The comeback started at halftime.
No, back it up. Hit rewind. This comeback started six months ago.
That’s true of the Chicago Bears’ 31-27 win over the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night in the wild-card round of the playoffs. But Saturday’s 18-point comeback represented so much more than one victory.
Playoff recap: Chicago Bears pull off another 4th-quarter rally to beat Green Bay Packers 31-27
All that talk of a 15-year drought between playoff victories? It’s history now. The anguish of the Bears-Packers rivalry, one that a little over a year ago featured 11 straight Packers wins? Saturday didn’t erase all those losses, but something has changed unquestionably.
These Bears, these comeback kids with their fiery young coach, are rewriting the story.
How does a team become the comeback kings of the NFL with six fourth-quarter comebacks in the regular season? How does a franchise vanquish its archrival in a playoff game after trailing by 18 points at halftime to earn its first postseason victory in 15 years?
It doesn’t start with the halftime speech. It doesn’t start with one big play. There’s no switch to flip.
For this team, it started in training camp when first-year coach Ben Johnson showed his team the footage from Super Bowl LI, when the New England Patriots erased a 28-3 second-half deficit against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Bears added two key veterans over the offseason who emerged as team leaders and captains. That would be guard Joe Thuney and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Both played in Super Bowl LI — Thuney for the New England Patriots and Jarrett for the Atlanta Falcons. Johnson saw an opportunity to gain insight from two players who lived on both sides of the greatest Super Bowl comeback of all time.
“It was just great to get perspective from both of those players of how that game went down,” Johnson said. “It’s just a good lesson to be learned, that it’s 28-3 in the middle of the third quarter and still the game’s being played and there’s a lot of time left left.”
There was a lot of time left when the Bears went into the locker room Saturday night down 21-3 at halftime against the hated Packers. There was, however, also no panic.
What did Johnson say in that moment?
“That we’re going to have the greatest comeback in Bears history,” tight end Cole Kmet said. “And then we did.”
Added receiver Rome Odunze: “I remember him just saying we’ve been here before. This might be one of the best comebacks in Bears history if we go pull this off.”
In Johnson’s own words, he told his team: “This is a great opportunity to turn this thing around into a game we’ll never forget.”
Nobody will forget Saturday night.
The Bears defense made a stop to start the third quarter, forcing the first punt of the game. That was all the spark the Bears needed. There was a glimmer of hope.
The Bears trailed 21-3 at halftime, 21-6 heading into the fourth quarter and 27-16 with the clock ticking under five minutes. These Bears had been here so many times before. They’d won games on last-second field goals and walk-off touchdowns. They’d converted an onside kick and had one converted against them in the waning minutes of games.
This was nothing new.
“When you’ve done it before, you know it’s possible,” right tackle Darnell Wright said.
Added Kmet: “We don’t want to keep doing it like this, but if this is how we have to do it, it is what it is.”
The defense forced four consecutive punts to start the second half. Little by little, the Bears put points on the board. An 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Caleb Williams to receiver Olamide Zaccheaus pulled the Bears within three points with about four minutes to go.
Jordan Love and the Packers countered, driving into Bears territory before the defense stopped them. When Packers kicker Brandon McManus missed a 44-yard field-goal try, the Bears took over with 2:51 remaining in the game.
Williams and the offense stepped onto the field knowing this was their chance. Williams connected with tight end Colston Loveland — who was a workhorse all night with eight catches for 137 yards — for a 12-yard gain. Running back D’Andre Swift picked up 6 yards with a run, then 23 yards on a pass from Williams on third down.
That set up a first down at the 25-yard line, and the Bears faked a screen pass to rookie receiver Luther Burden. It was enough to get the cornerback to bite, leaving DJ Moore wide open over the top. Williams wasn’t missing that pass.
Just like it was a few weeks ago in a come-from-behind win over the Packers on Dec. 20 at Soldier Field, it was Moore scoring the game-winning touchdown again Saturday night.
“They all triggered to Luther on the fake screen, and we were gone from there,” Moore said.
With 1:43 still on the clock, the Bears needed one more stop from their defense. Love moved the Packers downfield, converting on a fourth-down try with about a minute remaining and working their way into Bears territory.
With seven seconds on the clock, Love bobbled a snap and then bounced around the pocket seemingly forever before unleashing a last-ditch effort toward the end zone. The ball fell incomplete on the grass, and Soldier Field erupted into pandemonium. Bears players ran in all directions. The crowd shook.
“It was like a movie,” Moore said. “Literally.”
“Pure thrill,” Thuney said.
“The only thing I remember is the crowd going crazy,” linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said. “I think I took my helmet off and threw it somewhere. It was crazy just knowing that we did it.”
In his postgame victory speech, the ones that have become appointment viewing after Bears games, Johnson opened with “(expletive) the Packers, man!” Not in a long time had a Bears coach said something so relatable to fans.
Reflecting after the game, Johnson thought back on when he showed his team that Patriots comeback in the Super Bowl. His players clearly took that message to heart.
Months later, the Bears are living in their own comeback.
“It’s who those guys are now at this point,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a group of guys that just — they don’t waver.”