With the Chicago Bears down 21-3 at the end of the first half against the Green Bay Packers during the Wild Card game at Soldier Field, Ben Johnson brought up a valuable lesson he told his team during training camp.
The Bears’ head coach referenced Super Bowl LI, the game between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. Two players on the Bears’ roster actually competed in that game, Joe Thuney and Grady Jarrett.
Thuney’s Patriots completed one of the greatest comebacks in sports history after being down 28-3 late in the third quarter to win the game against Jarrett’s Falcons, 34-28 in overtime.
“It was just great to get perspective from both of those players of how that game went down,” Johnson said. “I think it's just a good lesson to be learned that it's 28-3 in the middle of the third quarter, and yet the game still is being played, and there is a lot of time left.”
A former Super Bowl helped spark Bears' comeback win over Packers
The Bears’ deficit to the Packers wasn’t as much, and there was far more time on the clock, but Johnson still wanted to mention that a comeback was not out of reach.
“That was my message to the group,” Johnson said. “Just reminding them that this has been done before, and rather than saying, woe is me and oh, crap, we're in a hole, it's more, this is a great opportunity for us to turn this around into a game we'll never forget, and that's what they did.”
The Bears’ defense started the comeback by forcing four-straight punts, three of them were three-and-outs. Caleb Williams and the offense put together two field goal scoring drives before exploding for a 25-point fourth quarter to give Chiago a 31-27 lead with just 1:43 remaining in the game.
Green Bay tried to answer back, but the Packers’ 11-play, 44-yard drive ended well short of the Bears’ end zone after Jordan Love’s final pass attempt fell incomplete.
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This 2025 Bears season has featured some memorable comebacks, but the Wild Card game against the Packers stands in a category of its own and will be a game Bears fans will never forget.