Austin Reaves might’ve just triggered an early Lakers trade decision

When the Chicago Bears’ final possession began Sunday, at their own 28-yard line and after a calamity-filled 23 minutes of real time had taken their 14-point fourth-quarter lead and turned it into a one-point deficit, the dizziness across Paycor Stadium felt palpable.

It was difficult to fathom all that had unraveled and all that was happening, with apparently no one capable of stopping the madness.

Less than 30 minutes earlier, the Bears seemed to take a 47-27 lead on Tremaine Edmunds’ 96-yard interception return touchdown with 2:29 remaining. The stands began emptying. A wild afternoon was seemingly transforming into a Bears blowout. The final few minutes felt like a mere formality.

And yet … Buckle in.

As quarterback Caleb Williams broke his huddle for that final Bears drive in the final minute of this frenetic circus, his team was shaken, suddenly behind and needing some kind of Queen City miracle.

“S—,” Bears receiver Olamide Zaccheaus said. “It’s hard to even explain all that happened. Your mind is going everywhere.”

Added veteran safety Kevin Byard: “Taking years off my life, it feels like.”

We’ll circle back soon on all the improbable bounces and surprise twists that thrust the Bears into such a nerve-jangling predicament. But it’s mandatory to first document Williams’ final pass, a heroic 58-yard touchdown strike to rookie tight end Colston Loveland with 17 seconds remaining that saved the Bears’ Sunday and, truth be told, may have rescued their season.

A stunning 47-42 victory felt as exhilarating as it was relieving.

Naturally, on a day when the Paycor Stadium scoreboard was lighting up like an old-fashioned Bally machine, Loveland turned into a human pinball on that game-winning catch, grabbing Williams’ pass 21 yards downfield after gaining separation from cornerback Josh Newton, then bouncing off safeties Jordan Battle and Geno Stone and finding a runway of field turf.

“I was like, ‘Man, I’m still up. I better go score this thing,’” Loveland said.

“At that moment,” Williams added, “I’m an emotional roller coaster.”

The Bears were out of timeouts and in field goal range. So the most significant sprint of Loveland’s football career had high stakes. Had he been caught, it would have been challenging for the Bears to stop the clock. But Loveland’s final burst also had purpose.

“Madness. Craziness. A thrill,” receiver DJ Moore said. “It felt like a roller coaster, up and down. So glad we found a way to pull it off.”

Forget the traditional Monday film review at team headquarters in Lake Forest. After this kind of stimulating, jaw-dropping, anxiety-producing, adrenaline-spiking spectacle, the rewatch of Bears-Bengals belongs at the AMC Hawthorn 12 just down the road from Halas Hall.

Phones silenced. Free popcorn and unlimited soda refills for everybody. Showtimes all day long.

The most reasonable critics, though, might reach a similar conclusion. Too far-fetched of a plotline. Way too many twists to be considered realistic.

In a game that featured seven lead changes and 31 points in the fourth quarter alone, the log of Sunday’s zaniness was lengthy.

• With a flurry of Ben Johnson-inspired gadget plays, the Bears had a tight end throwing to a receiver; a receiver throwing a touchdown pass to a quarterback; and, later, the backup quarterback registering his third completion of the season for 20 yards … to the starting quarterback. Why not? For the first time since 2002, four Bears players attempted a pass in a game.

• Williams’ 2-yard TD catch to finish the Bears’ opening drive came from Moore on a play called “Hot Potato” with the football changing hands four times in five seconds. From center Drew Dalman to Williams to Rome Odunze to Moore and back to Williams. The Bears’ starting quarterback had more receptions (two) in Sunday’s game than the team’s leading receiver for the season, Odunze (zero).

• A Bengals-requested replay review that coach Zac Taylor hoped would reverse a 16-yard Moore run into a fumble and a touchback for Cincinnati instead concluded that Moore scored a touchdown before he lost the football. Talk about a cruel backfire on the launch of a red flag.

• Forty-year-old Joe Flacco, who missed two practices during the week because of a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, passed for 470 yards and four touchdowns.

