After another sack, Caleb Williams separated himself from the ground, signaled his receivers and, with 15 seconds remaining and the Bears trailing by three, lined up behind center. The clock kept ticking and coach Matt Eberflus did nothing to stop it, despite calling timeouts.
With five seconds left, Williams pounced and threw a deep pass. The ball remained incomplete as the clock reached zero.
The Bears’ Thanksgiving loss to the Lions was the highlight of Eberflus’s tenure and Williams’ career. Eberflus was fired the next day. However, exactly 365 days after the loss at Ford Field, Williams will be in a whole lot better shape when he takes the field in Philadelphia on Friday.
He is being sacked less than half the times compared to last season. They had more wins by Veterans Day than the Bears the previous year. They are on a four-match winning streak for the second time this season.
Amazingly, the same quarterback who contributed to the league’s biggest game-clock mistake last year is playing at his best in the final seconds of the game. The Bears have compiled an astonishing 8–3 record, winning games by one point (twice), two points, three points, four points and five points.
Williams was inspired last Thanksgiving by the man on the opposite sideline — coach Ben Johnson, who was the Lions’ offensive coordinator at the time.
“We have confidence in each other, but you have to have confidence in your coaches,” Williams said. “Between us, you do a lot on the field, and we’re coming away with these wins. These recent games have been a little closer than we wanted, but that’s the NFL.”
Johnson joked that he doesn’t have a long-term memory – “It was good for Detroit” was the most specific memory he could muster – but he can appreciate how far he’s come in the last 365 days. Or will appreciate it one day.
“These are the things, during the summer, when I get a chance to drink a beer on a nice, warm day, I can think about and reflect on things from the past,” Johnson said.
It seems like it’s been forever for Johnson and the franchise.
“It feels like a long time ago,” he said. “(I’m) really happy with where we are here and what we’re building right now.”
The Bears’ schedule is built for Williams to take the next step. This season they have yet to beat a team that has won more than six; Every opponent remaining on its schedule has at least seven wins, starting with the 8-3 Eagles.
Playing the defending Super Bowl champions in a premiership — the Bears are the only NFL game on Black Friday — doesn’t change the calculus for Williams.
“You don’t look out there (and) compare yourself to their record, their team, their coach, their players or anything like that,” Williams said. “We focus on ourselves. We focus on ourselves. We focus on our details…
“When you do that consistently, you’ll eventually get the right results. So that’s what we focus on.”
Last year it seemed as if anything could happen but it was not so.
“Last year at that time, I definitely couldn’t see that far (ahead),” safety Kevin Byrd III said. “It’s definitely one of those scenarios where you take all the adversity and come out on the other side of it. It feels great.”
Last Thanksgiving “was a terrible feeling for everyone involved in our organization,” wide receiver Rome Odunze said.
Whether Friday marks the continuation of the playoff race or the beginning of the end, the Bears and Williams are light-years ahead of last year.
“It definitely makes you grateful for the work we’ve done and the people we have in this building and organization and where we are now,” Odunze said.
The Bears bullied the defending Super Bowl champions into submission, adding a shade of blue to Black Friday.
Johnson promised his team would be ready in December, and at 9-3 with the win over the Eagles, there is no doubt he is right.
The Bears’ inactive list was academic Friday afternoon, 90 minutes before the start of their game against the Eagles.
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