What an absolutely thrilling and, dare I say, exhilarating win that was.
The Chicago Bears came away with the 30-24 win over the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football, in a huge Week 7 showdown, and it certainly did not come easy.
There were plenty of things to like.
However, there were several things to dislike; some even causing a great amount of worry for Bears fans.
So, let's react accordingly -- in brutally-honest fashion, both with the positive and not-so-positive takeaways.
Kyler Gordon isn't slowing down anytime soon
Kyler Gordon didn't waste any time asserting himself in this game. He started out with a fourth-down sack on Drake Maye on the very first defensive drive of the game.
On a third down, just a little later, Gordon raced laterally to make a stop on Patriots receiver Demario Douglas, forcing a punt by New England.
In just his second game back from a lengthy injury and recovery, Gordon finished with five tackles (three solo), a sack, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit.
And he's just getting started.
D'Andre Swift played with Kyle Monangai effort and physicality
It took a while for D'Andre Swift to get going against a nasty Patriots defensive front, but in the second half, his efforts started to pay off.
His effort was apparent right off the bat. Even on short runs or runs that were stopped at the line, Swift was running hard from the jump. He was given a ton of work, with Roschon Johnson only receiving two touches.
The Bears have been missing Kyle Monangai's physicality dearly, but Swift gave the Patriots a little bit of that in this game. They needed him. He ran hard, quick and physical. He gave this offense the jolt of aggression it has needed for a couple of weeks now.
Swift ended the night with 26 touches for 90 yards and a touchdown, and all 90 of those yards were hard-earned.
Caleb Williams stood and delivered perfect pass after perfect pass in the 4th quarter
Late in the game, with it being so close, Caleb Williams remained as cool as ever. And why wouldn't he? The Ice Man delivered perfect pass after perfect pass late in this game, and after some frustrating mistakes from his teammates earlier in the game, they came up big and made plays for him.
Williams saw pressure, and he stood in there and delivered a few absolute missiles -- some on crucial third-down conversions, too.
On the final play of Chicago's final offensive drive, Williams took a sack he absolutely couldn't have. Fortunately, on the very next play, Williams' lone fourth-quarter mistake would be alleviated -- but more on that later.22
The Bears have a discipline issue
Penalties were a problem yet again, in this one. A week after the Bears were penalized 12 times against the Atlanta Falcons, Chicago was flagged nine times for 69 yards on Thursday night.
The other part of the discipline issue happened to be right before halftime with the effort from Jaylon Johnson and Dillon Thieneman on Rhamondre Stevenson's inexcusable touchdown. The angles taken by both defensive backs were atrocious and, thus, Stevenson scored on a play he should have had absolutely zero chance to score on.
The Bears have looked shaky, overall, these past two weeks. They're lucky to have come away with wins, but this is an area that needs to be cleaned up.
Rome Odunze went from disappointment to redemption
In the first half, Rome Odunze was given the perfect pass by Caleb Williams on a play that would've ended up with an easy touchdown.
The only problem was, Odunze first pushed off on his defender.
Secondly, he still dropped the touchdown. It was a double whammy and this is starting to become an issue.
We've been seeing Odunze drop passes and make silly mistakes throughout this season. The guy we thought the Bears drafted has not quite shown up to be more than a mid-tier WR2.
That changed on the Bears' final offensive drive.
Odunze made a clutch catch late in the fourth quarter on 3rd-and-9. It was an absolute laser from Caleb Williams and he was almost fully horizontal when he made the grab.
It was much-needed for everybody, but especially for him.
One play later, Odunze caught another one for a first down and he was fired up afterwards.
And, to complete the fourth-quarter trifecta, Odunze was also the one to recover the onside kick to end the game.
Cairo Santos gave the Bears reason to worry and then erased it with one kick
The Bears almost had to officially worry about kicker Cairo Santos. On a drive, in the fourth quarter, where the Bears could have gone up by two scores, Santos missed a 53-yard field goal. It hit the upright and bounced out.
This is now the third-straight game with a miss by Santos and it's his fourth miss on the season.
However, on the Bears' final offensive drive of the night, on a 4th down and a situation where most thought Ben Johnson would punt, he rolled Santos right back out there for what would be a 58-yard field goal attempt.
No one thought this was a good idea.
Except Johnson.
And Santos DRILLED it.
I suppose it was a night for redemption on mulitple fronts.
Colston Loveland had a night to forget while Luther Burden shined under the lights
Loveland did have a number of good plays that went for first downs, and also caught a touchdown in this one, but he could have had two more chunk receptions had he not dropped a pair of passes that were thrown directly at his hands.
It was uncharacteristic and likely an anomaly, but it was noteworthy, nonetheless.
Luther Burden III, meanwhile, finished with four catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. He was explosive, making tacklers miss and coming up with those eye-popping plays that'll appear on your latest highlight reel.
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