'DJ’s about to call game': Inside the key moments that led to an unfathomable Chicago Bears comeback
Immediate reactions to the Bears' walk-off win over Green Bay | After The Whistle
In one of the craziest finishes the NFL has seen this year, the Bears stun the Packers and take control of the NFC North. Tina, Lou, Pat and Jim share their instant reactions to the win.
At its very simplest: It was a just a moment.
That’s all.
DJ Moore's catch was a moment that felt like forever in the minds of most Chicago Bears. It was a moment that will live forever in the minds of others. It was a moment that shook the future of the NFC North. It was a moment that became instant Bears’ lore.
Caleb Williams’ pass flew in the Chicago night sky and most Bears said it felt like forever. It was the moment that most will remember the most.
When the ball finally came down, it fell into the hands of DJ Moore. Game. Set.
Bears win. Yes, it's real.
The Chicago Bears did the unthinkable, the virtually impossible and became immortalized. The 22-16 comeback win over the Green Bay Packers needed a string of moments to get there.
"All in all, just a game you'll really remember forever," Bears tight end Cole Kmet said. "It was a special game to play."
'Never Out Of It':
The balance of emotions is critical to understand the gravity of the Bears’ win.
According to ESPN, the Bears had a .5 percent chance of winning this game. That was right before the Bears’ kicked the onside kick.
That was a moment that required a little luck because the moment was out of their hands. The Bears needed Romeo Doubs to mishandle the kick. He did.
"It kinda went through his arms," Bears special team ace Josh Blackwell said. "I was right place, right time."
Blackwell isn’t a stranger to big plays. He won a game earlier this year by blocking a Las Vegas Raiders’ field goal with no time remaining.
As a player who’s been with the Bears for a long while, Blackwell has seen the ways the Bears have come to lose games. There have been many losses. This season, there have been so many wins by so many different avenues, it makes the last few seasons feel like a different lifetime. It’s because the Bears won’t stop.
"It's been like that all year. Like, we're never out of it," Blackwell said. "Until the clocks hit zero, I mean, we're never in doubt, and so I always just keep trying to make the next play."
This time, Blackwell teed up the next massive moment.
The offense drove to the Packers’ six-yard line and faced a fourth and goal. It was a gotta-have-it moment.
Welcome to the NFL: Jahdae Walker.
The preseason hero tied the game on a game where the Packers ran a cover zero, and Williams hit the undrafted rookie Walker in the back of the end zone. Walker won a preseason game with a game-winning catch from Tyson Bagent.
His fourth-quarter catch tied the game. When the Packers blitzed, they left Walker alone. A moment that usually is meant for Rome Odunze or Luther Burden III was Walker’s because Burden and Odunze were injured. Walker just needed to make a play.
"Just make a routine catch," Walker said. "They always tell me, be ready. You’re one play away from 50- snaps."
None of these plays were worth their salt had the Bears not gotten the underrated kicks from Cairo Santos. Made field goals of 46, 51 and 43 yards kept the Bears alive.
That allowed Walker to send the game to overtime.
The Packers got the ball first. They turned the ball over on downs on a fumbled snap. That gave the Bears the ball.
With first and 10 at the Green Bay 46-yard line, the play came in. Walker knew.
"Oh yeah, DJ’s about to call game," Walker said.
'End The Game':
When Williams launched his pass to Moore, time was relative only to the people in Bears uniforms.
"It felt like it was in the air for 30 seconds," Bears left tackle Ozzy Trapilo said. "You could tell he had a little space and you're just hoping like, please, please."
"The longest throw of my life," Bears offensive lineman Theo Benedet said.
It evoked some emotions of an old wound since closed, but the other side of it all.
"I'm not gonna lie bro, that was beautiful," Bears defensive back Nick McCloud said. "I’ll never forget my freshman year, we played Clemson and we kind of lost on like a last second. We threw the ball up, they picked it off in overtime. To be on the other side of it, like bro, it was just beautiful for sure."
For the man who made the play, there was some fear.
Moore said it was a little scary tracking the ball in the night sky.
"I can track the ball, and know if I gotta slow down or speed up," Moore said. "It was scary, but it’s cool."
But, the Bears knew it was going work.
The Bears installed the play in their second day of practice this week. They ran it similarly to Saturday night.
In practice, Moore caught it. When the lights were brightest, he made the play. Moore laid in the end zone for a moment after the catch. It all caught up to him, especially a hit he took in the first quarter that made him miss a few plays.
"I was hurtin’," Moore said.
How in the world did the Bears even pull this off? Who knows if it was the ghost of Bears past, guardian angels or some other assisting deity?
Moore credited his head coach and the team’s guardian angel: Virginia McCaskey.
"We got – RIP Virginia – on our side, we got the season on our side, we got Ben on our side," Moore said. "It's really Virginia and Ben, so really kudos to them and we're just going out there playing our butts off."
It all led to a Bears’ win that will forever live in franchise lore.
The team the Bears could never beat, finally slain by the quarterback the Bears trusted to make the big play, a roster of players that never quit, a handful of unfathomably clutch plays and a receiver who is finally on the right side of a winning season.
In the end, the moments formed a comeback that has become a statement win across the NFL.
"Kill shot. End the game," Bears safety Jaquan Brisker said. "F Green Bay. All that. Yeah, that was a big statement."