With the rain pouring down in a familiarly ominous setting, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears very well could have rewritten some dreadful history.
Instead, it was Williams and Co. who walked away from Northwest Stadium with a last-second triumph.
A season removed from a heartbreaking Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders, Williams piloted the Bears to a Jake Moody game-winning field goal with no time left for a 25-24 triumph on Monday.
"It felt great," said Williams, a Washington D.C. native who threw for 252 yards and had two total touchdowns. "Back in the hometown, obviously. Being able to come out with a win like that is big for us. Big for us as a team, big for us as an offense, special teams, just overall big for us. That's a hell of a team over there. So being able to come out victorious in a dogfight where things weren't perfect, weather wasn't perfect, being able to come out victorious is big for us. So, feel great."
In Week 8 of last season, the Bears infamously squandered a three-point lead with 25 seconds left against Washington when Jayden Daniels connected with Noah Brown on a Hail Mary with no time left.
In Week 6 of this season, Williams and the Bears built 13-0 and 16-10 advantages only to relinquish them, falling behind, 24-16, in the fourth quarter. Williams connected with running back D'Andre Swift for a 55-yard touchdown with 10:26 to go, but the ensuing two-point conversation failed.
Fortune smiled on Chicago late when Daniels slipped up on a handoff and fumbled away the possession. With 3:07 remaining, Williams and the Bears set out from their 44-yard line. The 2024 No. 1 overall pick connected with Colston Loveland for a 6-yard third-down conversation on the ensuing nine-play drive, but it was his only attempt on the march.
"I wanted to make sure they didn't have a rebuttal drive, either, so told Caleb on the headset, 'Tell the big guys up front that we're gonna ride the run game into the victory,'" Chicago head coach Ben Johnson said. "They came through for us."
The plan was to drain the clock and secure a win. That's precisely what the Bears did, winning their second consecutive game by a one-point margin. In contrast, Chicago lost six one-possession games in 2024, including its Fail Mary showing. Thus, while the storyline couldn't be avoided, Johnson was clear this week that last year was last year, and this is a new team and season for the Bears.
"We didn't talk about it as a team," Johnson said. "What's in the past is in the past. I wasn't here. Probably half the team wasn't here, so we've all moved past that. I think they all understand that. I know some guys spoke on it and gave their two cents, but beyond that it wasn't a big deal."
For Williams, he admitted that the sting of that defeat to the Commanders isn't forgotten. But he's moved on from it, just as the Bears are moving on from 2024 as a whole.
"I don't think any of those memories necessarily go away, good or bad," Williams said. "You move on from it, but it doesn't ever necessarily fully go away. Being able to have this good moment is great, but we've got a big game coming up this week, so we've got to move on again."
Monday's game was as unpretty as the soppy playing conditions, but that made no matter.
The fight evident in another close win was the prevailing takeaway for Williams, who won this round against Daniels, taken just a slot behind him in the '24 draft.
"You play versus great players, you want to have those games, have those moments where you're playing versus somebody else on the opposite side that you're going to have a battle," Williams said. "He knows that, I know that."
As Monday night ended with the Bears sitting at 3-2, it also culminated a long week for Williams, the celebrated son not just returning to his hometown, but to the scene of his team's most infamous loss in his short pro tenure.
How he handled it all impressed his first-year head coach.
"Last night, we're having our last few meetings," Johnson said. "Some guys like to go see family or people in the area, and he's there. We're having our quarterback meeting and I see him in the chow hall having some snack late at night, so he was locked in. He was all about trying to find a way to win this game and do a good job for his teammates. Really proud of how he handled the week."
Following an 0-2 start and back-to-back nail-biting wins, not much has been easy for the Bears in 2025. The improvement has been noticeable through the growing pains, however. Perhaps most optimistically, Chicago has itself positioned for success ahead, whether it's playing the next four games against teams with losing records or that Williams currently has 1,179 passing yards, which puts him on pace to become the first player in franchise chronicle to reach 4,000 passing yards.
"The hard work, the effort, everything that pays off," Williams said. "We love it. At the end of the day, we're itching for wins. We're itching to get back out there and practice and things like that because all the hard work is paying off. That feeling is really, really, really good. It feels good that hard work does pay off, and it always does. It always pays back."
