At the beginning of the 2025 season, no one knew who the Chicago Bears would be. Under first-year head coach Ben Johnson, Chicago’s sloppy play and .500 record through September did little to reinforce fan confidence. But as the year went on, it seemed like God Almighty, Himself, heard Da Pope’s prayers, as Da Bears quickly became one of the NFL’s most intimidating must-watch teams.
The season’s narrative revolved around the consistent threat of a turnover-starved defense, generational play (by Chicago standards) from second-year quarterback Caleb Williams, and near-weekly, unexplainable, heart-attack-inducing comebacks. Chicago had seven (yes, really – seven) fourth-quarter comebacks in 2025 that will undoubtedly be remembered by Bears fans for generations to come. Some will definitely be remembered more than others, courtesy of now-former wide receiver D.J. Moore and the twice-humbled Green Bay Packers.
Before their 2025 campaign began, however, the Bears had already orchestrated a layered portfolio of incredible comebacks that Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams may have unintentionally pushed a bit further into the past. While the Chicago Bears get ready to kick off their 2026 season, fans may want to take one more look into the past and reflect on the good times that were. If 2026 is anything like 2025, it won’t be long before Chicagoans are lost in the next batch of unbelievable Hollywood endings that may lie ahead.
Bears fans were still reeling from bitter heartbreak entering the 2019 season. Entering Week 2 on the road against the Denver Broncos, when including the 2018 Playoffs, Chicago’s prior two games included the now-infamous “Double Doink” playoff balk, as well as an underwhelming season-opening loss to Green Bay in their 100th Anniversary Celebration kickoff game. It was obvious to everyone that head coach Matt Nagy and his team were in dire need of a win to continue healing and ultimately shake off what had been a painful prior nine months.
With 31 seconds left and trailing 14-13, QB Mitchell Trubisky was suddenly gifted a questionable roughing the passer penalty on Denver — now coached by Chicago’s 2018 defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. On their own 40-yard line and with nine seconds left to go in regulation, Trubisky somehow found wide receiver Allen Robinson wide open at the Broncos’ 35-yard-line. While initially believing the clock had hit all zeroes, the game’s officiating crew reviewed the play and discovered that the Bears had successfully called their final timeout with just one second left to play.
The almost PTSD-like state of being that former kicker Cody Parkey had left on Chicagoans was being felt in real time nationwide as new kicker Eddie Piñeiro prepared to launch the game-winning kick. Unlike Parkey, Piñeiro actually did his job and nailed the game-winning field goal, sealing a 16-14 win for Chicago. Exhaling, the Bears took home an incredibly crucial first win in 2019 that began to soothe over some of the collective pain still being felt from how the last season ended.
While Chicago’s 2019 campaign would ultimately turn into a forgettable one, fans were still hopeful that the 2020 team would prove to be more successful. As usual, a crucial position that would soon need to be reevaluated was the man behind center for the Bears. However, what fans didn’t expect was to have a former foe sign onto their roster and eventually hand another postseason-scorned team even more pain the following fall.
When Bears fans weren’t thinking about COVID-19 heading into the 2020 season, their thoughts often revolved around how Mitchell Trubisky just wasn’t cutting it heading into his fourth year with the franchise. If Chicago was going back to the Playoffs, it wouldn’t hurt to have a capable backup ready to save the team, should Trubisky continue to channel his inner Rex Grossman in big games.
To remedy that issue, “Big Dick Nick” Foles was signed in the offseason from sunny Jacksonville to provide quality depth for the Bears as QB2 in Matt Nagy’s (and Bill Lazor’s) offense. But following back-to-back four-point wins with less-than-stellar play from Trubisky, fans were already pleading for Foles to run the offense with all three legs as the Week 3 starter in Atlanta.
In the game’s third quarter, Trubisky skied another trademark pick to the Falcons, which resulted in an Atlanta field goal. Down 26-10, Nagy finally agreed with the fans — a change was needed. Mitch was finally benched for the veteran Super Bowl champion … and what resulted was one of the most memorable quarters of Bears football in recent team history. Fortunately for Chicago, in addition to Foles being more than prepared to take the lead behind center, the Falcons were equally prepared to “Falcon” away yet another game in a performance that uncannily mimicked the infamous “28-3.”
With 8:23 left in the fourth quarter, Foles completed a pivotal pass on 4th and 6 to wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. that ultimately led to tight end Jimmy Graham’s second touchdown of the game. After an unsuccessful two-point conversion, Da Bears trailed Atlanta 26-16. But Foles continued to heat up, finding Allen Robinson on a clutch pass with 4:22 left in the game. With control of the football, Robinson quickly broke free from Atlanta cornerback Isaiah Oliver like a dog escaping from Michael Vick’s backyard, desperately taking off for a 37-yard touchdown to leave the team trailing by three. Foles was impressive … but he still wasn’t done.
To hand the Falcons yet another soul-wrenching loss, and Trubisky a hall pass to the bench, Foles soon found third-year wide receiver Anthony Miller wide open in the end zone for his third touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. With 1:53 left to play, Chicago now led Atlanta 30-26. The very few Atlanta fans who remained inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium collectively groaned when a late interception from current Falcons President of Football Matt Ryan iced the game for Chicago with a 30-26 win that sent the Bears home a perfect 3-0.
