Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams Settled In, Took Advantage of Own Tendencies

For the 7th time this season, the Bears trailed with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game and still came away with a victory.

That it happened against their bitter rival in a playoff game after trailing 21-3 at the half and then by two scores multiple times in the 4th quarter makes it all the more impressive.

The comeback would not have been possible, however, if not for this throw by Caleb Williams on 4th-and-8 with the Bears trailing 27-16 and just 5:37 remaining:

The Packers’ plan was to try and get Williams moving to the left all game, as Matt LaFleur said afterwards:

“He’s a guy that’s tough to contain. The whole plan was to try to especially eliminate his ability to go right. That’s what he likes to do.”

As you could see from the end zone angle, the stunt inside was designed to get a looper in free from Williams’ right, flushing him to the left. And the plan worked. But Williams’ abilities as a thrower, from any platform, are undeniably among the best in the NFL:

That’s just an unbelievable throw. It saved Chicago’s season and enabled the rest of the comeback.

The way the Bears were able to get in the end zone later in the drive was by taking advantage of the attention tight end Colston Loveland was starting to draw after Williams had been feeding him the ball repeatedly.

He would finish the night with 8 receptions on 15 targets for 137 yards. But on this touchdown, he would be a decoy.

This was a 2nd-and-goal from the Packers’ 8-yard line. The Bears came out in a 1x3 formation with Loveland isolated to the backside:

The Packers weren’t going to let Loveland beat them again. Watch the linebacker and safety to his side go with him at the snap:

That left linebacker Quay Walker to handle the #3 route coming from the other side with no other defenders to help. This meant the Bears had a matchup of a wide receiver (Olamide Zaccheaus) on a linebacker: