(104.3 The Score) Does any player in the NFL mean as much to his team as Caleb Williams means to the Bears?
Josh Allen? Patrick Mahomes? Lamar Jackson?
Was Sunday the beginning of another MVP race in Chicago?
Those questions loomed after Williams returned Sunday after a three-game absence to lead the Bears to a 31-23 victory over the Falcons at Mercedes Benz-Stadium. The answer likely depends on your football demographics, but this can’t be debated: Williams reminded everyone that No. 18 means everything to this Bears season.
Without Williams, the Bears went 2-1 but lacked the offensive oomph that every legitimate playoff team needs. With Williams back behind center, the Bears resembled one of the NFC's most dangerous teams again. Without him, the Bears offense becomes like so many others. With him, the Bears offense is special.
Williams energized Ben Johnson's offense with big-play ability and infused Dennis Allen's defense with confidence knowing it would benefit from spending more than half the game watching Williams work. Example: The Falcons ran just 50 plays and possessed the ball for just 19 minutes, 52 seconds, mostly because Williams kept the chains moving offensively. Nothing improves a leaky defense more than being idle.
And Williams did it all in familiar fashion. He completed 30 of 36 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown without an interception while posting a 111.2 passer rating. Completing his first 12 passes, Williams demonstrated the poise and resourcefulness for which he is known, leading the Bears to touchdowns on their first two drives. You can wait for the all-22 tape of the game to explain exactly how or understand that sometimes, in football, it can be as simple as the jolt a team received from Williams.
"That energy was contagious,” Johnson told reporters postgame.
The impact was immediate. On the first snap of a 10-play, 67-yard touchdown drive that ate 6 minutes, 15 seconds, Williams hit neglected tight end Colston Loveland for a 16-yard completion. On the final play of the series, Williams found Loveland again for a 14-yard touchdown pass on one of those throws that only supremely confident quarterbacks make.
"Colston and I locked eyes and I just gave my guy a shot,” Williams said.
It was as good of a first quarter as the Bears have played under Johnson. In his first game action in four weeks, Williams showed as much rust as a showroom car. He hit receivers in stride, re-establishing chemistry quickly despite missing the last three games. He hit Loveland six times for 65 yards and reconnected with Luther Burden III for eight catches and 95 yards.
He threw with conviction to spots he knew his receivers would be, as if he learned from watching backup Case Keenum have the game of his life on Monday Night Football. He didn't try to do too much, confined by his repaired hamstring and guided by experience.
In the Fox booth, analyst Tom Brady called it the best game he'd ever seen Williams play. In the locker room, Johnson awarded Williams a game ball and openly commended the quarterback who he sensed would be ready since the moment last week when Williams assured him.
"Yeah, I walked into his office and dapped him up and said, 'Let's get this thing going this week,’” Williams said of the midweek meeting. "And I walked out after that.”
Williams saved his strongest statement of the week for Sunday. That's how you change the subject in a football city from the fallout from a contentious press conference to the possibilities as an NFC contender. That's also how good teams respond to beatdowns in the NFL, which was what pleased Johnson the most overall in the context of this season.
"It was one of those crossroads, just because of what happened the week before, but I believe strongly in our coaching staff, our locker room and everyone in this building,'' Johnson said. "Am I surprised? No, and yet, you still need to see it happen on the field. That's a total team win.”
The defense limped into Atlanta cloaked with doubt but left regaining its swagger. They can thank Kyler Gordon for that.
Gordon made his 2026 season debut after a long, arduous path back to the field from a calf injury that created its share of controversy. There was enough mystery and miscommunication since last spring surrounding Gordon's rehabilitation process to wonder if the versatile defensive back would play at all this season. The controversy grew when general manager Ryan Poles publicly questioned whether he could trust the first player he drafted in Chicago.
At one point in September, Gordon left the team facility to train with rehab specialist Montel Fleming, aka Foot Doctor Moe, an unorthodox approach that suggested a rift between the player and the team. After Gordon's three sacks and two forced fumbles Sunday, it was fair to wonder if Foot Doctor Moe received a game ball himself.
Gordon played the role of game-wrecker, showing quickness on blitzes from his nickel corner spot and toughness on run support. With 2:54 left and the Falcons trailing 31-23 and thinking comeback, Gordon forced quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to fumble at the Atlanta 28-yard line. Bears linebacker Devin Bush recovered.
At his best, when healthy, Gordon possesses as much potential as any other Bears defensive player to disrupt a game plan. Asked afterward about his controversial rehab process, Gordon aimed to keep the focus on the future rather than the past.
"That's just the nature of the world,” Gordon said. "Onto the next.”
One week after the Packers exploited every weakness of the Bears defense, the Falcons struggled mightily to move the football with the NFL's best running back, Bijan Robinson, who managed just 61 yards on nine carries – one carry less than Bears running back Roschon Johnson, Robinson's backup at Texas. He never got going.
Penix never found his rhythm until the Bears led handily. Nursing sore ribs from an injury in Week 5, Penix completed 19 of 33 for 225 yards and three touchdowns. The lefty got hot after the Bears led 31-7 and started rotating in backup defensive players, a lesson Johnson hopefully learned. Scoring on two straight drives and converting the two-point conversions, the Falcons turned a 24-point deficit into a one-score game with 5:41 remaining.
Momentum clearly had shifted. On third-and-5 with 4:11 left, for example, Williams escaped the pocket, but Falcons edge rusher Za’Darius Smith caught him from behind for a sack. The Bears believed the drive would continue after a pass interference call initially was made, but officials picked up the flag after replays determined Williams was down by contact before he threw.
Thanks in part to Johnson prematurely calling on the backups, the Falcons found new life.
"I was trying to thread the needle a little bit,'' Johnson said of using subs too soon. "If we didn't have the Thursday game, I'm not sure we'd have done the things we did.”
Given how close the Falcons came, the defense can thank Williams and the offense for keeping Penix off the field for the first three quarters. The defense got it done without its starting defensive ends, Montez Sweat out serving a two-game suspension and Dayo Odeyingbo on injured reserve recovering from leg injury, and middle linebacker T.J. Edwards. Besides Gordon, Daniel Hardy helped the pass rush and a committee helped stop the run. Bush led the team in tackles with seven, and Noah Sewell flashed. Safety Dillon Thieneman was as active as ever.
They all were energized by a Bears-friendly crowd loud enough that Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski acknowledged postgame having to use a silent count when on offense.
Those fans knew what everyone familiar with the team understood. This was a game the Bears really had to win.
As redemptive as the victory was, nothing ever is perfect in the NFL. The Bears committed way too many penalties – 12 for 133 yards – with Jahdae Walker ejected for a head butt and a Falcon drive kept alive by a roughing-the-punter flag. The fourth-quarter defensive collapse, against backups or not, also should be enough to give Allen a captive audience and keep complacency at arm's length. And, yes, the schedule toughens with the defending AFC champion Patriots on Thursday at Soldier Field followed by the defending NFC champion Seahawks in Seattle.
But suddenly, no challenge looks too great and no goal too lofty for this Bears team.
The ceiling has been raised again at Halas Hall. That's what happens when the Iceman returneth.
David Haugh hosts the Haugh & Payton Show from 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays on 104.3 The Score.