While the team then went an unimpressive 5-8 to finish the year at .500, Nick Foles’ dominating performance down south still remains one of the most entertaining single-game performances ever from a Bears quarterback. Foles was unsteady for the rest of the year and ultimately became sidelined with an injury, but Chicagoans still felt like they had a franchise QB for the first time since 1985 when Jim McMahon was under center.
Nick Foles’ time in Chicago was so brief, some fans forget that he even donned a navy and orange uniform back in the day. Regardless, the legend and rumors of Chicago Bears’ quarterback Nick Foles still loom large today over the greater Chicagoland area. Some of the team staffers at Halas Hall even swear that they still occasionally see the shadow of a three-legged man roaming the team facilities in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Being a Bears fan in 2001 wasn’t fun. The glory days of the 46 Defense and Super Bowl XX had long faded away as fans were hungry to go back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 16 years. The team was also fresh off its fifth-straight losing season, going 5-11 in 2000 and finishing dead last in the now-defunct NFC Central Division for the fourth straight year.
Besides the budding prospect of then-second-year linebacker Brian Urlacher, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2000, many expected the Bears to pathetically limp out of old Soldier Field with yet another mediocre campaign. Surprisingly, and pleasantly, fans were quickly proven wrong. Rookie running back Anthony “A-Train” Thomas quickly gained steam as one of the NFL’s most exciting new talents and led a reliable running game that opened the airways for quarterback Jim Miller.
In tandem with the team’s best offense in years, the Bears’ defense clobbered its opponents in 2001, allowing the fewest points per game in the NFL that season — just 12.7 on average. In addition to Urlacher, defenders Keith Traylor, Bryan Robinson, Warrick Holdman, Roosevelt Colvin, R.W. McQuarters, and Mike Brown quickly became household names, as fans watched the franchise’s best defense since ’85 make victims out of opposing offenses.
Following a 4-1 start to the season, complete with blowout 31-3 and 24-0 wins over the Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals, the Bears welcomed the resurgent 4-1 San Francisco 49ers to Soldier Field. To start, all of Chicago’s hype looked fraudulent. San Francisco’s offense exploded behind the effective tandem of third-year quarterback Jeff Garcia and star wide receiver Terrell Owens. Down 28-9 with 8:18 to go in the third quarter, the fork was all but stuck in the Bears … how little did everyone know how this game would end.
Quarterback Shane Matthews, called in to replace an injured Miller, and the “A-Train” rejuvenated Chicago’s offense in what ultimately became the marquee contest that convinced fans to never again leave a Bears game early. A rushing touchdown from Thomas and a pair of TD passes from Matthews to rookie wide receiver David Terrell brought the Bears back to a 31-31 tie with 0:26 left in regulation. But once in overtime, Chicago only needed six seconds to finish the job.
Enter safety Mike Brown, who became a legend in the Windy City that day for simply being in the right place at the right time. On the first play in OT, “TO” bobbled a direct pass from Garcia only to watch it fall into the waiting hands of Brown, who ran it back 30 yards to the house to give the 5-1 Bears a legendary 37-31 victory.
The 2001 Chicago Bears proved to be resilient, thick-skinned, and talented following the mind-boggling win, with Mike Brown earning hero status in the city. But after the following Sunday, that hero status would become lifelong in the hearts of Bears fans — a testament that still stands true to this day.
Beaten up early, down big late, odds completely against them … where have we heard this story before? Just one week after their inspiring win over San Francisco, the Cleveland Browns rolled into Chicago and punched the Bears in the mouth to open Week 7.
Defensive lineman Courtney Brown’s early touchdown and quarterback Tim Couch’s consistency through the air stunned the Bears and their fans off of Cloud 9, where they’d comfortably resided all week prior to kickoff. Down 21-7 with a mere 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Matthews found third-year wide receiver Marty Booker in the end zone to cut Cleveland’s lead to seven. But unlike last week, with time running out, there wasn’t a tie to guarantee overtime for Chicago.
With 28 seconds left in the game, kicker Paul Edinger delivered a prayer of an onside kick down the left side of the field toward the Bears’ sideline. Recovering the ball, linebacker Bobbie Howard became the answer to Edinger’s prayer. But to close regulation, running back James Allen became the answer to the city’s collective prayer and caught a tipped pass in the back right corner of the end zone to tie the game at 21 apiece.
And then, in a serious case of déjà vu, Mike Brown did it again. A Tim Couch pass was batted high into the dark Chicago sky by defensive tackle Bryan Robinson and caught in stride by Brown, who ran it back 16 yards for his second-straight OT-winning TD. Bears radio broadcaster Jeff Joniak called the moment perfectly, saying it was “Groundhog Day” at Soldier Field, as the Bears won another thriller – 27-21.
