(670 The Score) Everything had fallen into place, creating the perfect scenario for Caleb Williams.
This was exactly what Williams wanted, precisely where he belonged, how he imagined.
The Bears had regained the ball at the 49ers' 35-yard line with 2 minutes, 15 seconds left at Levi's Stadium on Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif.
They trailed 42-38 with 135 seconds remaining in an exhilarating, entertaining game that excited more than just NBC network executives. They were one drive away from making more NFL history.
"Having a shot in those moments is all you can ask for,” Williams would say later.
This matchup captivated a national audience enthralled by the game's breakneck pace, back and forth so often that it set an NFL regular-season record for being tied at 7, at 14, at 21, at 28 and at 35.
This looked like an NFC Championship preview, a tussle between two teams still with every reason to think Super Bowl. This was worth waiting all day for Sunday night, as Carrie Underwood sings in the promo.
This also looked very familiar for the Bears: needing another rally to win, this time perhaps showing America what Williams did to earn the nickname "Iceman.”
They had done it six times before this magical season, coming back to win a game they trailed in the final two minutes.
Alas, they wouldn’t do it again.
But, oh, did the Bears come close. Luther Burden III turned a third-and-10 completion into a 14-yard gain. On fourth-and-5, Williams found Colston Loveland for 13 yards. A hook-and-ladder straight out of the Ben Johnson Book of Trickery nearly worked, with D'Andre Swift taking Loveland's lateral after the reception to the 49ers’ 2-yard line.
As Chicago held its breath, the Bears huddled.
On the 15th play of the potential game-winning drive, on second-and-goal from the Niners' 2-yard line, Williams bought time as he so often does, spinning out of a sack and keeping the play alive. He aimed for the end zone, but the pass fell just short of Jahdae Walker's reach as the 49ers held on for a 42-38 victory.
"We just had to try to make something out of nothing,” Williams said. "With all that going on, the clock running down, misaligned, we had a shot.”
"This is a tough one for our guys,” a dejected Johnson added. “It just wasn't enough.''
Not for his team's 12th victory, but the effort was enough to prove the Bears can compete any way necessary with playoff teams, in this case keeping pace with a 49ers offense designed by coach Kyle Shanahan and executed with quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Christian McCaffrey.
Purdy completed 24 of 33 for 303 yards and three touchdowns. His only blemish was an opening-drive pick-six to Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards. McCaffrey carried 23 times for 140 yards as the Niners grinded out 200 rushing yards.
They moved up and down the field with relative ease against a Bears defense that made everything too easy for the 49ers, an offensive display that many expected.
The surprise was the Bears matched the 49ers drive for drive, with comparable talent.
That's the difference in this Bears team from others, the ability to match an offense like the 49ers possession for possession. They have the right quarterback who makes good use of his weapons.
You saw it in the touchdown passes from Williams to Burden and Loveland and in runs by Swift and Kyle Monangai. You saw it in Williams going 25-of-42 for 330 yards and two touchdowns. You saw it in Burden’s eight catches for 138 yards and Loveland’s six catches for 94 yards. You saw it in a Bears offensive line that didn't allow a sack and paved the way for 110 rushing yards.
You also saw it in the way the Bears persevered, fighting a team-wide flu that spread to as many as eight players and the coaching staff. Yes, the 49ers played without injured tight end George Kittle and All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams, but the Bears weren’t without their own challenges. They avoided a letdown after emotionally vanquishing the Packers at Soldier Field in their previous game and after clinching the NFC North late Saturday when Green Bay lost to Baltimore.
So this was a painful loss in the Bay Area, but the Bears hardly sounded like a bunch of guys who broke their hearts in San Francisco.
"We've proven who we are,” Williams said. "I think we're a team to be reckoned with. We can hang with anybody.”
The Bears, who currently hold the No. 2 seed in the NFC, proved in a difficult road environment that they can't be taken lightly in the postseason. Their defense needs to stiffen against the run. They need a better pass rush. They must tighten their coverage and create more takeaways.
