All that mattered Sunday was that the Bears found a way to escape with a victory in the final minutes against the Giants.
Everything that led to them being in such a desperate situation faded — for the day, anyway — in the glow of a 24-20 victory that got them to their high-water mark of the last five years at 6-3. The offense stalled and the defense faltered most of the game, but they’ll reckon with those problems another day.
Victories of any variety should be celebrated. But when the Bears come down from this high, they’ll weigh that late surge against putting themselves in that position in the first place.
‘‘We don’t want games to keep coming down to this, but great teams find a way to win, and that’s what we’re learning,’’ safety Jaquan Brisker said. ‘‘In previous years, this would never happen.
‘‘This is a different team, a different story. That’s a credit to the players, the coaches, everybody involved all sticking together. Ugly, nice, pretty, whatever, we find a way to win.’’
It is progress, no doubt, that the Bears no longer live under the here-we-go-again cloud that darkened their skies under former head coach Matt Eberflus. His replacement, Ben Johnson, has pumped confidence and determination into a previously listless team.
There was no gloom when the Bears got the ball at their 9-yard line, trailing 20-10, with 6:13 left. Quarterback Caleb Williams led them to a touchdown in just 2:17, then the defense forced a three-and-out that took up only 55 seconds to give him another shot.
Williams delivered, as he often has late in games this season, with a 27-yard pass to get the Bears deep into Giants territory and a 17-yard scramble for the go-ahead touchdown.
All the Bears needed was one last stop, and the defense kept the Giants from crossing midfield, ending the game by forcing three consecutive incomplete passes.
‘‘Gritty,’’ defensive end Montez Sweat said. ‘‘When we needed a stop, we got one, and Caleb took us home.
‘‘There’s definitely still a lot of things to clean up. The win sometimes hides those things, but there’s a lot we can get better at.’’
It was good, but it’s also not good enough going forward.
The Giants are 2-8 and going nowhere. They have one of the NFL’s worst defenses. Their best wide receiver and running back are out for the season. Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart made only his seventh career start and lit up the Bears for three quarters before leaving with a concussion.
Yet, despite all of those disadvantages, the Giants led 20-10 and had the ball with less than seven minutes left.
As the Bears’ schedule ramps up with a visit to the Vikings, which of their upcoming opponents would squander that kind of lead? They still play the Browns, so that helps, but no decent opponent would blow such an advantage, let alone contenders such as the Packers, Lions and Eagles.
‘‘We have a gauntlet of games coming up here,’’ tight end Cole Kmet said. ‘‘It’s a chance to really prove we are a good team.’’
That’s the big picture, and the Bears have tons to prove.
As Dart ripped through the defense for 242 yards passing and 66 yards and two touchdowns rushing, Williams didn’t break 100 yards passing until late in the third quarter. His receivers dropped at least six passes, but he didn’t play like a quarterback on the brink of stardom and finished 20-for-36 for 220 yards with a touchdown for an 83.1 passer rating.
He’s growing, but it’s debatable to what extent and at what pace. The corner has yet to be turned, and the Bears’ offense won’t take off until he does.
The Bears managed 10 points on their first eight possessions. Through three quarters, they averaged 5.3 yards per play and Williams had a 73.1 passer rating. All told, they went 3-for-11 on third down and 1-for-4 on fourth.
There was improvement by going 3-for-4 in terms of scoring touchdowns in the red zone and committing only one pre-snap penalty, but most of what the offense did would be insufficient against a better team.
‘‘We’d like to take it to the next step where we’re up by a score or two in the fourth quarter early on,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘Hopefully next week. But we found a way to win, and that’s the most important thing.’’
A good team would have destroyed the Giants. The Bears know that.
‘‘We’re getting ourselves some wins, but we want to get to that point where we’re blowing people out,’’ wide receiver Rome Odunze said.
With Williams, a young quarterback who has a high ceiling, there’s still potential for the offense to make strides. Defensively, however, it’s hard to see how the Bears will get better.
That side of the ball has been a concern since the season opener — and that was before injuries to cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, linebacker T.J. Edwards, defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and others.
The Bears found help in combustible-but-gifted defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who had nine tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Sweat is on a hot streak with 4½ sacks in his last four games. Gordon and Edwards might return in the next couple of weeks. The Bears are hoping that propels them, but hope isn’t a plan.
This already has been the best Bears season in years, but that speaks more to how bad things have been than to any certainty about where they’re headed. Their four fourth-quarter comebacks have been thrilling, but there’s a reason they’ve come against four of the worst teams in the league. It’s about to get a lot tougher, and the formula that got them past the Giants isn’t likely to work against heavyweights.
