It was a win for the Bears, but turning the ball over five times is a brutal pill to swallow.
In an MVP-or-bust season for Caleb Williams, Sunday night delivered pure whiplash against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — called by emergency replacement Noah Eagle after Mike Tirico was sidelined by an undisclosed health issue.
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Conventional wisdom says coughing up five turnovers gets you beat every single time, but Chicago found a way to grind out a 27-24 victory. Williams’ first career four-interception game nearly doomed Chicago. But even in a messy performance, Caleb proved he can survive three quarters of disastrous football and still win.
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After the Bears built an early 14-0 lead, the offense stalled, opening the door for Tampa Bay to pull even.
Just when a flat-footed Chicago squad looked completely stalled out late in the third quarter, cornerback Jaylon Johnson made Baker Mayfield pay for his recklessness, baiting the quarterback into a crushing 67-yard pick-six that kept momentum swinging like a pendulum.
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Yet when everything threatened to collapse after a late Tampa Bay surge, Williams rallied.
With 2:51 left and the game knotted at 24, he put together an eight-play, 49-yard drive — highlighted by a 38-yard strike to Colston Loveland — to set up Cairo Santos for the walk-off 38-yard field goal.
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Afterward, Williams was entirely unmoved by the turnover-heavy night.
“I’m going to throw until I can’t throw anymore,” Williams said on the postgame podium. He wrapped up his night with 279 yards, two touchdown passes and four picks.
For Tampa Bay, Mayfield choked away the defense’s impressive outing. Sacked four times with zero touchdowns, his 243-yard meltdown proved Tampa Bay’s QB1 experiment is running on fumes. With an upcoming bye week, the 7-2 Bears get two full weeks to let this five-turnover scare fade into the rearview mirror.
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