Bears stun Packers in Moore's walk-off overtime touchdown

Mark Hoffman - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 2 hours ago

CHICAGO - What better way to kick off week 16 of the NFL season than by having the Green Bay Packers (9-5-1) face off against the Chicago Bears (11-4) with the NFC North on the line. These two historic franchises not only have the NFL's oldest rivalry, but have been part of plenty of big games in the past.

Apart from the 2010 NFC Championship game, which was also played at Soldier Field, you would find it difficult to find another game as big as this one was, and boy did it live up to the hype. After watching the Bears look lifeless most of the game and trailing by 10 in the fourth, it was the same old cardiac Bears coming through when it mattered.

Not only did they recover an onside kick to help set up the game tying touchdown to Jahdae Walker to force overtime, but then the Bears turned the Packers away on their only drive in overtime as a botched exchange between Malik Willis who entered in place of Jordan Love who left with a concussion and Emmanuel Wilson fell to the ground, resulting in a Bears stop.

It was what the Bears did with that stop that stands out, as the Bears' almost-fumble two plays later resulted in a Kyle Monangai first down to set the Bears up in Packers territory. One play later, it was Williams going for the kill, finding DJ Moore for the 46-yard touchdown to walk off the Packers 22-16 and seize control of the North with just two games to go.

These are the types of wins that build character, and for a team that was down its two best receivers and hasn't done much winning, this was about as big as it gets, given the landscape. Apart from both teams turning the ball over on downs to open the game, there wasn't much offense from the Bears in the first half, as two Brandon McManus field goals saw the Packers take a 6-0 lead into the half.

It was the second half when the real fun started as a huge 35-yard screen pass to Monangai put the Bears in business, which led to their first points of the night on a long Cairo Santos field goal. Even with Love leaving the game in the first half with a concussion, Willis was no slouch as the Bears had a challenging time corralling him in the pocket.

Not known as a thrower, Willis did throw several great passes, including a pair of first-down strikes to Luke Musgrave, to help move the ball into the Bears' red zone. Several plays later, it was the Bears coming away with a huge stop as Nahshon Wright knocked the ball out of Josh Jacobs hands inside the five as Tremaine Edmunds fell on it to kill a potential Packers scoring drive.

Chicago was unable to do anything on its next possession, punting the ball back to Green Bay and allowing the Packers to push the lead back out. What started with some nice runs by Emmanuel Wilson resulted in a long touchdown pass from Willis to Romeo Doubs as the Packers opened up a 13-3 lead late in the third.

With both teams exchanging field goals on the next two possessions, the Packers maintained their 10-point advantage as they took a 16-6 lead into the fourth. This is when things began to turn in favor of the Bears, as Williams was looking for his first Williams moment in the NFL, and this may be the game that gave him that moment.

Sure, he continued to be inconsistent with his accuracy, but he still knows how to make the throws needed to move the chains as Cole Kmet hauled in a first-down catch. Williams appeared to find Olamide Zaccheus later on the drive, only to have the ball hit him right in the hands and fall to the turf.

Chicago appeared have their drive stall later on when Williams was brought down for a sack, only to have a facemask bail him out to keep things alive as Santos knocked home his third field goal of the game to pull the Bears within seven. With that field goal taking up too much time off the clock, the Bears' only hope of winning this game was to recover an onside kick, which is becoming a rarity in today's game.

Go figure that the Bears would find a way to recover that kick, as Doubs was unable to field the ball cleanly, resulting in a Josh Blackwell recovery and putting the Bears in position to shock Green Bay. Expected to go to the air, Williams did just that as he found both Coleston Loveland and Moore for a pair of first downs as the Bears were moving closer to the endzone.

With several incompletions setting the Bears up for another fourth-down play, it was now or never for the Bears to top the Packers, as this came down to one play. With the Packers bringing an all-out blitz to move Williams out of the pocket, Williams did his best Stephen Curry impression as he faded away and lofted a pass to Walker, who was wide open in the back of the endzone to haul in his first career score, and just like that, things were tied 16-16 and heading to overtime.

Walker may have had just two receptions for 21 yards, but he made his second reception count, as that was by far the biggest reception of his young career. With all the momentum on their side, Chicago won the coin toss in overtime and elected to kick off rather than receive. Looking to strike first in the extra frame, it was Willis going deep to Jayden Reed, who hauled in a massive 31-yard reception to move the ball into Chicago territory.

That was as close as they would get, as the Bears' defense tightened up, leading to Green Bay fumbling the handoff on fourth down and turning the ball over to Chicago. With the ball in their hands and needing just a field goal to win, Chicago came out doing what they do best as D'Andre Swift started the drive with an eight-yard gain as part of his 58-yard night, only to have Monangai break through to cap off his 50-yard performance with another first down.

Instead of trying to run more clock by going to the ground, Ben Johnson trusted his young quarter back to make a play and boy did Williams deliver as he found Moore in man on man coverage against Keishawn Nixon once again and this time it was Moore coming down with the 46-yard touchdown to end the game as the Bears walked off the Packers 22-16.

With the win, Chicago continues to lead the NFC North, now by 1.5 games with two games left to play. The Bears are one win away from clinching a playoff berth. Chicago can get in this weekend should the Detroit Lions lose to the Steelers, as things are getting exciting in the Windy City.