Fifteen minutes after the Bears had stolen their second straight road win, tight end Cole Kmet stood at his locker, shook his head and smiled.
He knew this feeling, but usually from the other side.
The Bears were trailing by two with 3:10 to play Monday when Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels couldn’t get grasp a slippery snap and, without being touched, fumbled as he tried to hand the ball off to Jacory Croskey-Merritt. The ball bounced right to Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright. Nine plays later, the Bears were celebrating Jake Moody’s 38-yard game-winning kick at the final gun.
Usually, the Bears are the ones doing the fumbling. Or, at the least, they don’t take advantage when other teams make mistakes. The Bears have now done so two games in a row, blocking the Raiders’ 54-yard field goal with 34 seconds left only after stuffing a third-and-two run.
“Holy [moly],” Kmet said. “It feels like the past few weeks, a few plays have gone our way, which I don’t feel like I’ve been a part of here.”
Before Monday night, the Bears were winless in the last 28 games in which they trailed by eight or more in the fourth quarter. This season, they’re 2-2 in games in which they’ve trailed at any point; in the Matt Eberflus/Thomas Brown era, they were 11-36.
The game-winning drive Monday leaned on running back D’Andre Swift, though quarterback Caleb Williams’ third-and-four throw to first-round pick Colston Loveland took the Bears out of what little trouble they faced in the last three minutes. Williams has been remarkable with the Bears trailing with four minutes or less to play this season, totaling a 132.3 passer rating. Last year, he posted a 79.7. The year before, Bears quarterback Justin Fields had a 22.1.
“I’d rather go win the game by 30 — I think all of us would here,” Williams said. “But in those moments, I do feel calm. I feel right where I’m supposed to be.”
In the NFL, culture is the favorite topic of teams that don’t win. Each late Bears victory, though, is proof of what could be possible.
“They’re not just believing,” coach Ben Johnson. “Now they’re starting to understand that, ‘Man, if this thing’s close in the fourth quarter, then someone’s going to step up and make a play for us.’”
Monday, that person was the opposing quarterback. The Bears then needed to make Daniels pay for the fumble.
“I’ve been here when the ball bounces your way and you get a chance and nothing comes of it,” Kmet said. “You have to make the most of it, too.”
The Bears had botched their earlier chance. They got the ball down one with 7:57 to play and ran five plays: an offensive offside, a run for negative yards, an Olamide Zaccheaus drop, a 14-yard Zaccheaus catch and a punt.
Were it not for the Daniels fumble, Williams might not have gotten another chance.
“Being able to know we can win these games is really important,” Williams said.
Last year, they couldn’t. In Week 2, Williams trailed the Texans by six with the ball at his own 20 with 1:37 to play. He turned the ball over on downs five plays later. In Week 11, the Bears trailed the Packers by one with 2:59 left, gained 42 yards and missed a field goal as time expired. In Week 13, they watched as time ran out against the Lions after getting the ball down by three with 3:31 to go. And in Week 17, Williams threw a fourth-and-10 interception with 20 seconds to play down by three.
“I experienced those games where we didn’t win,” said linebacker T.J. Edwards, who, like Kmet, also grew up a Bears fan. “So I think the biggest change is that we’re winning those games and showing ourselves that we can do it.”
