The first week of the 2025 regular season had everyone thinking that this was the same old Chicago Bears that they had grown accustomed to, the ones who routinely lost divisional games and missed out on the playoffs. After they found themselves trailing 14-9 early in the third quarter to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4, it certainly seemed as if that trend was continuing.
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Thankfully, for both Caleb Williams and the rest of his sleuth, things turned around in the back half of the contest. Even though their first drive of the second half was immediately hindered by a pair of penalties and incomplete passes, Williams was somehow able to connect with his fellow sophomore, Rome Odunze, in the middle of the field for a 27-yard touchdown pass on what proved to be a critical third down during their 25-24 win.
What you don’t see with this TD pass from Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze is that he had to overcome a few penalties on the drive.
No. 18 is battling
pic.twitter.com/s9prNTPCGp— Dave (@dave_bfr) September 28, 2025
On the first play of the drive, D’Andre Swift committed a face mask penalty that set them back 15 yards. The following play yielded an incomplete pass from Williams, but he promptly recovered with a 17-yard completion to his veteran wide out, D.J. Moore.
Just two plays later, however, Chicago would receive yet another penalty. A false start from Theo Benedet would set them back another five yards, and that was followed by yet another incomplete pass from Williams.
It seemed as if their drive was beginning to fall a part. Nevertheless, Williams was able to make the most of what the defense gave him.
The Raiders did their best to fight back, and even managed to reclaim the lead on the very next drive thanks to a nine-yard touchdown pass from Geno Smith to Ashton Jeanty. Once the two combatants had managed to trade a pair of successful field goal attempts, Las Vegas found themselves clinging onto a five point lead with a little less than seven minutes remaining in the contest.
Nevertheless, Williams was able to guide Chicago through yet another up-and-down drive that ultimately resulted in a two-yard touchdown rush from Swift. That left the Raiders with just one minute and 34 seconds to put points on the board.
Las Vegas was actually able to put itself in scoring position, but after their veteran kicker, Daniel Carlson, had lined himself up for a game-winning field goal try, his attempt would be blocked by Chicag0’s special teams unit.
Caleb Williams and DJ Moore after the potential game winning FG is blocked pic.twitter.com/GCc7lA6uVe
— Dave (@dave_bfr) September 28, 2025
As their 2-2 record would suggest, the Bears are far from perfect, but they’ve now proven themselves capable of beating the lesser teams in the league. In fact, this is the first time that Chicago has managed to produce back-to-back wins since Weeks 5 and 6 of the 2024 regular season, and when you look at their point totals, they seem to be trending upwards.
Suffice to say, this is no longer a team that folks can afford to sleep on. Even if NFL fans refuse to acknowledge them, the other 31 teams throughout the league will have no choice but to take them seriously come Sunday afternoon.
