The Bears found a new way to break your heart Sunday, losing 30-27 to the Vikings in overtime.
Cairo Santos made a 48-yard field goal as the fourth-quarter clock expired to force overtime Sunday at Soldier Field after the Bears recovered an onside kick with 22 seconds left down by three. Safety Tarvarius Moore jumped on the ball after it hit the foot of a Vikings returner, marking just the third recovered kick in 31 tries across the NFL this year and the Bears’ first since 2021.
The Bears won the coin toss to start overtime — then scrambled for a yard, got sacked, took a delay of game and eventually punted on fourth-and-16. The Vikings marched down the field despite having second-and-17, first-and-15 and first-and-20 plays and eventually settled at the Bears’ 11. Parker Romo made a 29-yard field goal to win the game.
It was the latest chapter in a nightmare five-game losing streak by the Bears, who saw games end with both a Commanders Hail Mary and, last week, the Packers blocking a potential game-winning Santos field goal at the gun. In between, the Bears lost to the Cardinals and Patriots.
Perhaps, at the end of the season, when the Bears are near the bottom of the league and resetting their coaching staff, Sunday’s game will be considered the ideal result: rookie quarterback Caleb Williams got better but the team lost, moving it closer to a housecleaning and a better draft pick.
In the interim, though, Sunday provided nothing but pain for a team that began the season with serious playoff hopes.
Williams continued further down the right track in his second game alongside offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. The Bears’ rookie went 32-for-47 for 340 yards, two touchdowns and a 104.1 passer rating.
The final drive against a prevent defense — which ended in a Keenan Allen touchdown catch and a Bears’ two-point conversion. helped pad his stats. Still, Williams was comfortable against a blitzing dervish of a Vikings defense. He was sacked three, once when he stepped out of bounds short of the sticks as he was running up the sideline. He took an unacceptable one in overtime, standing in the backfield and scanning the field without throwing the ball away.
The best the Bears can hope for the rest of the season — short of not being humiliated on national television Thursday against the world-beating Lions — is for Williams to show steady improvement. He has plenty of time left to get better, too. He set the Bears’ record for passing yards in a rookie season in the third quarter on Sunday and has another six games remaining in the season. After that, things might look a lot different.
Williams threw for his first touchdown since London in the third quarter, a 10-yard screen to DJ Moore to pull the Bears within eight. Coach Matt Eberflus decided to go for a two-point conversion, thinking that the Bears could win the game if they scored a touchdown and an extra point. Williams threw incomplete toward Allen.
Allen, who rolled his ankle Friday but vowed to play, has posted his best game as a Bear. His six catches for 76 yards at halftime were more than any full game performance he’s had since the Bears traded for the veteran in March. He finished with nine catches for 86 yards and a score.
The Bears scored first for the first time all season, then spent the rest of the first half chasing the ghosts of the past month. Roschon Johnson plunged forward for a one-yard score 14 minutes into the game. The 7-0 lead lasted three official plays, though. The Vikings scored after sprinting down the field on a 15-yard Cam Akers run, an offside flag, a 45-yard Jordan Addison catch and a two-yard Addison catch.
Somehow the Vikings’ second touchdown came in more heartbreaking fashion. On second-and-four from the Vikings’ 30, Williams launched a pass toward the right sideline that was caught by a twisting Allen for a 24-yard gain. The Bears hurried to the line of scrimmage but couldn’t get the snap off; the Vikings called for a replay review of the catch. Officials overturned the catch, saying Allen got one foot down in bounds but not two.
Eberflus decided to kick a 48-yard field goal rather than go for it on fourth-and-four. The Vikings blocked the kick similar to the way the Packers blocked Santos’ 46-yarder to end last week’s game, getting pressure up the middle.
Energized by defensive lineman Jerry Tillery’s block, the Vikings took possession at their own 47. On second-and-eight, quarterback Sam Darnold launched a pass up the right hash that was intercepted by Bears safety Jonathan Owens. The pick was nullified, though, when cornerback Jaylon Johnson was flagged for his second pass interference penalty since the start of last season. Given the ball at the 6, the Vikings needed just two plays to score a touchdown — a five-yard pass to Jalen Nailor.
Before their final rally, the Bears trailed the Vikings by 11 after Romo made a 26-yard kick after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter.