Bears final drive: Ben Johnson's puzzling clock management, Caleb Williams INT leads to loss to Packers

Teddy Ricketson

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Bears final drive: Ben Johnson's puzzling clock management, Caleb Williams INT leads to loss to Packers image

Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 28-21 in Week 14 of the 2025 NFL season. The win flips the top of the NFC North, and now Green Bay sits with the division lead heading into Week 15. The loss hurts the Bears, who go from the No. 1 seed in the NFC to the No. 7 seed. 

The Packers were in control most of the game, scoring the first points of the game in the second quarter. The Bears were down and not out and battled back into the game. Chicago scored a game-tying touchdown with eight minutes left in the game. After Cairo Santos knocked through the extra point, the game was tied at 21 points apiece. 

The Bears' defense couldn't stop the Packers' offense, and Green Bay used 4:28 to drive the field and score. This put Chicago in a familiar place, needing a fourth-quarter score to either try to force the game into overtime or go for a risky play and win. When the dust settled, Chicago came up short in an uncharacteristic fashion.

Here is more on how the Bears' self-inflicted errors on the final drive led to the Week 14 loss to the Packers. 

MORE: Updated AFC, NFC playoff pictures in Week 14

Bears final drive vs. Packers

The Packers scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter to gain a seven-point lead. The Bears got the ball back with 3:32 left on the clock and all three timeouts left. 

Chicago started the drive hot as quarterback Caleb Williams hit rookie wide receiver Luther Burden for 27 yards. 

After an incompletion, Williams again threw the ball down the field, this time finding Devin Duvernay for a 24-yard gain to get to the Green Bay 23-yard line and the two-minute warning. 

Backup running back Kyle Monangai had a carry for six yards out of the break. He picked up three yards on second down. With 35 seconds left in the game and facing third-and-one, head coach Ben Johnson drew up another run by Monangai, but he got stuffed at the line. This forced Johnson to use his first timeout with 27 seconds left in the game. 

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On fourth-and-one, Williams scrambled left. He faked a run and then threw it deep, something he had done earlier in the game with success. The Green Bay defense was ready for it and defensive back Keisean Nixon picked off the pass to seal the win for the Packers. 

After the game, Johnson was asked about the last play. He said, "We had a lot options there. Don’t know who’s going to pop necessarily, but between the options that we have and then Caleb using his legs, I was hopeful that we could find a way to get a yard there."

During his press conference, Johnson said he hadn't had a chance to watch a replay of the play to see if there were any differences they should've made and could now learn from. 

About the play, Williams said he rolled out, saw Kmet, and tried to high-point a pass. He said, "rolled out, saw Cole [Kmet], tried to give him a big boy ball, try and let him go up for it, ended up seeing 25 starting to sprint, tried to slow him up, and kind of give him a chance in those moments. Gotta have it moment. They had a guy trailing me, and so didn't feel that I could go get it myself, just gotta give Cole a better shot at it, next time just extend him a little bit more, kind of lead him. In those moments you want to put the ball in play, and trust your guy, try to have your guy make a play, just gotta give him a better ball."

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