GREEN BAY, Wis. — With music blaring in the visitors locker room, Bears wide receiver DJ Moore put it as bluntly as possible:
“We beat the Packers, so it’s… fuck ‘em.”
The Bears aren’t in the best position to talk much trash to their oldest rival — they had lost 11 straight games to Green Bay before Sunday’s 24-22 victory — but in this recent one-way rivalry, it’s obvious the anger and bitterness still exists on the Chicago side of things.
It had been 3,328 days since the Bears won at Lambeau Field, so excuse them for not acting like they had been there before — literally none of the players had. That’s why when Cairo Santos’ 51-yard field goal went through the uprights as time expired, the Bears celebrated appropriately — like a team incredibly relieved to end a 10-game losing streak overall and an 11-game losing to the Packers.
“You couldn’t ask for a better way to end the season through all of what’s going on, through all of the coaches being fired, not playing well myself and us losing many, many games in a row,” Caleb Williams said. “Being able to put Cairo in that same situation that we put him last (Packers) game, him being able to relive that moment and not just relive it but obviously put it through the uprights. Being able to have that moment was great.”
The significance for Williams shouldn’t be lost either. Despite an up-and-down rookie season, the quarterback’s fourth down and fourth quarter play has been spectacular all season — and not rewarded nearly enough. When Moore’s fumble with 1:55 left in the game led to a 55-yard field goal for Brandon McManus that put the Packers up 22-21, it looked like the Bears were going to have their hearts broken in Green Bay yet again. But Williams started the game-winning possession at his own 20-yard-line with 48 seconds left on the clock and made it count.
Stuck at their own 49 with 15 seconds left, the Packers called timeout, but not before Williams got a good look at the coverage.
“Obviously why they called a timeout, (we) had DJ one-on-one with no over-the-top help. So that’s probably not the position that you want to be in at the end of the game,” Williams said. “I tell DJ in the huddle, if they press you like that again, you’ll run a vertical, a go ball. If they get outside leverage, we’ll run a glance or a five-step and snap it off.”
After communicating that to Moore, Williams told the rest of the team that they’d have to run to the line and clock the ball immediately to set up the field goal. Moore ended up getting the outside leverage, ran the glance and Williams put it on him for a quick 18-yard gain. In 12 seconds, the Bears ran a perfect play and clocked the ball at the 33-yard line, setting up redemption for Santos and the field goal unit.
No one needed to be reminded that on Nov. 17, in a similar situation, former Bears head coach Matt Eberflus settled for a 46-yard field goal as time expired and it got blocked by Packers defensive lineman Karl Brooks.
For Santos, it was the perfect redemption moment. For Williams, it was the perfect way to head into the offseason, leading the team into position to beat the Packers for the second time this season — but having it actually count this time.
“Sky’s the limit,” Williams said when I asked him what he could tangibly take out of this game. “And probably more than the sky.”
To take you behind the scenes, the quirkiness of Lambeau Field leads reporters on a long mezzanine-level walk from the press box to the locker room after the game, overlooking the main concourse below. And on every one of those walks since 2015, the exiting Packer crowd has sung/chanted “The Bears still suck” while a mixed crowd of fans leaves the game.
Not Sunday. It was quiet. And unfortunately, given the team’s record and the 15-degree temperature, there weren’t many Bears fans inside Lambeau Field to lead their own chants as they exited the stadium.
Instead, most of the victory celebration happened in the visitors’ locker room, where Williams presented interim head coach Thomas Brown with a game ball.
Perhaps years from now we’ll look back at this win similarly to the Bears’ last win at Lambeau Field — a night they spoiled Brett Favre’s homecoming celebration in an otherwise lost season.
Or maybe it will be a legitimate turn in the rivalry. Regardless, for one cold day in Green Bay, it was a legitimate reason for the Chicago Bears to celebrate.
