So close, yet again: Chicago Bears left with only moral wins in 3rd heartbreaking loss of the season

CHICAGO - For the second week in a row, the Bears found themselves being in a position to count their improvements.

For the fifth week in a row, however, those improvements are moral victories as opposed to victories in the record book.

"It sucks losing the close ones," Bears safety Jonathan Owens said. "It sucks saying you're a couple plays away, you know what I mean? But we're competitive man, and we going out there and teams know that we're not a cakewalk, regardless of the record or how many other games we've lost in a row."

The Bears proved major mettle. They were a league first on Sunday in the process.

In recovering an onside kick with just 21 seconds remaining, the Bears were the first team in the nFL under the new kickoff rules to recover an onside kick.

That led to a redemption arc with kicker Cairo Santos.

Santos, who had a game-winning field goal attempt blocked last weekend, had another kick blocked on Sundaay. He shook off those struggles and knocked through a 48-yard field goal attempt to force overtime. 

"Everyone knows how things ended last week, but for us to just keep on going out there and keep on just giving our best shot to just give us a chance… that's all we can ask for," Bears long snapper Scott Daly said. "I'm just really happy for Cairo and just for him, not only for that, for the outside kick as well, just to have two amazing plays just to give us a chance."

Caleb Williams set up that tying kick with a final throw in regulation where he hit DJ Moore to get in position to kick the field goal.

Before that, Williams hit Keenan Allen for a touchdown and DJ Moore for a two-point conversion to make it a three-point game.

"Just this true grit, really inspiring the whole football team and just really good execution," Eberflus said of Williams."He did a really good job, I thought, all day."

Facing down blitzes all day from a Viking team that blitzes the most in the NFL, Williams completed 32 of his 47 passes for 340 and two touchdowns. He became the Bears' franchise record holder for rookie passing yards in the process, too.

"That's a tough defense to go against, with the different looks and the pressures and variation of coverage," Eberflus said.

The Bears shook off plenty of droughts.

One was Montez Sweat's sack drought. He got one in overtime that backed up Minnesota. Another was Moore and Allen's streaks of low production. Allen and Moore combined to catch 16 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

The two proved they're improving their chemistry with Williams every week. They combined to help score a first-quarter touchdown, which was the first touchdown the Bears scored in the first quarter since Oct. 6 in a win over the Panthers.

The defense made plays in response. Much like Owens' forcing a fumble at the goal line to take points off the board for Minnesota.

"We call it a four-point play where either they're going score or really turn to a seven-point play, because we kept them out of end zone," Owens, who started in place of Elijah Hicks, said. "Just trying to get off, give us a chance, man."

However, all the plays couldn't add up to a win.

The Bears fell to 4-7, and the playoffs are looking even more unlikely with each passing week. They'll need to rally on a short week, too, with a noon Thanksgiving game against Detroit is on tap.

The Bears can revel in the fact they know they were on the cusp.

The pain comes in understanding they're still ways away from getting that elusive win.

"We did enough to attempt to win that ball game," Bears offensive lineman Braxton Jones said. "I just think  we all got to be a little bit better, including myself. It just starts with the small details."