The Bears have had a penchant for overcoming adversity under coach Ben Johnson, and that resiliency was on display yet again Thursday night at Soldier Field.
Rebounding from miscues that could have proved costly, the Bears produced key plays in all three phases that led them to a wild 30-24 win over the Patriots.
After allowing a 48-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the first half that cut their lead to 20-14, the Bears opened the second half with a 9-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that widened the margin to 27-14.
With a chance to take a two-score lead with 7:57 left in the game, Cairo Santos hit the right upright on a 53-yard field goal attempt. But he redeemed himself with a career-long 58-yarder that put the Bears ahead 30-21 with 1:34 remaining.
"We talk about [overcoming adversity], but those are just words," Johnson said. "We try to put those guys in those situations in the spring and during training camp … There's always a silver lining when the bad stuff happens to us. You can learn from it and can grow, but you find out what you're made of.
"I know we've got the right guys in this locker room that can handle anything that's thrown their way, and they have really a lot of belief in each other, too, and I think that's really a big part of it is they know that even when things get a little bit funky or haywire that we can right the ship and get it going back the right direction real quick."
With their fourth win in five games, the Bears improved to 5-2.
Caleb Williams delivered a second straight stellar performance in his return from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for three games. After passing for 305 yards with two touchdowns and a 111.2 passer rating in last Sunday's 31-23 win over the Falcons, he threw for 308 yards with two TDs and a 116.7 rating Thursday night.
"He did a pretty good job throughout the night," Johnson said. "We had a number of explosive plays. He found some of those guys at the second level that were huge for us … Three hundred yards and a couple touchdowns is a good night."
Luther Burden III led the Bears with four receptions for 130 yards and one TD — all in the first half. Colston Loveland caught a season-high seven passes for 69 yards. And Rome Odunze had four receptions for 69 yards — including three 21-yard catches on two critical fourth-quarter drives.
"Coach called a great game," Williams said. "The guys ran great routes and then when lanes opened up, just used my legs to protect the team, help the team in those situations and then deliver a good ball like I've been preaching each week since Ben got here: deliver a good ball to the guys, let them go make plays, and that's what they did today. And then obviously the O-line, they blocked their tails off."
Running back D'Andre Swift rushed for a game-high 78 yards and one TD on 22 carries. He outrushed the Patriots, who ran for 70 yards on 17 attempts.
Kyler Gordon picked up on the first possession of Thursday night's game where he left off last Sunday in Atlanta, sacking quarterback Drake Maye on fourth-and-5 from the Chicago 45, turning the ball over on downs.
On the Bears' first play from scrimmage, Williams connected with Burden for a 26-yard gain to the New England 28. That set up Santos' 43-yard field goal, giving the Bears a 3-0 lead with 9:53 left in the first quarter.
After the defense forced its second straight three-and-out, the Bears extended their lead to 10-0 on Swift's 4-yard TD run late in the first quarter.
The TD was set up by Williams' 58-yard pass to Burden to the New England 4. Burden caught the ball across the middle at the Patriots' 44, turned upfield and received an excellent downfield block by Odunze.
The Patriots answered with a 9-play, 74- drive capped by Maye's 7-yard TD run, cutting the deficit to 10-7 early in the second quarter.
The Bears responded by scoring the next 10 points. After Santos' 31-yard field goal made it 13-7, the defense registered its first takeaway of the game as D'Marco Jackson intercepted a Maye pass in the end zone on first-and-10 from the 15.
Burden once again showed his excellent run-after-the-catch ability, turning a screen pass into a 24-yard TD that put the Bears ahead 20-7 with :14 left in the half. He caught Williams' pass at the 28 and zigzagged through the defense, picking up blocks from Loveland and Kalif Raymond.
"He did a great job catching it and finding some green grass," Johnson said. "Really what caught my eye was the blocking down the field. We had Colston and Kalif as the wideouts, and then the whole cavalry came, the whole O-line showed up, and it was like a whole wave carrying him through there. He saw a little crease and hit the jets."
"I didn't do anything," Williams said. "I just threw a good ball and O-linemen, wide receivers blocking, that's who we are, that's our identity. Luther did a great job catching it, getting vertical and from there, we always say it turns into a punt return. He got back out, got on the sideline, got vertical and scored for us."
That was not the end of the scoring in the first half, however. With :03 remaining, the Patriots had the ball at the Bears' 48. Maye dumped off a short pass to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who weaved through the Bears defense for a touchdown that closed the gap to 20-14.
"I think we could have rallied to the ball there and gotten him down," Johnson said.
The Bears shook off the New England touchdown and opened the second half with one of their own on Williams' 12-yard pass to Loveland, making it 27-14. Williams rolled to his left and hit Loveland, who broke a tackle and powered through three defenders into the end zone.
The Patriots followed by closing the gap to 27-21 on Maye's 30-yard TD pass to tight end Eli Raridon, beating a Bears blitz with 3:46 left in the third quarter.
Maye finished the game completing 24 of 31 passes for 321 yards with two TDs, one interception and a 117.8 passer rating.
Santos then missed a 53-yard try that would have given the Bears some breathing room. The kick came after Williams had completed passes of 21 yards to Odunze on third-and-11 from the Chicago 13 and nine yards to Loveland on fourth-and-2 from the Patriots' 43.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, the offense marched to the New England 30. But on third-and-5, Williams was sacked for a 10-yard loss, pushing the Bears back to the 40. Undeterred, Santos boomed a 58-yard field goal to increase the lead to 30-21 with 1:34 to play.
"I was right next to 'HT' (special teams coordinator Richard Hightower)," Santos told reporters. "I was talking to HT that I felt good about the line and then Ben asked, 'Does he want it?' And I told HT, 'I want it.' Thankful that Ben trusts me on that and I delivered a great kick right down the middle."
Santos revealed that he made an adjustment after he missed the 53-yarder.
"I like playing a little draw when I feel a right-to-left wind, even though it was so dead there," Santos said. "But from 53 I figured, 'if I play a little bit of a draw, it goes in,' and then I hit it just so straight right down the hash. That's as close of a miss that you can have; it hit the inside of the upright. On the 58-yarder, the ball didn't move. I'm just going to go right down the middle."
Trailing by two scores, the Patriots cut the deficit to 30-24 on Andy Borregales' 47-yard field goal with :37 to play, but Odunze recovered the subsequent onside kick to secure the victory.
"These nights are awesome," Williams said. "You play versus another good team in a primetime game in a short week. These games are awesome because you get to see who you are as a team and that's who we are. We're a smashmouth football team, innovative team and then when things happen and things don't go our way and the water's rocky, we stay steady. We're going to keep going, we're going to keep fighting. That's who we are."
Injury update
Veteran tight end Cole Kmet was carted to the locker room after sustaining a knee injury midway through the fourth quarter.
"We'll know more tomorrow," Johnson said after the game, "but I don't think it looked very good."
Rookie cornerback Malik Muhammad also exited the contest with a toe injury.
