The Chicago Bears had a major get-right win against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday fueled by the return of quarterback Caleb Williams and cornerback Kyler Gordon ahead of a defining stretch that includes three straight primetime games.

It was important for the Bears to showcase their identity in this game and not overlook a Falcons team while playing on the road. For all things considered, the Bears were able to get that done on Sunday, but Chicago certainly made things a lot closer than it needed to be.

The Bears were flat out dominating this game from the opening drive. Caleb Williams started the game 12/12 passing and led the team to a 14-0 lead in a hurry. Defensively, the Bears played really well in containing Bijan Robinson, even without four starters.

This had the makings of the kind of blowout win that head coach Ben Johnson wanted to see more of from his team this season. Until the final 12 minutes of the game.

Bears nearly had a disastrous fourth quarter collapse on Sunday, and it’s their own fault

With just over 12 minutes remaining in the final quarter of play, the Bears held a 31-7 lead over the Falcons and were ready to start the buses. However, they quickly learned that this is the NFL, not a high school football game where you can just throw in the JV players for the final few minutes of a game with a running clock to get them some playing time on a Friday night.

That’s essentially what the Bears did on Sunday. On the Falcons’ tenth offensive drive of the game, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen pulled the starters and put depth players such as Josh Blackwell, Skyler Thomas, Nick McCloud, and Jack Sanborn out on the field. Michael Penix Jr. marched the Falcons 91 yards in eight plays against that group, scoring a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion in just over 2.5 minutes.

The following offensive drive, Roschon Johnson coughed up a fumble, giving the ball back to Atlanta with 7:11 remaining in a two possession game. The Bears quickly realized the sudden change in momentum and put the defensive starters back on the field.

That didn’t prevent Penix from leading another touchdown drive in five plays to cut the lead down to eight points with 5:41 still remaining in the game. The following offensive drive for Chicago lasted three plays and took just over two minutes off the clock, handing the ball back to a suddenly red-hot Falcons offense with 3.5 minutes to tie the game.

Fortunately, Chicago’s defense got a stop thanks to a fumble forced by Kyler Gordon on third-and-16. Chicago took over with 2:54 remaining and ran the clock out to leave Atlanta with a one-possession win instead of the blowout it could have been.

Ben Johnson explains the late game decision-making

It was a lesson learned for Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen. In the NFL, the game isn’t over until the clocks hit zero. If you mess around, you’ll quickly find out. The Bears took the foot off the gas on Sunday and it nearly backfired.

It’s like watching an Olympic track race when the runner in first place starts celebrating before the finish line only to see a more determined runner pass them at the last second. That’s what nearly happened.

After the game, Johnson explained why the team pulled the starters. In theory, it makes sense, but again you can’t take those chances in this league.

“Yeah, you’re trying to thread the needle a little bit,” Johnson told reporters after the game. “If we didn’t have the Thursday night game, I don’t know that we would do things like we did. So that’s part of the equation. . .

I do believe if we hadn’t had that fumble on offense then maybe we would have gotten out of there the way that we wanted. We know that’s the case, especially with an offense like that. Once again we were trying to thread the needle and do what’s best for us. We had to win the game first and foremost – which we did – but of course we wanted to think long-term also.”

Big-picture-wise, I get it. We’ve seen valuable players go down with major injuries late in games that are well out of reach and fans are quick to say “why is that guy still out there.” It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. The good news is, the Bears were quick to recognize the shift in momentum and came through on the final key plays to seal the win.

“I’m not surprised at all by how our guys responded,” Johnson explained. “When we get punched in the face, this locker room comes back to fix and execute. It took a complete team effort across all three phases… A total team win, but on a short week, we have to enjoy it on the flight home and quickly turn the page.”

The Bears turned the page a little too quickly on Sunday to Thursday’s game against the defending AFC champs. A decision like that could have easily caused the Bears to drop to 3-3 instead of 4-2. Great teams don’t make those kind of mistakes and it better be a lesson learned the next time the Bears are in this kind of situation again.