The Chicago Bears did it yet again. The Cardiac Bears. The comeback kings. They somehow clawed their way back after a disastrous first half and took down the Green Bay Packers.
The Bears became just the fourth team in post-season history to win after trailing by 15-plus points in the fourth quarter.
Chicago eclipsed its previous largest post-season comeback of seven points.
And, the Bears recorded their sixth win this year after trailing by one to three points with three minutes or less remaining in the game.
Kudos to you, Ben Johnson, kudos to you, Caleb Williams, and kudos to the entire roster.
Chicago trailed by 18 at the start of the second half, with Soldier Field as quiet as a church mouse. A pair of field goals before a D'Andre Swift touchdown would then bring the game within one score.
The Packers responded, however, and seemed to suck the life out of those in orange and blue once again. But Williams and the Bears had more answers, scoring two TDs with less than five minutes remaining.
Williams found a wide-open DJ Moore on the left sideline for a 25-yard score for what wound up as the game-winning TD, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Now, not to take anything away from the Bears' heroics, but the Packers didn't do much to help themselves, either, with a plethora of kicking mistakes costing them seven points.
Brandon McManus missed two field goals – one with 2:56 remaining to put them up six – and an extra point, giving the Bears extra lives they kept taking advantage of.
But in the end, three fourth-quarter TDs and outscoring your opponent 28-6 in the second half is usually a recipe for success, albeit a nerve-wracking one.
Regardless, Chicago is moving on, and stuck it to a hated division rival in the process.
Here are some other takeaways from the opening day of the NFL post-season:
Stafford shows why he's the MVP
The Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams certainly delivered in the rematch, trading blows before Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford led a game-winning drive, punctuated by a beautiful throw-and-catch with Colby Parkinson to take the lead with 38 seconds left.
That drive – which went 71 yards in just 2:01 – was vintage Stafford. It marked his 55th career fourth-quarter comeback, which is the most among active players, and proved why he is the MVP favourite.
"I feel like I've been in that spot a lot in my life," Stafford said post-game, per Adam Grosbard of the LA Daily News. "Brings a smile to my face because I like being there."
Wideout Davante Adams told reporters Stafford said, "Let's go snatch these guys' hearts out," before the final drive. "One of the most gangster things I've heard," Adams quipped.
The drive truly showed how dominant he can be when he's at the top of his game – something that went away in the middle quarters.
While professional athletes aren't ones to make excuses, you can chalk Stafford's struggles up to a damaged finger on his throwing hand after hitting it on a Panthers defender on a follow-through.
Stafford started out hot, going 10-of-15 for 137 yards and a touchdown. Then the injury occurred, and the 37-year-old would complete just two of his next 12 passes for 24 yards with an interception.
That's the MVP resolve. Half of his passes completed and nearly half of the total yards Stafford tossed post-injury came on the game-winning drive — just willing his team to victory.
"He's different," former NFL receiver and old Stafford teammate Golden Tate posted on X.
Tate also recalled a similar instance when the two played together in Detroit.
"Bro, I'm straight," Stafford replied when asked about an injured finger on his throwing hand. "I got nine other fingers."
Well, Rams fans, in the words of some great receivers, your QB is gangster and different.
Panthers moving in right direction
For all the question marks surrounding the Carolina Panthers in the playoffs, they surely silenced all the critics.
As the first team since 2022 to clinch the post-season with a sub-.500 record, the Panthers were viewed as an automatic loss. The betting markets supported the point, with Carolina being the largest underdog of the Wild-Card round, per BetMGM.
While the Panthers ultimately fell short, Bryce Young and Co. proved they were up for the challenge and can compete with the best the NFL has to offer.
Young tossed for 264 yards, accounted for two scores and led timely scoring drives, the defence made life difficult for the league's No. 1 offence, and a blocked punt set up what may have been the winning TD if not for Stafford's brilliance.
All that to say, the Panthers were right in it until the end against one of the Super Bowl favourites.
Fourth-down aggressiveness backfires
While going for it on fourth down always brings the crowd to its feet, it can very easily sit them back down, wondering what just happened.
The latter was often the case on Saturday, with a handful of failed fourth-down conversions leading to touchdowns by the opposition.
It's not that this is a new trend for the post-season. Quite the opposite, actually. Carolina was second in the NFL in fourth-down attempts, the Rams 11th and the Bears 12th. But sometimes it's good to get points on the board.
Let's start in the early slate. The Panthers tried to set the tone on the first possession of the game by trying to convert on fourth-and-short from midfield.
The result: an incomplete pass that set the Rams up with great field position as they marched down in four plays to take an early 7-0 lead.
Then late in the second quarter, the Rams faced fourth down in the red zone, and a field goal would have put them up 20-7. Instead, Sean McVay gave Stafford the fourth-down play call through the headset, and the Panthers' defence made a stop.
On the ensuing drive, the Panthers drove down the field and made it a three-point game before the half.
In the night game, the Packers were the beneficiary of the Bears' aggressiveness, particularly in the first half.
Chicago failed to convert on fourth down three times in the second quarter alone, with the first two leading to Packers touchdowns.
Already down 21-3 with the quarter winding down, the Bears' third failed conversion led to a last-second field goal attempt by Green Bay to close out the half. Luckily for the Bears, McManus' kick sailed wide left, keeping it an 18-point game.
Now, not every attempted conversion can be attributed to aggressiveness – circumstances play a key role as well. 20 k.p.h winds in Chicago make long field goals far more difficult, so as the coach, you place trust in your offence. Being down 18 in the first half will also add pressure to go for it.
But as we saw on Saturday, aggressiveness doesn't always equal success.
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