• On a 283-yard rushing day for the Bears, rookie Kyle Monangai went for 176, and Brittain Brown, activated from the practice squad on Saturday, added a 22-yard touchdown.

“If you came here today, you got your money’s worth,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said.

Sunday’s game began, naturally, with a return touchdown on the opening kickoff. Why not? Bengals receiver Charlie Jones, with a peak speed of 21.78 mph, went 98 yards. A perfect tone-setter for a high-octane afternoon.

And the game ended, fittingly enough, with the Bears defending a 52-yard Hail Mary attempt, 371 days after their 2024 season went up in flames under similar circumstances on the road in a devastating loss at Washington.

Only this time, they defended the entire sequence much better. Coordinator Dennis Allen sent a six-man rush at Flacco, and Montez Sweat hurried Flacco into an off-balance throw. The quarterback’s fluttering duck fell harmlessly into the waiting arms of cornerback Nahshon Wright at the Bears’ 20-yard line.

“Practice makes perfect,” defensive tackle Andrew Billings said with a smile. “I’ll just say that.”

Game over. Disaster averted.

“When he threw it, I saw it was wobbling and that it was going to come up short,” Wright said. “Just ran to make a play.”

When Zaccheaus was asked about other games in his seven-season career with four teams that rivaled Sunday’s wackiness, his eyes grew wide. He was, of course, with the Commanders last season when they stunned, yes, these Bears with their 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown as time expired.

“This?” he said. “I think this tops that. Might be the wildest game I’ve ever been a part of. Pure elation. Just a lot of joy.”

The Bears, understandably, spent much of Sunday’s postgame propping up their resilience and belief, two qualities they needed to survive a game as wild and disorienting as this was.

“We handled this tremendously,” defensive tackle Andrew Billings said. “Poise. We showed poise.”

Added Williams: “That’s what we are. When adversity hits, we find ways to win for each other. That’s what it has been this year.”

But let’s be honest. With their own unraveling in Sunday’s final stages, the Bears put themselves in position to experience one of the most improbable, gut-wrenching, building-shaking losses in franchise history. Only to stop their skid off the cliff at the last possible second, prying their fingernails into the rock and pulling themselves to safety.

That aforementioned Edmunds’ pick six? Overturned on replay review, with officials ruling the left shoe of Bengals running back Chase Brown sent Edmunds to the ground as he caught his interception. That ruling came two snaps after a Byard interception and 90-yard return was negated by a pass-interference penalty against cornerback Nick McCloud.

Suddenly, the door of chaos swung back open at Paycor Stadium, sending the Bears careening through a mind-bending sequence.

The offense went three-and-out on a series that ended with Brittain Brown sliding down 5 yards short of a first down to keep the clock running.

The Bengals then sandwiched an onside kick recovery between two touchdown drives – 55 and 57 yards – that each took less than a minute, the latter finishing with Flacco’s 9-yard dart to Andre Iosivas in the final minute.

“You play until the clock says 0:00,” Wright said. “Simple as that. You keep the understanding that the game is not over.”

The Bears are rarely in these kinds of shootouts. In fact, this marked just the third time in 106 seasons that the team was involved in a game in which both teams topped 40 points.

The Bears certainly never win these kinds of games either, improving Sunday to 2-80 in the Super Bowl era in games in which they allowed at least 35 points.

The Bengals, meanwhile, became the first team to score 38 points in consecutive games – and lose both.

“I just can’t believe it,” Taylor said. “Can’t believe it. The game was right there. And we just don’t find a way to get it done. The game was right there. All we have to do is make one play. Just one play.”

Instead, the Bears made the last big play. Williams to Loveland. Legendary.

“Caleb is made for the spotlight,” Moore said. “He loves it when the lights come on at their brightest.”

Zaccheaus may have had the best view of Loveland’s score, in the tight end’s wake on the joyride to the end zone.

“I’m thinking, ‘Bro, you have to score or get down right now,’” Zaccheaus said. “And he kept trucking, trucking, trucking. As he was getting closer to the end zone, it seemed like his legs were getting heavier and heavier. Just madness.”

On a day full of such madness, the Bears found the last sprinkle of magic.