The Bears' magical run to a division title and playoff win in 2025 was fueled by their ability to repeatedly rally from late deficits.
Seven of their 12 victories came in games they trailed in the final 2:00, the most by a team since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger. They did it six times during the regular season and then again in a thrilling 31-27 wild card playoff win over the rival Packers at Soldier Field.
"Can't ever count us out," said running back Kyle Monangai. "We're going to fight and scratch for everything. We believe in each other. I think we proved that week-in and week-out."
Quarterback Caleb Williams engineered the winning drives in all seven comeback victories, regularly displaying his clutch gene with highlight-reel throws.
"I feel calm in those moments," Williams said late in the season. "I feel my conditioning is the best in those moments. I feel that I'm the best in those moments because of what I've prepared to be in those moments. For myself, it's just next play, next play, next play, and then when you have to go make a play, it's life or death in those moments."
At one point in 2025, the Bears were 3-3 in games they trailed by 10 or more points in the last five minutes, while the rest of the league was a combined 3-151. One main reason was that Williams was at his best in crunch time.
"There's not a whole lot you need to say to him on the sideline," said coach Ben Johnson. "We just make sure we're on the same page in terms of what the situation is, what we need to accomplish and how quickly we need to accomplish it. But beyond that, it's not like he needs a pep talk or a rah-rah or anything like that. He's ready to go. I've been saying it all along: he rises to the occasion time and time again. It's really impressive to see a young player like this be so clutch."
Rookie tight end Colston Loveland believes that the mindset to rally late in games was infused during the offseason.
"From the GM, president, coaching staff down, what they've instilled in us is: 'finish, finish, finish,' and 'it's never over until it's over,'" Loveland said. "It sounds cliché, but it's a real thing. We practiced all offseason really hard, met really hard, had long days, for times when it gets into the fourth quarter, we still have juice and we're able to go out there and make a play."
Here's a detailed look at the Bears' seven comeback wins in 2025:
Week 4 (Sept. 28)
Bears 25, Raiders 24
Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
Trailing 24-19, Williams engineered a brilliant 11-play, 69-yard drive that was capped by D'Andre Swift's 2-yard touchdown run with 1:34 remaining, giving the Bears a 25-24 lead. Williams completed 4 of 5 passes for 42 yards and rushed for 19 yards on two carries to set up Swift's TD.
"I remember talking to Caleb before he took the field and said, 'This is what you're built for,'" Johnson said after the game. "These are the moments that he thrives in the most. That's really been the story of his life, and I know he came through for us in a big way."
Williams revealed that Johnson's message reflected "a belief and confidence that he has in me and from there I went to the huddle, and I looked everybody in the eyes and [said], 'This is the moment. This is where we go win the game.'"
After Swift's go-ahead TD, the Raiders advanced to the Bears' 35. But Kevin Byard III dropped Ashton Jeanty for a 1-yard loss on third-and-2, and Josh Blackwell followed by deflecting Daniel Carlson's 54-yard field goal attempt with :33 left, preserving the win.
Week 6 (Oct. 13)
Bears 25, Commanders 24
Northwest Stadium, Landover, Maryland
Subbing for the injured Cairo Santos, Jake Moody booted a 38-yard field goal as time expired to give the Bears their second straight thrilling 25-24 victory.
With the Bears trailing 24-22, the defense generated its third takeaway of the game when Nahshon Wright recovered a botched handoff between Jayden Daniels and Jeremy McNichols at the Chicago 44 with 3:07 to play in the fourth quarter.
The offense then marched 36 yards on nine plays, with Swift carrying five times for 34 yards, including runs of 10 and 15 yards to set up the winning kick. Williams also sustained the drive with a 6-yard completion to Loveland on third-and-5 from the Bears' 49.
Week 9 (Nov. 2)
Bears 47, Bengals 42
Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati
An instant classic, the game featured 11 touchdowns and seven lead changes, including two in the final two minutes of regulation.
