Caleb Williams delivered a game-winning touchdown after a defensive collapse. Discover the offense's resurgence and a surprise seventh-round gem.
Like it or not, the Chicago Bears are 5-3 after beating the Cincinnati Bengals 47-42.
Despite holding a 41-27 lead with 4:53 left, the Bears weren't able to slow down Joe Flacco and the Bengals' offense.
Flacco threw a touchdown pass with 1:43 left to make it 41-35 after a two-point conversion. Cincinnati was then able to recover an onside kick, as the Bears needed to make one more stop.
Chicago couldn't keep Flacco from scoring again, as he found tight end Andrei Iosivas for a nine-yard touchdown to make it 42-41.
Luckily Caleb Williams and company didn't need too much time. The Bears started their final drive at their own 28-yard line with 54 seconds left. Williams then threw a 58-yard touchdown to tight end Colston Loveland to retake the lead 47-42 with 17 seconds to go.
While the statement "a win is a win" holds up in the NFL, there were many positives and negatives in the game.
Bears' Offense Finally Wakes Up
We'll start with the good news first.
That is the Bears' offense finally waking up. After all the red zone struggles lately it was great to see some consistency on that side of the ball. In the four games leading to Sunday, Chicago had only scored five touchdowns in its last 16 red zone trips.
Chicago scored on just one of its red zone trips in the 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. That all changed on Sunday, as the Bears scored four touchdowns inside the Bengals' 20-yard line. Chicago went 4-of-6 on red zone touchdowns.
Kyle Monangai Was a Great Draft Pick
The Bears decided to take Kyle Monangai in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and he is looking like a steal.
He ended with 176 rushing yards after the Bears were already down two running backs going into the game. D'Andre Swift (groin) and Roschon Johnson (back) were out, but that didn't matter, which is an excellent sign for a Bears' running game that has had its fair share of struggles.
Looks like Chicago won't have to worry about making any trade deadline moves ahead of Tuesday.
Turnovers Still Aplenty Despite Bengals' Scoring
Joe Flacco came into Sunday with a pretty solid statline. He had 787 passing yards, seven touchdowns and zero interceptions ahead of kickoff.
Don't get me wrong, he still exposed the Bears' defense, but at least the team was able to force turnovers.
Flacco threw two interceptions and lost one fumble before the final whistle sounded.
Offense Can't Keep Scoring 47 Points
First up on the bad from the game is obviously the defense.
Letting up 42 points in the NFL is not typically a great recipe that leads to wins in this league. I understand that there were injuries in the secondary, but things have got improve regardless.
You cannot expect to give up 495 total yards of offense as this season goes on.
Defense Lets Flacco Back In
The Bears were up by two scores with under five minutes to go.
For most teams that would mean that a win is almost secured. Not the Bears.
Flacco scored a touchdown with 1:43 left to make 41-35 with a two-point conversion. The Bengals then recovered an onside kick and scored with 54 seconds to go.
At some point you have to close out games with more efficiency.
Special Teams Blunders Nearly Cost Bears
It all started with Charlie Jones' 98-yard opening kickoff return for a touchdown.
Jones is one heck of a returner, don't get me wrong. However, you can't give a team like the Bengals extra chances on special teams.
Jones wasn't the only problem, as Samaje Perine had 63 return yards and Tahj Brooks had 53.
Fast forward to the fourth quarter, and special teams almost gave the game away on the onside kick. The ball hit a Bears' player in the foot, and the Bengals recovered it.
There are definitely some good and bad takeaways from this game, but the Bears need to clean some things up if they expect to achieve their goals this year.