CINCINNATI (670 The Score) — With one more dramatic pendulum swing in a frenzy of a football game Sunday afternoon, the visiting sideline at Paycor Stadium turned into a state of pandemonium.
Trailing 42-41 against the Bengals in the final half-minute of regulation, the Bears still felt they would win a game they'd had control of minutes earlier. Nobody envisioned rookie tight end Colston Loveland breaking free through two defenders for a game-winning 58-yard touchdown reception, but that's exactly what he did with 17 seconds left.
Suddenly, a team that keeps on believing couldn’t fathom what had just happened. The Bears earned a remarkable, chaotic 47-42 win over the Bengals with their late heroics after blowing a 14-point lead in the final minutes.
“I was probably screaming like a little girl,” said Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai, who rushed for 176 yards in a leading role. “Running down the field, I was screaming, a lot of emotion.
“I’ve never been part of a game like this.”
This roller-coaster ride of a game started with the Bengals returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown. The game featured a combined 89 points and 1,071 total yards, and the defining play was a sensational connection from Bears second-year quarterback Caleb Williams to the rookie Loveland in the waning moments.
On first-and-10 from their own 42-yard line with 25 seconds remaining and no timeouts left, the Bears were hoping to get in range for a go-ahead field-goal attempt in the final seconds. They got more than that. Loveland made a catch on a vertical route in the middle of the field, split the tackle attempt of two Bengals defenders and kept running to the end zone.
“I’m like, ‘Man, I’m still up, so may as well try to score this thing,’” Loveland recalled.
Had Loveland been tackled, the Bears’ best hope would’ve been a fire drill field-goal attempt from around 50 yards out with the clock ticking toward zeroes.
The Bengals had one last chance for a Hail Mary as quarterback Joe Flacco – who threw for a career-high 470 yards – set up from his own 48-yard line for a heave. That was the same spot on the field from which Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels fired a game-winning Hail Mary touchdown pass to beat the Bears on the final play of a game in 2024.
Rather than rushing three like former head coach Matt Eberflus elected to do against Daniels, this Bears coaching staff blitzed Flacco. His throw fluttered 20 yards short of the goal line and was intercepted by cornerback Nahshon Wright.
“Just get pressure, moving him off the spot, it’s kind of something we talk about,” Wright said. “Just not letting him be able to can it 60 yards and even allow him to attempt a Hail Mary. That’s the mindset behind it.”
Wright’s interception secured a victory for the Bears and provided a positive ending to an ugly day for the defense, which allowed the Bengals to amass 495 yards of offense even as the 40-year-old Flacco played with an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder.
For all the jubilation inside the Bears’ locker room at Paycor Stadium late Sunday afternoon, there will be plenty to correct back at Halas Hall on Monday. The Bears are still seeking to play clean football for all four quarters in all three phases.
Williams threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns – and also caught a touchdown pass from receiver DJ Moore in the first quarter on a trick play called “Hot Potato” – but his day featured some inconsistency with his accuracy. Chicago’s defense struggled, and its special teams were a disaster. The Bengals had the 98-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff and blocked a field-goal attempt by Bears kicker Cairo Santos. The Bears also failed to recover an onside kick late in the game, which allowed the Bengals to grab the 42-41 lead with 54 seconds left.
Even so, the Bears have a belief in themselves and a culture that's being revamped. They're 3-1 in one-score games this season and improved to 5-3 in the highly competitive NFC North, which the Packers lead at 5-2-1.
“Just credit to this team for 60 minutes, staying together, not folding,” Bears veteran guard Joe Thuney said. “It got bleak at the end, but we just kept fighting. I love being part of this team.”
When Bears head coach Ben Johnson was hired in January, he understood that shifting the culture was a crucial task for the franchise.
The Bears had been far too accustomed to losing over the last decade. They were coming off a 2024 campaign in which a once-promising season was derailed by a 10-game losing streak.
Midway through Johnson’s first season, the Bears are winning games that they too often lost in the past. They're coming out on top despite not playing a pristine brand of football. That's a promising sign that Johnson is changing the culture.
As the Bears gathered inside the visiting locker room Sunday, he told his team not to apologize for a victory. Nobody will, because they expected it all along.
“When things don't go our way, when adversity hits, we find ways to win for each other,” Williams said. “That's it. I think that's what it's been this year."
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.