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, leaving Cincinnati with a scintillating 47-42 victory on Williams' 58-yard TD pass to Loveland with :17 remaining. Out of timeouts, Williams rifled a pass on a seam route to the first-round pick, who caught the ball at the Bengals' 35, bounced off one defender and outraced two others to the end zone.
Week 10 (Nov. 9)
Bears 24, Giants 20
Soldier Field
The Bears scored two touchdowns in the game's final moments to turn a 20-10 deficit into a 24-20 win. Williams' 2-yard touchdown pass to Rome Odunze closed the gap to 20-17 with 3:56 to play. And after the defense forced a three-and-out, Williams' 17-yard TD scramble gave the Bears a 24-20 lead with 1:47 left.
The defense clinched the win with :38 remaining when blitzing linebacker Tremaine Edmunds hit Russell Wilson as he released the ball, forcing an incompletion on fourth-and-10 from the Giants' 46.
Week 11 (Nov. 16)
Bears 19, Vikings 17
U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis
Santos' 48-yard field goal as time expired resulted in a dramatic 19-17 win. The Bears led 16-3 entering the fourth quarter, but Minnesota rallied for two touchdowns, the second coming on J.J. McCarthy's 15-yard pass to Jordan Addison, giving the Vikings a 17-16 lead with :50 to play.
But as they've done all season, the Bears overcame a late deficit. Devin Duvernay returned the ensuing kickoff 56 yards to the Minnesota 40. After Swift gained nine yards on three rushes, Santos nailed the game-winner.
Week 16 (Dec. 20)
Bears 22, Packers 16 (OT)
Soldier Field
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 Williams' 46-yard touchdown heave to DJ Moore.
"This is a special group," Johnson said. "I felt that early in the season. You get some of those wins—the Raiders game, the Washington game—and you start feeling it, the belief is coming. This group—I'm talking about coaches and players combined—it's rare, it really is. I can't say enough good things about the people in this building."
After Santos' 43-yard field goal cut the deficit to 16-9 with 1:59 to play in the fourth quarter, Blackwell recovered the subsequent onside kick at the Bears' 47.
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. Williams beat a Packers blitz and found the undrafted rookie wide open in the right corner of the end zone.
The Bears won the overtime coin toss and elected to kick. The Packers reached the Chicago 36, but on fourth-and-1, a botched exchange between center Sean Rhyan and quarterback Malik Willis resulted in a fumble that running back Emmanuel Wilson recovered short of the line to gain, turning the ball over on downs.
After Monangai's 11-yard run on third-and-3 sustained the Bears' first possession of overtime, Williams rainbowed the game-winning TD pass to Moore, igniting a raucous celebration at Soldier Field.
Wild card playoff game (Jan. 10)
Bears 31, Packers 27
Soldier Field
The Bears rallied from deficits of 21-3 at halftime and 21-6 entering the fourth quarter to stun Green Bay. It was their largest postseason comeback in franchise history and the fourth largest in any game. The go-ahead TD came on Williams' 25-yard TD pass to Moore with 1:43 remaining. Williams faked a receiver screen to Luther Burden III, and when cornerback Carrington Valentine bit on the fake, it freed up Moore downfield.
It was the second time in three weeks the Bears rallied from a double-digit fourth-quarter lead to beat the Packers on a Williams TD pass to Moore at Soldier Field.
After Moore's TD, the Packers advanced to the Bears' 23 with 13 to play. A false start pushed Green Bay back to the 28 and the defense forced back-to-back Jordan Love incompletions to seal the win.
"We've got a group of guys, they just don't waver," Johnson said. "The odds are stacked against us and despite the fact that we don't like that score at halftime, nobody does, nobody envisioned the first 30 minutes going that way, and yet we just keep plugging along, we keep fighting and we've proven that this year. That's who we are. That's what we do here at this point."
