The Chicago Bears were dead in the water. Even after Cairo Santos hit a tough field goal to make it a one-score game, nobody expected it to matter. The Bears had failed to save the two-minute warning and were running out of time—that left head coach Ben Johnson with a tough decision. Kick deep and hope his defense could get a quick stop, which they hadn’t done all night, or go for the onside kick. They went with the latter, and Josh Blackwell miraculously recovered it. From there, Caleb Williams and D.J. Moore went to work.
The pair hooked up on the next drive on a 20-yard pass, getting into the red zone. A few plays later, Williams beat a Packers blitz to Jahdae Walker for the game-tying touchdown. The game went to overtime. After a strong start to their drive, Green Bay faced 4th and 1 from the Bears’ 36. Green Bay went for it, but botched the snap, turning it over on downs. Four plays later, Williams went to Moore deep.
On the surface, that play meant so much. It was the Bears’ first win against the Packers at Soldier Field since 2018. It put the team in control of the NFC North. However, for Williams and Moore, it meant more because of who they beat to make it happen. Packers safety Keishan Nixon first drew their attention two weeks ago when he intercepted Williams’ final pass in Green Bay to prevent overtime. However, the defensive back made it personal with a cheap shot on Moore in the first half.
Caleb Williams and DJ Moore kept the receipts.
The quarterback knew Nixon never should’ve gotten that interception in the first matchup. He put too much air on the ball to Cole Kmet, which gave the defender time to catch up. Yet Nixon decided to act like he was Ronnie Lott all of a sudden with that hit on Moore. You can bet money the Bears were waiting for an opportunity to go after him. The fact that it came on the most pivotal play of the season seems incredibly poetic. Nixon has no excuse. He was in good coverage.
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It just didn’t matter.
Caleb Williams and D.J. Moore have always been on the same page this season. Some have wondered if the two have some kind of disconnect tracing back to last year. It wasn’t a secret that Moore didn’t want the Bears to trade Justin Fields. Still, they seem to have found their groove after Rome Odunze and Luther Burden went down with injuries. Now the Bears are a Lions loss away from the playoffs and Green Bay is left wondering what’s next. Maybe Nixon will keep it clean next time.
