*The video above is a breakdown of Caleb Williams’ Week 3 performance against the Dallas Cowboys.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (WGN) — It wasn’t pretty. Some of it was downright frustrating. But unlike in recent years, the Chicago Bears found a way to gut out an ugly win that will serve as another brick laid in the culture build happening between Halas Hall and Soldier Field.
And while Josh Blackwell provided the metaphorical cherry on top of Sunday’s win at the Las Vegas Raiders, there are several reasons why they walked away victorious.
For the second week in a row, happy victory Monday Bears fans! Let’s break down some takeaways on how they pulled out the win.
1. Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams and the Bears know they need to rewrite the culture, and that helped them deliver on Sunday
It’s just the fourth game in a slate of 17. By now, the Bears have moved past celebrating their second dub of the year and have turned their attention toward a monumental Week 6 rematch against the Washington Commanders.
But that doesn’t mean the victory lacks significance.
As Ben Johnson and his coaching staff progress through each practice and plan for each game, one of their many priorities is to revise the tendencies associated with this franchise by the greater football public over the last several years—tendencies that label the Bears as hapless in meaningful moments.
At the root of it all, Johnson, Williams, and the rest of Chicago want to be rid of the moniker that the Monsters of the Midway only find ways to lose games.
Sunday was another stroke toward erasing that label.
As The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain pointed out, according to Stathead, Sunday marked the first time since 2003 that the Bears won a game when they allowed at least 200 yards on the ground. They are now 1-18 in their last 19 matchups when the opposition bulldozes their front seven into oblivion.
Want to kick it up another notch? The Raiders racked up 240 yards rushing in total. The last time Chicago won a game and gave up 240 yards or more on the ground was in 1979.
They beat the Los Angeles Rams (before they moved to St. Louis, and eventually back to LA), 27-23, despite giving up 245 yards rushing and Walter Payton having only 18 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown.
That team went on to go 10-6 and lost in the wildcard round to the Philadelphia Eagles, for those curious.
No matter which way it’s put, Sunday served as one of those examples where the Bears overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to walk away with a win.
It wasn’t like when they botched their Hail Mary coverage as time expired at Washington. It didn’t resemble how Matt Eberflus forgot the concepts of time management like he did before Thanksgiving dinner. They weren’t on the receiving end of a blocked field goal like they were last year against Green Bay.
Johnson stared into the eyes of his quarterback, told him, “This is what you’re built for,” and Williams delivered a drive that ended with D’Andre Swift in the end zone with a little more than 90 seconds to spare.
“[Johnson] provided the belief and confidence he has in me. From there, I went into the huddle and looked everybody in the eyes,” Williams said of the final drive postgame. “This is the moment. This is where we go and win the game. [I was] just trying to be as composed [as possible].
“We had a negative play on that drive that set us back 15 yards on the holding. Just being composed, trying to be as calm as possible for those guys, and look everybody in the eyes and [have them] understand that this is our moment. This is where we go win the game.”
Then once Williams and the offense’s job was done, special teams ace Josh Blackwell put the finishing touches on what Williams called a “grimy game.”
“Early in the week, we had looked at the film to see that they have a little tendency, their snap ability, and we got close the first two kicks,” Blackwell said after the game. “And I was like, ‘I’m going to time this up a little bit, and I’m going to get it.’“
Time it up, he did.
With 38 seconds to go, Blackwell timed the snap on Daniel Carlson’s 54-yard field goal attempt perfectly and, at full extension, caught enough of the football to send it aimlessly skipping across the turf downfield.
The Bears had their “culture” win.
“We’re building something special here, and I think they’re feeling it, just the belief they have in each other, the belief they have in this coaching staff,” Johnson said. “This is a huge win for our team, finding a way in the fourth quarter to come out on top.”
2. The secondary remains an opportunistic catalyst
With the absence of All-Pro corner Jaylon Johnson and nickel corner Kyler Gordon, safety Kevin Byard III and no. 2 corner Tyrique Stevenson have stepped up over the last two weeks to show the defensive backfield can still come through even if it’s been a long day on that side of the ball.
Byard and Stevenson combined for 13 tackles, 4 passes defended, 3 interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a tackle-for-loss against Las Vegas Sunday.
Their efforts landed them on Pro Football Focus’s Week 4 Team of the Week, and earned Byard PFF’s Defensive Player of the Week after he posted 7 tackles, 2 interceptions, a tackle-for-loss and a 94.4 coverage grade.
The stats and awards were preceded by another four-turnover performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 3. With four takeaways in back-to-back weeks (and Byard and Stevenson accounting for six of the total eight), it marked the first time the Bears defense logged back-to-back games with four-plus turnovers since 2023, and just the third time since 2006.
After a game where Chicago gave up 240 yards on the ground and Montez Sweat was the only defensive lineman with a pressure percentage above zero, it speaks volumes that the secondary can step up and flip a possession with a turnover at any given moment, especially with how Byard and Stevenson have played over the last two weeks.
3. The Cairo Santos redemption arc continues
While the boo birds made themselves known after Week 1 for a variety of reasons, kicker Cairo Santos was one of the most consistent targets of ridicule.
Santos missed a 50-yard field goal to begin the fourth quarter of their 27-24 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings. Near the 2-minute warning at the end of the game, he also failed to boot the ball out of the back of the end zone after Chicago got within three points, costing the Bears valuable time.
“He just didn’t hit it as flush as he wanted to hit it and it didn’t go out the back,” special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said of the error. “That happens. Nobody feels worse about that than Cairo. Nobody does.”
Since Week 1, Santos hasn’t missed. Literally.
He is 5/5 on field goals and 5/5 on extra point attempts in three games since, which included a 4/4 performance on Sunday with makes of 43, 46, 51, and 52 yards. Santos was also 1/1 on extra point attempts.
“We wouldn’t have won that game if we didn’t go four-for-four on field goals,” Johnson said om the locker room postgame.
Santos also made some history after his last made field goal. His 51-yarder in the fourth quarter tied him with Robbie Gould (23) for the most makes from 50-plus in franchise history. Both kickers are 23/31 from 50-plus in their Bears careers.