MINNEAPOLIS — Are the Bears really going to keep doing this?
Just when it seemed their late-game magic finally had evaporated, they pulled off another unbelievable escape Sunday against the Vikings. After falling behind in the final minute, they won 19-17 on a 48-yard field goal by Cairo Santos as time ran out.
The Bears have reached the point in the season where each victory is monumental. And at 7-3 for the first time since 2018, they’re very much in the race for the NFC North — which they now lead outright — and in the playoff mix, regardless of how it has looked.
Half their games have come down to the end, and the Bears have won all of those. There will be no footnote in the standings, just victories.
‘‘As ugly as it can be at times, this group has just proven time and time again that when it’s close there in the fourth quarter, we’re capable of finding a way,’’ said head coach Ben Johnson, who already has matched the most victories predecessor Matt Eberflus had in a season.
It wasn’t a masterpiece, but the Bears’ resilience was undeniable.
They led for most of the game before the Vikings pulled ahead 17-16 on a 15-yard touchdown pass from J.J. McCarthy to Jordan Addison with 56 seconds left.
The Bears got the response they needed, however, on special teams. Devin Duvernay returned the ensuing kickoff 56 yards to the Vikings’ 40-yard line, and after some tough runs by D’Andre Swift to the 31, Santos nailed the winning kick.
‘‘We are really talented, so it’s just a matter of time before someone’s going to make a big play,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘We’ve got playmakers on offense, defense and special teams. Someone’s going to show up and give us the spark that we need.’’
That mostly has been true, but the Bears are leaning on quarterback Caleb Williams for electricity more than anyone, and they’ll require increasingly more from him as they get deeper into the season and the playoff chase intensifies.
He did just enough Sunday by avoiding the mistakes that devastated McCarthy.
Williams completed 16 of 32 passes for 193 yards with no turnovers for a 68.9 passer rating in what was, statistically speaking, his second-worst game of the season. He also ran four times for 26 yards.
Was it beautiful? No.
Was it better than McCarthy? Yes.
Williams liked the Bears’ persistence but regretted that they couldn’t bury the Vikings earlier. They had a 16-3 lead and the ball early in the fourth quarter and should have put the game out of reach.
‘‘For the idea of ‘killer instinct,’ when there’s blood in the water, we’ve got to go,’’ Williams said. ‘‘When the defense turns the ball over for us and we get the ball back, we’ve got to put up seven points. When they get three-and-outs, we’ve got to put up seven points.
‘‘That’s a mindset and belief that we have to grow toward and get better at. . . . Having a killer instinct in those moments is really important to me and for us. We just have to go out there and do it.’’
The Bears started sluggishly and didn’t cross midfield until there was 11:59 left in the second quarter, as part of a long drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Kyle Monangai that gave them a 7-3 lead.
The stronger the ground game, the easier life is for Williams in the pocket, but rushing was a grind for the Bears, even against a Vikings defense that entering the game ranked 22nd against the run.
Swift picked up 90 yards on 21 carries, and Monangai finished with 23 yards on 12.
McCarthy, meanwhile, played through a bruise on his throwing hand and had a brutal day. He completed 16 of 32 passes for 150 yards, but he threw two interceptions and struggled to a 47.7 passer rating.
He had completed 41.7% of his passes and had a 14.9 rating before the Vikings’ final possession. His first completion of the second half came with about three minutes left to begin the go-ahead touchdown drive.
Safety Kevin Byard picked off a pass in the second quarter to set the Bears’ offense up at the Vikings’ 25, and cornerback Nahshon Wright kept points off the board by intercepting McCarthy’s throw to Addison in the end zone just before halftime.
It was a low bar for Williams to clear, but the Bears badly need to win this battle over the long run. They drafted Williams No. 1 overall last year, and the Vikings took McCarthy, who is from La Grange Park and played high school ball at Nazareth, at No. 10.
Williams’ improvement is the key to the Bears getting on top of the NFC North, both now and for years ahead. It has been decades since they could argue they had the best quarterback in the division, and while Williams has a long way to go to catch the Lions’ Jared Goff and the Packers’ Jordan Love, the assignment Sunday was merely to outdo McCarthy.
Nonetheless, the Bears must fix ongoing offensive missteps, and Johnson has reiterated that victories don’t render mistakes irrelevant. Still, a team that used to be prone to unraveling suddenly can’t stop winning the scary ones.
They beat the Raiders on a blocked field goal, the Commanders on a winning field goal by practice-squad kicker Jake Moody, the Bengals on a touchdown pass from Williams to tight end Colston Loveland, the Giants on a touchdown scramble by Williams and now this one.
No one thinks it’s sustainable, but it’s progress. And it’s fun.
This was going to be a transition season for the Bears either way with a first-time head coach and a young quarterback. The fact that they’re winning along the way, in whatever style, is a bonus. Might as well enjoy the ride and see where it goes.
