If you’re still clutching your chest after Cairo Santos drilled that 48-yarder to walk off the Vikings, congrats — you’re officially alive for Bears football in 2025. The Monsters of the Midway are 7-3, sitting on top of the NFC North like it’s 2018, and winning games like a team that’s got no business being this damn good. Here’s five stats from the Bears’ Week 11 win that’ll make go “WTF????”
1. Bears’ Turnover Margin is Straight-Up Criminal
+16 turnover margin. You read that right. This isn’t some stat padded against bad teams — it’s a bloodbath. In their seven wins, they’ve outscored opponents 21-2 in turnovers. That’s a turnover margin of +19 in victories alone. That’s not just good, it’s “someone call the league office because this ain’t fair” level.
Kevin Byard snagged his fifth pick of the year — NFL leader through Week 11 — and Nahshon Wright went full Superman in the end zone with an emotional, high-point INT that doubled as a tribute to his late coach. The secondary is flying, and the defense is hitting like it’s personal. Because it is.
Denis Allen’s defense isn’t just forcing mistakes — they’re manufacturing chaos.
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2. One Division Win All of Last Year. One Already This Week.
This was Chicago’s first NFC North win of 2025, and it already matches their entire division output from last season. Want more pain? They had just three total division wins combined across the past two seasons. Now? They’ve got the same number of division wins in one November night as they had in all of 2024.
Also wild: The Bears are 5-1 in one-score games after going 3-7 last year. Mental toughness ain’t in the box score, but it’s written all over this team’s fourth quarter. Ben Johnson has them finishing games like closers. Not pretty, but clutch as hell.
3. Cairo Santos Broke Robbie Gould’s Record… and Then Almost Cost the Game
Cairo Santos now owns the Bears’ franchise record for 50+ yard field goals with 24. He did it in half the time Gould took. The man’s been money.
Except when he wasn’t. Santos missed a 45-yarder late in the 4th that would’ve iced it. Instead, the Vikings punched back and took the lead with 50 seconds left. But like a kicker with ice in his veins, Santos nailed the 48-yard dagger as time expired. Redemption arc? Damn straight.
He went 4-for-5 with makes from 54, 48, 38, and 33. The best kicker in Bears history? At this point, probably.
4. Bears Rushed 39 Times, Dominated Time of Possession, and Still Almost Choked
You rush 39 times, own the clock, and your quarterback is the No. 1 overall pick… you should win comfortably, right? Not in Chicago.
The Bears ran 39 times for 140 yards, with D’Andre Swift leading the charge at 90 yards on 21 carries. Kyle Monangai chipped in with the lone TD. They doubled up Minnesota on rush attempts and still ended up sweating the finish.
Third down? A mess. 7-of-18. Red zone? Nonexistent. They kept settling for field goals and let J.J. McCarthy — who played like a deer in headlights for three quarters — hang around until the 4th. That’s not sustainable.
But it is very Bears.
5. Devin Duvernay’s 56-Yard Return Saved the Damn Game
Down 17-16 with 50 seconds left, Chicago needed a miracle. Devin Duvernay gave them one.
He housed a 56-yard kickoff return to the Vikings’ 40 — Minnesota’s longest allowed since 2022 — and flipped the field so hard the Vikings’ special teams still don’t know what hit them. One D’Andre Swift run later, and Santos trotted out for the game-winner.
Duvernay earned a game ball, and maybe a key to the city. “I just saw green grass and my eyes lit up,” he said. So did every Bears fan with a pulse.
The Final Verdict
Caleb Williams had his worst game of the season — 16-of-32 for 193 yards — and the Bears still won. That’s what good teams do. They win when the plan goes sideways. They win when the star QB’s off. They win when it’s ugly.
This team finds heroes in different corners every week. First it was the defense. Then Santos. Then Duvernay. Ben Johnson has built a culture where “next man up” isn’t a cliche — it’s the playbook.
7-3. Top of the North. And they still haven’t played their best game.
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This is a good list except the very least part. This wasn’t Caleb’s worst game, it was his second worst, his worst game was the win against the Saints.
@Veece I agree. Hitting the little passes and taking what the defense gives you nitpicks at a defense all game long and is just as frustrating as hitting a deep ball with some acrobatic throw on the run. Plus it helps keep the defense off the field because they are like extended runs. As a fan it ticks me off when our opponent isn’t doing anything exciting but they steadily and easily dink and dunk all the way down the field to the tune of a 15 play TD drive. It sucks the life out of a defense, not to… Read more »
Winning changes perspective on a lot of things. Say Santos misses the FG. Everyone would be talking about how McCarthy came back from double digit scores to beat us now TWICE, and a lot of people would have put a lot of blame on Caleb as well. Instead, people are saying that Caleb didn’t light up the stat sheet but he’s still growing etc. I love Caleb and believe he’s our long term QB as I still view this as Caleb’s true rookie season, but my point is; winning cures everything. Even when our QB puts up his worst game… Read more »
@Veece: If the Bears were clicking on all cylinders, making all their plays, and were 7-3, that would be all right, I guess. This is better – they know things are wrong, they know what things are wrong, and they have the coaching staff to fix those things. Once they do, their ceiling is not sky high, it’s outer space high. @Ficky: Duvernet didn’t save the game. If he had an average KO return at the end, Caleb could have gotten the necessary yards to put them in field goal range. But Duvernet had the opportunity to make a great… Read more »