As I watched Drake Maye and the New England Patriots knock off Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in prime time last week, I felt strongly that this particular win over the Bills simply meant more. Sure,
they’ve beaten Buffalo and a few other good teams since Tom Brady left after the 2019 season. But it simply felt different—like it was leading toward something bigger.
I had a similar feeling watching the Bears grind out their Week 6 win over the Commanders on Jake Moody’s game-winning field goal.
Let me explain.
In no way was the Bears’ last-second victory some kind of dominant performance over an elite team (though the 2024 NFC runner-up Commanders are still very good). All told, their sloppy, penalty-ridden, poorly executed performance gets a C- in my book. Even putting aside some of the ridiculous flags thrown against them, the Bears had more than enough opportunities to run away with that game and refused to do so for about 58-and-a-half minutes.
Caleb Williams made plays throughout the game, but wasn’t exactly crisp. Olamide Zaccheaus and DJ Moore single-handedly tried to sell the game in the 4th quarter with costly mistakes. Jake Moody’s first attempt at a go-ahead field goal got blocked. And if Jayden Daniels doesn’t fumble on that critical third down, Washington might well have won that game after the Bears’ inept previous drive.
But Daniels did fumble, committing Washington’s third turnover of the game. (Chicago had no giveaways.)
And the Bears didn’t miss their shot thanks to D’Andre Swift, who’s playing like a new man after the bye week, and Moody clutching up at the buzzer in misty conditions to win the game.
Bottom line: this was exactly the kind of game the Chicago Bears 1000% would have lost under Matt Eberflus. How many times did we stare at the screen in horror as it happened for the last three seasons?
Seemingly every single time the Bears had a chance to beat a good opponent in an even slightly meaningful game under the previous regime, including last year’s Hail Mary debacle against the Commanders, they folded. They made the game-killing mistake. They wet the bed when it mattered. You could say the same about their opening-week loss to the Vikings as well—blowing a game they should have had control of.
They tried to repeat the pattern on a number of occasions against the Commies, it seemed. But this time, when fate afforded them a chance to flip the script, they capitalized.
Nothing about that win was pretty. But it was tough. It was opportunistic. It was growth.
For one night, at least, these weren’t the same old Bears. They’re not “good.” Not yet. But they’re good enough to take advantage of bad football and, for once, not be the team playing that bad football at the worst possible time.
It might not seem like much, but it does feel like the start of something better. How much better depends on where they go from here. But suffice it to say, this exceedingly ugly win got my attention in a good way.
