All season, the Chicago Bears have been winning close games, and their offense has stepped up in the final moments to earn the victories.
It was the same thing that occurred against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11 as the NFC North rival scored a touchdown with under a minute to go in the game. In typical 2025 Bears style, though, that was short-lived as Devin Duvernay returned the kickoff into the Vikings' 40-yard line. A few plays later, Cairo Santos converted the game-winning field goal to make it a 19-17 victory for Chicago.
After the game, Bears head coach Ben Johnson answered a question on whether the Vikings left too much time on the clock for the offense. It was a moment familiar to the team, who had done it numerous times this season.
“We’ve been there before. It’s where our offense is pretty comfortable”
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Caleb Williams has become the king of clutch moments in 2025, having now led five game-winning drives, the most in franchise history. This drive was a bit easier for him as it was multiple handoffs to D'Andre Swift to set up Santos with a makeable field goal.
Even though this was a moment the Bears had faced multiple times, it was one that felt different from the rest. One, it was against a division rival as they needed to prove they could win within the NFC North. Two, it was the special teams that came in clutch.
Duvernay hadn't really had any massive kickoff returns during the season, so this was the first one all year that really set up the offense well. It was a good time for the return specialist to come through for the Bears.
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These are crucial for the Bears as they are about to enter the gauntlet part of their schedule and face the toughest matches of the season. How they perform in close games against these elite teams, such as the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles, will show how legitimate their playoff contendership is.