Windy City Gridiron
Note: We have a special edition this week! Since Week 18 is a fairly new things I’ve expanded our dive back into history to include games that took place around the same date as our Week 18 game will take place this year, as well as including some Week 17 games. Enjoy!
The 2001 season had a lot of watershed moments, but maybe one of the more memorable moments came in the regular season finale when the 12-3 Bears hit the road to end the season against the 6-9 Jacksonville Jaguars.
With a shot to wrap up the #1 seed in the NFC with a win and a Rams loss, the Bears went all in week 17.
And it showed up across the board.
Jim Miller had a effeicient game, the “A-Train” Anthony Thomas ran for 160 yards and a touchdown, the defense sacked Jaguars quarterback Mark Brunell 4 times, and forced 3 Burnell interceptions, with Jerry Azumah, Rosevelt Colvin, and the big man Keith Traylor pawing a ball out of the air for an interception.
Traylor would cut up field, chugging his way down the field, and at one point even considered lateralling the ball to a teammate Jerry Azumah, but thought better of it.
The Bears would turn the interception into 7 points, as just 2 plays later Jim Miller found David Terrell for a 9-yard touchdown.
The Bears would go on to close out the Jaguars 33-13, heading into the playoffs on a high note, capping a magical regular season that was unfortunately ended by the Philadelphia Eagles 2 weeks late.
This one should still be fresh in everyone’s minds.
Mired in a 10 game losing streak, in a season that saw both offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and head coach Matt Eberflus fired, the Bears closed out the season in Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers, who had locked a playoff spot but still could avoid the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles with a win in week 18 and a Commanders loss.
The game played out very similar to their first meeting in week 11, with the Bears surrendering a 4th quarter lead late.
In both games Caleb Williams and the Bears offense engineered potential game winning drives, with the Week 11 game coming down to a blocked kick to seal the game for the Packers.
Week 18, however flipped the script.
Aided by a 15-yard horse collar tackle by Kingsley Enagbare on the drives first play, the Bears drove 47 yards in 6 plays in 45 seconds to put kicker Cairo Santos in position to kick a game winning 51-yard field goal as time expired.
The kick was true, and Cairo and the Bears snapped an 11 game losing streak, the longest by either team in the rivalry, and...
