Every year I rank the Bears' top 10 plays of the season. But I didn't think that would do justice to a magical 2025 campaign that was filled with incredible, unforgettable moments. So, this year I decided to rank the top 25 plays of '25.
I'm counting down those plays this week. I covered Nos. 25-21 Monday, Nos. 20-16 Tuesday and Nos. 15-11 Wednesday. Here's Thursday's installment, consisting of Nos.10-6:
No. 10
Week 16 (Dec. 20)
Josh Blackwell recovers key onside kick
Trailing their first-place showdown with the Packers 16-6 late, the Bears scored 10 points in the final 1:59 of regulation to tie the score 16-16 and then won the game 22-16 in overtime on Caleb Williams' 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore.
The Bears would likely not have been able to force overtime if not for a huge play by Blackwell, a special teams standout who recovered an onside kick after Cairo Santos' 43-yard field goal had cut the deficit to 16-9 with 1:59 to play.
Green Bay's Romeo Doubs dropped to his knees to field the bounding kick. But he was drilled by Noah Sewell an instant after the ball arrived and was unable to secure it, enabling Blackwell to recover.
Williams followed by completing 6 of 8 passes for 53 yards capped by a 6-yard TD pass to Jahdae Walker on fourth-and-4 to tie the score 16-16 with :24 to play.
Prior to the Bears-Packers game, only 4 of 47 onside kicks (8.5%) had been recovered by the kicking team during the first 15 weeks of the NFL season.
No. 9
Week 10 (Nov. 9)
Caleb Williams' 17-yard TD run lifts Bears to win
Trailing the visiting Giants 20-17 late, Williams' 17-yard touchdown run around left end with 1:47 to play in the fourth quarter gave the Bears a 24-20 victory.
"It was a naked keeper," Williams said. "Once I booted around, I saw that Cole [Kmet] got taken by I think a corner. And then from there, I didn't see a 'backer, so I felt the grass to just be able to keep it and go, and having Cole in front of me helped. Cole made a great block, and I just took it up the sideline and scored."
Williams completed 20 of 36 passes for 220 yards with one TD and an 83.1 passer rating. He also rushed for 63 yards and one TD on eight carries, time and again escaping from pressure in the pocket like a magician.
"He looks like a Houdini back there in the backfield," said coach Ben Johnson. "That's a really good pass rushing front. They've given a lot of teams fits. [He had] over 50 yards rushing for the second week in a row. In the fourth quarter there we really needed that as a shot in the arm to end up winning that ballgame, so credit to him."
No. 8
Week 16 (Dec. 20)
Caleb Williams connects with Jahdae Walker for tying TD
With first place in the NFC North at stake late in the season, the Bears trailed the Packers 16-9 in the waning seconds when Williams took a shotgun snap on fourth-and-4 from the Green Bay 6. Williams beat a blitz and lofted a pass toward the right back corner of the end zone to a wide-open Walker, who leaped high to snare the ball and got both feet inbounds to tie the score 16-16 with :24 left in regulation.
"That's one of those plays that we felt like depending on the coverage, it would change who the primary receiver was going to be," Johnson said. "The play before, they cover-zeroed us and Caleb was aware of that. They came back on fourth down and did the same thing, cover zero, and on that particular play, Jahdae was our zero answer."
Walker's touchdown forced overtime, and the Bears ultimately won the game on Williams' 46-yard TD pass to Moore, putting them in position to clinch their first division championship since 2018 a week later.
No. 7
Week 11 (Nov. 16)
Santos' 48-yard field goal gives Bears win in Minnesota
J.J. McCarthy's 15-yard TD pass to Jordan Addison put the Vikings ahead 17-16 with just :50 remaining. But as the Bears did throughout a magical 2025 season, they rallied for a thrilling 19-17 victory on Santos' 48-yard field goal as time expired.
It was one of seven games the Bears came back to win after trailing in the final 2:00, the most by any NFL team since at least 1970.
Devin Duvernay set up Santos' decisive field goal with a 56-yard kickoff return—his longest in three seasons—to the Minnesota 40. Running back D'Andre Swift followed by rushing for nine yards on three carries before Santos sent the Bears home a winner.
No. 6
Week 4 (Sept. 28)
Blackwell blocks kick to preserve win
Williams engineered a brilliant 11-play, 69-yard drive that culminated in Swift's 2-yard TD run to give the Bears a 25-24 lead over the Raiders with 1:34 remaining. But Las Vegas followed by marching to the Chicago 35. After safety Kevin Byard III dropped rookie running back Ashton Jeanty for a 1-yard loss on third-and-2.
The Raiders then sent Daniel Carlson out to attempt a potential game-winning 54-yard field goal. But Blackwell burst off the edge and deflected the kick with :33 to play, preserving the victory and evening the Bears record at 2-2.
"The last two I got so close, and I was like, 'I'm going to jump [the snap] perfect this time,'" Blackwell said. "I got a good jump."
Blackwell got a good jump thanks to a tip from Bears long-snapper Scott Daly. Watching tape during the week, Daly had noticed that his Raiders counterpart would move the ball an instant before snapping it and that information helped Blackwell time up his rush.
"He came through for us when we needed it," Johnson said. "I'm listening on the headset and coach [Richard] Hightower … is narrating it in real time and he's like, 'Yeah, Blackwell's going to get this one for us. He's going to come through.' And sure enough, it came to light just like he thought."
Upcoming this week:
- Friday (plays 5-1)