The 2001 Chicago Bears hold a special place in the hearts of Bears fans, leading them to still ponder on the “what ifs” of the team all these years later. Between Mike Brown’s back-to-back OT touchdowns, the emergence of the A-Train, Urlacher solidifying himself as one of the NFL’s best defenders, and Keith Traylor’s infamous “thick six” against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as well as the final goodbye to old Soldier Field … Dick Jauron’s 13-3 Bears were must-watch TV at the beginning of the new millennium.
The next time you see Mike Brown drinking a cold one in Chicago, chances are that he’s drinking it for free. Following his heroics in 2001, the man probably hasn’t had to buy a drop of alcohol or a decent meal in the Windy City ever since.
“They are who we thought they were, and we left them off the hook.” – Dennis Green, 2006 Arizona Cardinals Head Coach
No one — no one — predicted this game would become a classic. The Arizona Cardinals, one of the NFL’s most unimpressive franchises to that point (and still to this day), were showcasing the brand-new, multi-million-dollar University of Phoenix Stadium to the country on Monday Night Football. It was also the perfect opportunity for rookie quarterback Matt Leinart to show off what he could really do as a young pro.
The Bears, on the other hand, were a perfect 5-0 coming into the desert. They showcased an incredible defense, led by a now-veteran Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles “Peanut” Tillman, Adewale Ogunleye, Tommie Harris, and Nathan Vasher, among others.
In addition to their defense, the Bears’ offense was also high-octane for the first time in five years. Quarterback Rex Grossman, when healthy, consistently delivered the ball downfield to wide receivers Mushin Muhammad and Bernard Berrian, as well as tight end Desmond Clark. Grossman (amazingly) was even named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Month in September 2006. In the Bears’ first three games, all against NFC North rivals, Grossman threw for 744 yards and seven touchdowns, only being picked off twice.
Unfortunately, Grossman’s positive reputation ended for good when September wrapped. For the remainder of the 2006 campaign, Bears fans were left wondering weekly if “Good Rex” or “Bad Rex” was going to show up. On October 16, 2006, on a nationally televised primetime game, “Bad Rex” infamously showcased one of the ugliest performances ever not just from a professional quarterback, but from a professional athlete.
Grossman’s NFL image and career is forever married to this game by Bears fans — an unexplainable dud that saw him complete only 14 of 37 passes for 144 yards and four interceptions. For the record, Grossman also fumbled the ball away twice. Fortunately for Chicago, their defense was the best that the franchise had fielded since 1985, and a rookie from the University of Miami was also primed to become a national phenomenon.
Down a staggering 23-3 to the 1-4 Cardinals, the Bears finally started playing like they were undefeated with just eight seconds left in the third quarter. Rookie defensive end Mark Anderson delivered a clean blind-side hit on Leinart to send a fumbled football Mike Brown’s way for a scoop-and-score touchdown. But even with his 2001 pedigree behind him, even Brown couldn’t have possibly predicted what happened next.
With 5:11 left in the game, Brian Urlacher caused a second Cardinals fumble after stripping the ball away from running back Edgerrin James. Charles Tillman then grabbed it in stride to run it back for Chicago’s second defensive touchdown of the night to get the Bears within a touchdown of the lead.
And then … Devin Hester introduced himself to the world. 3:16 left to go in the game, down six, Chicago was about to gain another famed “23” in the city’s rich sports history. Fielding the ball from the Chicago 18-yard line, Hester exploded through Arizona’s special teams unit to score the game-tying touchdown, ironically, at 23 each. Mobbed by his teammates, the future Hall of Famer’s legend was just beginning as kicker Robbie Gould’s successful extra point gave the Bears their first lead of the night – 24-23.
Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner summed it up perfectly on the sidelines when he told Leinart that he’d never seen “anything like this” to that point in his career. To his credit, Leinart remained unfazed and drove the Cardinals down the field just enough to be in field-goal range for dependable Pro Bowl kicker Neil Rackers. Unfortunately, from just 40 yards out, Rackers couldn’t deliver. Missing the kick just to the left of the upright, the Bears exploded in celebration after pulling off one of the greatest comeback wins in NFL history.
The Bears, who were losing by 20 to Arizona, managed to score 21 unanswered points off of two defensive fumble recoveries and a punt return in the final 15 minutes and eight seconds of the game. The offense? Wholly non-existent. Rex Grossman? Six total turnovers — arguably the most terrible single-game performance for a quarterback prior to *insert Nathan Peterman game here.*
Despite Grossman’s endless blunders that night, Chicago prevailed and would ultimately finish the season 13-3 as NFC Champions, falling to quarterback Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI … predominantly because of Rex Grossman. But like Dennis Green famously said, “they are who we thought they were,” and the 2006 Bears were a damn good football team that unfortunately suffered from a woeful quarterback problem.
The “Cardiac Bears” of 2025 provided several heart-stopping wins that delivered some of the most unforgettable, exciting football ever seen in the Windy City. But the Bears have always been a team known to pull a rabbit out of the hat in memorable, clutch moments. Whether it’s the late-game heroics of Mike Brown or the ice in Caleb William’s veins, Chicagoans have plenty of reason to remember one simple thing — never leave a Chicago Bears game early. With 2026 about to kick off, Bears fans are ready and waiting (heart medication in hand) for what lies ahead — time remaining on the game clock be damned.
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