👋 Good morning!
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when Caleb turns the final five minutes to hours?”
Ben Johnson said it best in his postgame locker room breakdown: “He's got ice in his veins. And if you don't believe it now, you just wait. The best is yet to come. 18!"
The head coach isn’t wrong. Four game-winning drives for Caleb Williams is tied for the most in the NFL this season with Broncos QB Bo Nix and Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield.
Good stuff.
When The Gales Of November Came Early
It wasn’t always pretty. But pretty doesn’t pave the way to the postseason. The Bears are 6-3 and have nothing to apologize for after another close victory, this time over the New York Giants.
The Real Mr. Unlimited: As we’ve come to expect down the stretch in tight games, Caleb Williams turned it up to another level. And when his receivers and backs dropped a league-high six passes on Sunday, Williams called his own number twice in the final five minutes to give the Bears a chance to crawl back and win, including the go-ahead 17-yard touchdown run with 1:47 left.
Ben Johnson on Williams: “The more time we spend together, we watch the tape and we go over every play in practice, every play in the game, he and I are seeing it exactly the same. He knows when he should step up and try to just dump the ball down to a check-down right away. I thought he did that a couple times here today.
“And then other times where the rush is on him pretty quick and he's got to do something special. That's the unique thing about his skill set is he's got that ability. As a play caller, certainly it helps me out because I don't feel like I need to be perfect with these play calls. He's going to make these things right.”
As mentioned earlier, Sunday marked Williams’ fourth game-winning drive of the season and the fifth of his career, including Week 18 in Green Bay to end his rookie season. Yesterday’s was the first completed at home.
Williams said Sunday: “It doesn't matter the deficit we're at. It doesn't matter how much we're up. It doesn't matter what happened throughout the game. We can come through as a team, and that's what we did today.”
‘With A Crew & Good Captain Well Seasoned’: Suddenly, through 10 weeks, the Bears already have more wins this season than all of last year. And while they’re not quite to the level of blowing their opponents out, the way in which they’re winning games is building a winning culture.
Ben Johnson said: “I told the guys in the locker room (after the game), it really feels like I'm on repeat here, just these guys are finding a way to fight until the end and win these games.
“Once again, not our prettiest game. We had a number of things go on, drops on offense, and just we weren't playing consistent or efficient football on that side, and then defensively we had a couple explosives. They doubled up on us at halftime there with the field goal before the half, and then the touchdown out of halftime.
“It's easy to feel the momentum swing in their favor, and yet our guys didn't waver. They stayed consistent with it and fought until the end.”
Bears safety Kevin Byard III said after the win: “I think culture is defined when you’re facing adversity. We’ve faced adversity a ton this year and we’ve been able to overcome every single time. That just lets you know what type of team we have. The belief is always there. ... This is the 2025 Chicago Bears. It hasn’t been pretty at times, but the belief is there."
Williams’ stat line won’t jump off the page. He finished just 20-for-36 passing with 220 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions with 63 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground.
But the tape tells a different story. He was as accurate as possible in harsh elements and continually gave his guys a chance despite their struggles to consistently execute.
The elements really did play a significant factor, too. The temperature at noon was 32ºF with a “real feel” of about 20ºF due to a strong lake-effect wind with some snow flurries throughout the day.
Bears kicker Cairo Santos only attempted one field goal: a successful 22-yarder. Anything from 40-plus would’ve been an adventure for either team’s kicker.
And I’d be willing to bet that some of the drops by Bears receivers had something to do with a rock-solid, slippery football. Still, Caleb Williams can’t throw and catch it. He wasn’t going to toss anybody under the bus on Sunday, but he needs his receivers to be able to make those plays when he’s putting them in position.
That said? Rookie tight end Colston Loveland had no problem hauling it in when his number was called, including on a critical third-and-10 to keep the offense’s second-to-last drive alive. Loveland made one heck of a two-handed grab surrounded by Giants defenders for a 20-yard gain. He finished with four receptions for 55 yards.
Blackhawks 5, Red Wings 1: There’s a new league-wide points leader in town, and his name is Connor Bedard.
That’s right. Through 16 games, Bedard leads all scorers with 25 points on nine goals and 16 assists.
Bedard tied San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini momentarily on Friday with a four-point performance against the Calgary Flames. He overtook Celebrini with three more points against the Red Wings on Sunday.
Blackhawks backup goaltender Arvid Soderblom was exceptional in Detroit, picking up 45 saves in his first win since October 15th.
Tyler Bertuzzi stayed hot with his sixth goal in his last three games. Oliver Moore also scored the first goal of his NHL career.
The Blackhawks capped off their six-game road trip with a three-game winning streak to finish it 3-2-1. They’re finally back home on Wednesday night for a late-night start against the New Jersey Devils.
Also, a quick thank you to my very good friend and CHGO Diehard, Dylan B, for his help with some of the references to Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on the 50th anniversary of the ship’s tragic sinking in Lake Superior.
🐻 Hoge & Jahns
9:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bears
1:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Cubs
2:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Blackhawks
2:30 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Stars
3:30 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Fire
4:15 on YouTube
📺 CHGO White Sox
5:15 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bulls
Pregame at 6:30 on YouTube
🏀 Bulls vs. Spurs
7:00 on CHSN
📺 CHGO Bears After Dark
7:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bulls
Postgame on YouTube
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Talk to you tomorrow!
– P.N.
