Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson is a brilliant play caller. He might have been a little too smart for his own good on the key play of the Green Bay Packers' win over Chicago on Sunday.
On a fourth-and-1 in the final minute, the Bears didn't run it or sneak it for the first down. Williams faked a handoff and rolled left. He lofted a pass to the end zone for tight end Cole Kmet, but Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon was there for the interception that sealed a 28-21 win.
It wasn't a great pass by Williams, who had a rough first half and got hot afterward, but it didn't seem like an ideal play call. Perhaps Williams could have tried running for the first down or threw it shorter. The Bears had two timeouts left, so a run on fourth down would have left them with enough time. But he threw to the end zone and Nixon had played it perfectly.
The Bears went for broke. And they went broke. The Packers take over first place of the NFC North.
Green Bay now has a 70% chance of winning its division, according toThe Athletic's playoffs simulatorwith Chicago dropping to 24%.
Bears start slow, Packers take the lead
The Bears dug themselves a hole because Williams and the passing game were late showing up.
Williams had 11 yards passing in the first half, before the final 33 seconds in a hurry-up drill. He didn't have a completion until the final two minutes of the first quarter, when he finally connected on a 2-yard pass. That was his only completion of the first quarter.
The Packers' offense didn't have a great start either, but eventually Jordan Love made a couple of nice touchdown passes. His first one went to Christian Watson to give the Packers a 7-0 lead. Then, late in the first half, Bo Melton got behind the defense on a post route and Love hit him for a 45-yard touchdown. The Packers led 14-3 going into halftime off of those two big plays and a tremendous effort by their defense.
Another big play from Love to Watson, when Watson caught a short pass and pulled away from the defense for a 41-yard touchdown, had the Packers ahead 21-11 in the third quarter. But the Bears have been great at late rallies this season, and Williams started to heat up.
Bears rally behind Caleb Williams
Williams and the Bears tied the game with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter when he hit Colston Loveland for a 1-yard touchdown. Williams had a dreadful first half but had rallied. That was his second touchdown pass of the second half.
The Packers answered. They drove downfield and Josh Jacobs plunged in for a 2-yard touchdown with 3:32 left. They led 28-21.
The Bears had been playing from behind most of the game so another deficit, even a late one against a good defense, didn't deter them. Chicago drove downfield and had a fourth down-and-1 with 27 seconds left. That's when Johnson's decision came back to haunt the Bears. Nixon's interception finished the Packers win, a huge one in the NFC North race.
Had Williams found Kmet wide open in the end zone, Johnson's aggressive call would have been praised. Now all of Chicago will wonder what might have happened had the Bears just played it a little safer and gotten a first down.
