The Bears’ Final Magic Trick Was Almost Enough

With less than 20 seconds remaining in Sunday night's Bears-Rams clash, Caleb Williams successfully connected on an impossible-seeming touchdown pass. Chicago's season has been all about improbable comebacks, but this was a new peak.

The Bears offense had been mostly stymied all day, and up to this point they'd turned the ball over twice while the Rams had held on tight all game. However, the defense had done just enough to keep it a one-score game, 17-10, when Williams got the ball at midfield for a two-minute drill. A few completions brought Chicago into the red zone on second-and-4. A few incompletions made it fourth down from the 14—one last chance to add to that list of jaw-dropping late-game plays that have helped so many Bears fans fall back in love with this team this year.

It started horrendously. Williams, facing pressure, ran straight backwards until he was literally 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Anyone who watches football knows, or at least thinks they know, that absolutely nothing good can happen when a quarterback does this. I was rooting pretty hard for the Bears here, watching alongside my Chicago-native boyfriend, and it was at this point that I accepted the season was over. But I was early to that conclusion. Williams was fast enough to buy a second of space from his pursuers, and on the 40-yard line he turned back toward the end zone and lofted a pass into the unknown.