Trubisky played a clean, efficient game, completing 20 of 28 passes for 235 yards, two touchdowns with no interceptions.
-- Bears safety Eddie Jackson ended Rodgers’ NFL-record streak of interception-free passes at a ridiculous 402 attempts when he picked off a pass intended for tight end Jimmy Graham. Bears linebacker Roquan Smith had deflected the pass. It was Jackson's sixth interception of the season, but it also marked the end of his year. His right leg buckled trying to slide to a stop, and he left the game with an ankle sprain.
-- The Bears edge rushers did their jobs. Khalil Mack had 2.5 sacks, and Leonard Floyd had two sacks as well to spearhead a Chicago defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL -- thanks in large part to allowing a league-low 20 red-zone touchdowns.
-- As the final seconds ticked off, I have to admit that I lost my mind. It was a sense of accomplishment for the Bears -- but more so relief that they were going to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. It was an exhilarating season headlined by Nagy’s culture-changing thumbprint, his creative play-calling and use of personnel, the defense's dominance and the growth of a team that finally learned how to win.
-- Nagy reflected on that afterward. "What I love that about this team is that each week it's so easy to have a letdown game, and I don't think you've really seen that with this team," Nagy said. "This team every week finds a way to come in and fight every game, and that's a credit to them for doing that. They take it seriously. They know when to have fun, which is a huge part of this process, having fun. But yet they know when it's business."
-- I believe broadcast partner Tom Thayer and I spoke for every Bears fan with our organic and genuine passion about feeling like this team was a Super Bowl contender and primed to make some noise.
-- Trubisky expressed his appreciation as well. "We have accomplished a lot," Trubisky said. "But I think I'm most proud of just the type of guys we have in our locker room, the culture that we have kind of created. And we know that nobody really believed in us on the outside in the preseason or even throughout the season, but we knew what type of team we had and we knew we just needed to keep getting better each and every single week. Just the philosophy and the culture that coach Nagy has brought, we just really started to believe in each other and play harder each and every single week ... But we’ve still got a long ways to go, so we just want to keep building and keep getting better."