👋 Good morning!
Do you believe in miracles?
Yes!
That’s about as unbelievable as it gets.
And we get to do it all over again next weekend at Soldier Field.
Survived…And Advanced.
This one had everything: a snowglobe flurry before kickoff, a catastrophically slow start for the Bears in the first half, Jordan Love collapsing in the second half and another miraculous comeback for Caleb Williams and company.
Am I missing anything?
The Iceman Cometh: Williams wasn’t perfect. But he was damn good when the Bears needed him most.
The QB finished the game 24-for-48 passing with 361 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. And as he’s done so many (seven!) times this year, Williams made a miracle happen again.
The Bears’ 18-point comeback was their largest in franchise postseason history. Their previous best was coming back from a seven-point deficit.
Ben Johnson on Caleb Williams: “As always, Caleb came through for us. He made some big-time throws in some critical situations. Guys made some big catches. Guys up front protecting. I mean, you get in the spot where you're down a little bit and you know you got to throw it a little bit more and you need the big guys to bow up and give us a clean pocket, and it took the entire offense to get that job done.”
We Overcame, We Saw, We Conquered: Let’s run through the things that went wrong for the Bears.
You had the failed fourth-down attempt from their own 32 in the second quarter. You had the Packers’ perfect first half on third down. T.J. Edwards was carted off the field after a grotesque leg injury in the second quarter. Williams threw not one but two interceptions on fourth down. The Packers fumbled the ball three times: the Bears did not recover it once.
But the Bears played a disciplined brand of football down the stretch.
They let the Packers make the mistakes when the going got tough. And after a week filled with trash talk out of Green Bay, the Bears let the final result do the talking.
Ben Johnson on the trash talk: “There was probably a little bit more noise coming out of their building up north to start the week, which we heard loud and clear, players and coaches alike. This one meant something to us.”
Caleb Williams on the Packers’…karma: “They wanted us. That's what I heard. They wanted it and they got it.”
I’ve covered this team for two years. I’m the youngster on the beat. Yet DJ Moore’s touchdown reception to put the Bears ahead with a minute left was the first time anybody in here’s ever felt the press box literally shake.
Genuinely swaying.
Even Al Michaels said it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced in Chicago.
Williams was truly terrific in crunch time. But Colston Loveland deserves his flowers, too. He’s a true quarterback’s best friend. Every QB loves a safety valve tight end. Loveland is that and more.
He finished with eight receptions on 15 targets for 137 yards. He also reeled in a bullet from Williams on a two-point conversion.
Williams on Loveland: “We got a home run with him, and that's something coach said the other day to me. We were sitting in his office, and everybody goes back to draft night. Why did we get Colston Loveland and why did we do this and why did we do that? It's Colston Loveland, you know what I mean?”
Injury Updates: T.J. Edwards (fibula) and Ozzy Trapilo (patellar) suffered season-ending injuries.
Could Last Night Get Any Better? Apparently, it could. About halfway through the third quarter of the Bears’ comeback, news broke (via ESPN) that the Cubs had inked three-time All-Star 3B Alex Bregman to a five-year deal worth $175 million.
Bregman signed a deal with the Boston Red Sox last offseason after nine seasons with the Houston Astros, slashing .273/.360/.462 with 18 home runs in 114 games. He exercised an opt-out in his multi-year deal at the end of the season.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, who attended the Bears game last night, posted on his Instagram story: “Bears and BREGMAN, what is my life?!”
Blackhawks 3, Predators 0: Connor Bedard is officially back.
It took him a game to get his sea legs under him, but with the Blackhawks battling a nasty flu bug, Bedard and company still got the job done.
Bedard made an unreal play near the corner boards, putting on a show before scooting the puck over to a wide-open Tyler Bertuzzi for an easy tap-in goal. Bedard made another wicked pass to Nick Lardis in the high slot, who wristed home his fourth of the year. Ryan Greene added an empty-netter for good measure.
And how about Drew Commesso? The Blackhawks’ AHL starter got the call-up to the big leagues on Friday night when Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom both went down with the passing bug.
Commesso allowed five goals in Friday night’s loss, but rebounded with his first career shutout in his third career start, stopping all 36 shots he faced.
Bulls 125, Mavericks 107: Did anybody watch this game live? I’d love to see the ratings for this one.
The main points: The court was not the consistency of butter, like it was on Thursday night when the Bulls’ game was postponed due to court conditions. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was ejected in the first quarter. The Bulls led the entire game.
Not bad.
Coby White led the Bulls with 22 points, Nikola Vucevic scored 15 points and hauled in 12 rebounds and Ayo Dosunmu added 20 points off the bench.
If you missed the game but want to watch with the CHGO Bulls fellas, we’re doing a live re-watch watchalong on YouTube at 2:30 p.m. today! Should be a blast.
🐻 Hoge & Jahns
11:00 on YouTube
📺 CHGO Bulls
Re-Watchalong
2:30 on YouTube
Something on your mind? Rate this issue and leave a comment, question or topic to discuss!
Talk to you tomorrow!
– P.N.