But they’re a legitimate playoff threat.
Remember that despite what transpired Sunday night, what the Bears (11-5) accomplished this year borders on remarkable.
Consider they lived in the NFC North basement for the three previous seasons or nearly every day of general manager Ryan Poles' tenure heading prior to 2025. They endured a 10-game losing streak in 2024, a season in which they fired their offensive coordinator and head coach before it ended. They haven't won a playoff game since January 2011, five months before George McCaskey was appointed chairman. They hadn’t had a winning season since 2018.
You’re forgiven if you didn't think that would change this year. After all, the Bears started 0-2 under Johnson, with that second loss a 52-21 blowout to the Lions that suggested the teams were separated by much more than 240 miles. By the time that game ended and Lions fans loudly mocked Johnson for leaving Detroit, the Bears had a 1.9% chance of making the playoffs.
It was embarrassing but hardly surprising, not for longtime Bears observers who have become desensitized by so many years of futility. But something about this year was different.
His name is Ben Johnson.
Plenty of numbers illustrate why and how the Bears clinched the NFC North even before their 16th game. Arguably, the most impressive statistic this season is the Bears becoming the first team in NFL history to win six games when trailing in the final two minutes. Inarguably, the biggest reason for all the success can’t be quantified.
It's all about belief.
Johnson inspired people to believe in him the minute he took the job. Remember the way he addressed Halas Hall employees on his first day in the building? Remember the way he name-checked his newest rival coach? From his first staff meeting to his last “good, better, best” locker room speech, Johnson has commanded respect without seeking attention, created confidence where doubt once festered and transformed the Bears from an organization outsiders pitied to one opponents fear.
The greatest turnaround in the NFL didn't happen in Jacksonville or Foxborough or anywhere else. It happened in Chicago, where Johnson did more with less considering the organizational malaise.
Nothing against the outstanding jobs that fellow new head coaches Liam Coen did in Jacksonville or Mike Vrabel did in New England, respectively, but the Jaguars last won a playoff game three years ago and the Patriots still have the championship residue from so much winning over the past two decades.
The Bears lacked everything, including direction, when Johnson took the job.
Look at them now, the darling of the league again by observers who realize what coach-quarterback alignment can mean to a franchise.
That extends to the general manager too, and Poles deserves his share of credit. Poles drafted Williams, of course, but more specifically pulled off one of the best NFL trades of this generation with the Panthers to make that possible. Looking at the 2025 Bears’ roster also offers many reasons to praise the job Poles did after hiring Johnson – his biggest coup.
Poles assembled one of the NFL's best offensive lines – which includes Pro Bowl selections in left guard Joe Thuney and center Drew Dalman – through trades and free agency. Cornerback Nahshon Wright had a Pro Bowl-caliber season after being signed as a depth piece. Linebacker D'Marco Jackson, who filled in for Tremaine Edmunds well enough to be named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week recently, was signed after the Saints cut him after training camp. Walker was an undrafted rookie receiver from Texas A&M who made one of the most clutch catches of the season.
Then there's the drafted rookie class, of course, from surprise seventh-rounder Monangai to dependable first-rounder Loveland, from left tackle Ozzy Trapilo to Burden, who have combined to complete the Bears offense in ways imagined on a white board in a draft room.
In ways you saw Sunday against the 49ers.
Chicagoans can argue at New Year's Eve parties everywhere who's more impactful to this season, the man who assembled the roster (Poles) or the individual who calls the plays and leads the way (Johnson).
Even in defeat, it's easy to see why the Bears are welcoming January this season instead of dreading it.
"We've got a great shot at the end of the season to put ourselves in a great spot,” Williams said.
They already have.
David Haugh is the co-host of the Mully & Haugh Show from 5-10 a.m. weekdays on 670 The Score. Click here to listen. He also co-hosts The Chicago Lead and the Big Pro Football Show on weeknights on the Chicago Sports Network. Follow him on X @DavidHaugh.