For three quarters of the Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears were on the ropes with a knockout feeling inevitable. But once again, they pulled off an improbable comeback, scoring 25 fourth quarter points to win 31-27 and advance to the Divisional Round.
The Bears have now won an NFL single-season record (including the playoffs) seven games when they were down in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. It's easy to wonder when that tight rope walking will go the other way, but one thing is absolutely clear: quarterback Caleb Williams does not get flustered when it matters the most, and his teammates absorb that confidence as their own in clutch moments.
Williams has a lot of work to do on consistency in the early parts of games, which would go a long way toward rendering late comebacks unnecessary. But it's easy to forget he is only coming to the end of his first season in Ben Johnson's offense, and he was practically starting at square one with some elementary parts of being an NFL quarterback.
Moving forward, regardless of when this playoff run ends, things look to be on an upward trajectory for Williams and the Bears.
ESPN analyst puts huge accomplishment in Caleb Williams' future
Coming off the Bears' thrilling Wild Card Round win over the Packers, ESPN's Dan Graziano had this as something he pondered as being an "overreaction" or not.
'Caleb Williams is going to win the MVP award next season.'
Graziano then called the idea of Williams winning league MVP next season "not an overeaction", before outlining how it could happen.
"Williams can make throws other quarterbacks can't make, and he appears to be the kind of player whose pulse chills all the way out in the moments that send the pulses of others through the roof. That's why even when it's not going great, you feel as if there's a good chance it eventually will. With Williams in his second season as an NFL quarterback and Ben Johnson in his first year as an NFL head coach, Chicago went 11-6, won a division out of which the other three teams made last season's playoffs and still has a chance to win the whole thing. The Bears have young skill position talent all over the place around Williams. They can spend their offseason beefing up the defense, too. Is there a compelling reason to believe they'll be worse next season than they were this season? Nope."
"Williams should continue improving with this group around him and Johnson coaching him. If next season's Bears win 12 or more, and Williams wins five or six of those in the final two minutes, he can be the darling of the MVP voting body. There are a lot of "ifs" there, sure, but this isn't far-fetched."
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The MVP award is a quarterback award unless someone at another offensive position has a record-breaking season, rooted in big numbers and team performance during the regular season. It'll be interesting to see if Williams gets any down-ballot MVP votes this year, as a precursor to possibly being a strong contender for the award next year (and beyond).