The Throw That Saved the Chicago Bears' Season

At halftime of Saturday night's wild-card playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears didn't seem to have any answers.

It was 21-3 in favor of the Cheeseheads, and nothing was going right on either side of the ball for Chicago. There were fourth-down failures, defensive lapses, and just about everything that could go wrong, seemingly did.

Tides changed in the second half, though. The defense locked in after giving up three straight touchdowns drives to start the game, holding Jordan Love and the Packers offense in check and keeping them off the scoreboard for the entire third quarter. Williams and the offense clawed back within striking distance, even it was a field goal at a time.

But after trading fourth-quarter touchdowns, the Bears still found themselves down by two scores with less than six minutes remaining in regulation. A 4th-and-3 turned into a 4th-and-8 from their own 43-yard line, and judging by their lack of fourth-down success earlier in the games, hopes weren't exactly high that the offense could deliver in this moment.

But in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bears spent the No. 1 overall pick on Williams, and the No. 10 overall pick on wide receiver Rome Odunze.

They did so for moments just like this.

Running away from an oncoming rusher, and rolling to his left, Williams, delivered a 27-yard strike to Odunze, who snagged the ball just before going out of bounds: