CINCINNATI – The first 58 minutes of Sunday's Bears-Bengals game were filled with thrilling moments, highlighted by nine touchdowns and five lead changes. But the heart-pounding drama late in the seesaw contest had to be seen to be believed.
The Bears' seemingly safe 41-27 lead evaporated as the Bengals generated a touchdown and two-point conversion with 1:43 left, recovered the subsequent onside kick and then scored another TD to take a 42-41 lead with just :54 to play.
The Bears answered in remarkable fashion, however, escaping Cincinnati with a scintillating 47-42 victory on Caleb Williams' 58-yard TD pass to tight end Colston Loveland with :17 remaining. Out of timeouts, Williams rifled a pass on a seam route to the rookie first-round pick, who caught the ball at the Bengals' 35, bounced off one defender and outraced two others to the end zone.
"Just really proud of the group and how resilient they were," said coach Ben Johnson. "There were a number of things that weren't pretty, that weren't clean and yet what you learn about this group through the first half of the season is they are an extremely resilient bunch. They show up and they're going to fight you all 60 minutes and they really don't waver.
"I give them a lot of credit for their poise. With the way that game went, you're up two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and they get the onside kick, they get the lead, it's easy to fold and our guys didn't do that. They kept the faith and found a way to come out on top."
With the frenetic comeback victory, the Bears improved to 5-3 and have now won five of six games since an 0-2 start.
"That's what we are," Williams said. "When things don't go our way, when adversity hits, we find ways to win for each other."
Williams completed 20 of 34 passes for 280 yards with three touchdowns, no turnovers and a 114.8 passer rating while only being sacked twice. He quarterbacked an offense that produced 576 total yards and 30 first downs.
"He threw some touchdowns," Johnson said. "He didn't throw any interceptions, and he used his legs to help us extend drives as well. I was pleased with that."
Starting in place of the injured D'Andre Swift, rookie running back Kyle Monangai starred, rushing for 176 yards on 26 carries with a long run of 39 yards.
"I'm not surprised," Johnson said. "That's kind of who he's been since he's been here. Very reliable. He's going to do what you're coaching and he's hard to bring down. I think that showed up. What he was at Rutgers was the bell cow for that team and he proved today that he can carry that load if called upon."
Loveland also had a breakout game, hauling in six passes for 118 yards and his first two NFL touchdowns. The 118 yards matched his previous season output.
The Bears defense rose to the occasion late, generating all three of its takeaways of the game in the fourth quarter. The first one came via a strip sack by defensive end Austin Booker—who was making his season debut—and set up Cairo Santos' 36-yard field goal that extended the Bears' lead to 34-27.
Tremaine Edmunds intercepted a Joe Flacco pass at the Bears' 4, scrambled to his feet and returned it for an apparent 96-yard TD that would have widened the margin to 47-21 with under three minutes to play. But after a replay review, it was ruled that Edmunds had been down by contact at the 4.
The third takeaway came on the game's final play, sealing the win. With :04 remaining and the Bengals possessing the ball at their own 48, Nahshon Wright picked off Flacco's desperation pass at the Chicago 20.
Safety Kevin Byard III told reporters that his emotions were "all over the place" during the game's rollercoaster conclusion.
"So much happened, it's still processing, honestly," Byard said. "We'll never apologize for winning in this league. It's very hard to do. Super-duper proud of this group. On the defensive side of the ball, didn't finish how we wanted to in those last few minutes of the game. But Caleb Williams, Colston, all those guys really stepped up for and we finished with a turnover."
After the Bengals took a 27-24 lead on Flacco's 2-yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins midway through the third quarter, the Bears scored 17 unanswered points to take control—with Santos' field goal sandwiched by TD runs of 22 yards by running back Brittain Brown and 17 yards by receiver DJ Moore.
After allowing Charlie Jones to return the opening kickoff 98 yards for a TD, the Bears evened the score 7-7 by dipping into their bag of tricks. On fourth-and-goal from the 2, Williams took the snap, flipped the ball to receiver Rome Odunze, who pitched it to Moore, who tossed it to a wide-open Williams in the end zone.
Evan McPherson's 41-yard field goal gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead. But the Bears answered with a second straight touchdown on Williams' 15-yard pass to receiver Olamide Zaccheaus to take a 14-10 lead on the first play of the second quarter. Zaccheaus went in motion, took a short flip from Williams behind the line of scrimmage and then turned up field, capping an 11-play, 74-yard drive.
The Bengals eventually closed the gap to 14-13 on McPherson's 33-yard field goal. Cincinnati had first-and-goal at the 6, but a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. pushed the Bengals back to the 21.
The Bears extended their lead to 17-13 on Santos' 24-yard field goal with 1:29 remaining in the first half. The Bengals responded immediately as Flacco connected with Higgins for a 44-yard TD pass that gave Cincinnati a 20-17 lead.
The Bears opened the second half by taking a 24-20 lead via a 12-play, 77-yard drive that was capped by Williams' 5-yard TD pass to Loveland.
That touchdown was only the third of an eventual seven lead changes in a game that will be remembered as a classic battle in which the teams combined for 89 points and 1,071 total yards.
"Speaking to coach throughout the week, we knew this was an explosive offense," Williams said of the Bengals. "They could score at any moment. He said it a day before the game or so that if get up by two touchdowns, don't feel good or comfortable. And that's what they did today. They made plays. We knew it was going to be a shootout, we knew it was going to be one of those games."
