Noah Greenblatt's 5 Favorite Plays of the Bears' 2025 Season
- Noah Greenblatt
- Jun 26
- 6 min read
Before we start, I need to let everyone reading this know: Caleb Williams’ amazing touchdown pass to Cole Kmet vs the Rams in the Divisional Round is not on this list—not even as an honorable mention. To be clear, I absolutely still think it’s a great play—I can vividly remember sitting my living room in genuine shock (and literal silence) after it happened, that’s how remarkable it was.
But this is a list of my favorite plays from the Bears’ incredible 2025 season, not the best—if the Bears had ended up winning that game against the Rams, it’d easily be number one. But they didn’t, and so (regrettably) it misses the cut.
Not to worry, though, Bears fans! There are plenty of other stellar highlights from the 2025 season to look back on (and most of your favorites are likely to be found below). So without further ado, here are my five favorite plays from the Bears’ 2025 season.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
I have a lot. From Ben Johnson calling a flea-flicker against the Cowboys, to Caleb and DJ Moore’s insane TD connection during Chicago’s Week 15 throttling of the Browns, to Josh Blackwell saving the Bears from embarrassment against the Raiders and Jake Moody’s Week 6 game-winner vs the Commanders on Monday Night Football the day after he joined the team (in my opinion, a highly underrated moment from last season), there was plenty to enjoy during the Bears’ run to their first NFC North crown in seven years. Now that I’ve given those plays their (much-deserved) due, on with the countdown!
5: Special Teams Saves the Day (Week 11 @ Vikings):
Maybe the most under-appreciated play of the Bears’ entire season, Devin Duvernay’s 61-yard kickoff return against the Vikings was a perfect example of Chicago’s identity all year. No matter what, the Bears fought each week until the clock hit zero—and often, they’d find ways to win games where they weren’t at their best.
Week 11 against the Vikings was exactly that; the offense managed just one touchdown (a 1-yard run from Monangai) while Caleb Williams threw for less than 200 yards, and the defense let a 16-3 fourth-quarter lead disappear as Minnesota hung 14 points on the Bears, despite J.J. McCarthy only throwing for 150 yards and a 50% completion percentage. But thanks to Duvernay’s return and Cairo Santos’ fourth field goal of the day, it didn’t matter—yet again, the Bears found a way to win.
It turned out to be a huge one, too; without it, the Bears would’ve fallen to 0-3 in the division and 0-2 against the Vikings. Instead, the win kept them in a playoff spot and in the hunt for the division title (we all know how that turned out), setting the stage for one of the all-time great stretch runs in NFL history.
4: Colston Loveland's Game-Winner (Week 9 @ Bengals):
No matter how many times I see this play, it will never stop being awesome; truly everything about it rules:
The execution; it’s the definition of the hurry-up offense, and the physicality shown off by the Bears’ first-round pick is still jaw-dropping.
The players involved; this was, in my opinion, the debut of “The Iceman”, and it was definitely Colston Loveland’s breakout game; six catches for 118 yards and two TD’s.
The context surrounding the game; the Bears had just seen their four-game win streak snapped (rather convincingly) by a severely banged-up Ravens team, and the questions surrounding the team at this point were starting to get much louder.
The game itself; this was an absolutely wild back-and-forth slugfest; 89 combined points (31 of them in the fourth quarter, and 28 of those in the final five minutes), Kyle Monangai breaking out for 198 total yards, Joe Flacco dropping 470 yards on the Bears defense, DJ Moore tallying both a passing and rushing TD (and still finishing with less than 100 total yards).
Indeed, this game truly had everything, and it was capped off by an incredible final 1:45, where the Bengals scored 15 points in less than 50 seconds to take the lead, only for the "Cardiac Bears" to take the lead (and the win) right back, thanks to Loveland's 58-yard catch-and-run TD.
Nobody had this game on their radar before it started, but it became one of the defining games of the Bears' 2025 season. In the end, we got one of the year's best games—and endings—thanks to Colston Loveland.
3: Stevenson Changes the Season (Week 3 vs. Cowboys):
Similar to the previous entry, this play, Tyrique Stevenson, makes the list for multiple reasons. Aside from it just being a remarkably impressive play (both the speed from Stevenson to keep up with Javonte Williams and the strength he needed in order to rip the ball out are impressive, as was the way he managed to—somehow—stay in bounds once he got the ball), it's here because it also proved to be perhaps the single biggest play of the Bears' season.
Prior to this play, the Bears were not only 0-2 (both of which were ugly losses), they also started the day by going three-and-out on offense. It looked like the day (and the season) were about to get much worse as Javonte Williams broke off for a big run…and then it happened.
Stevenson forced the turnover (the first of four by Dallas on the day), the Bears marched 75 yards down the field and scored less than two minutes later, then followed it up with the previously mentioned flea-flicker, and dominated the rest of the game on their way to a three-score win.
Thanks to this play, Tyrique Stevenson was instantly redeemed for the game against the Commanders in 2024 (you know the one). It also marked the moment the Bears defense turned into an entirely different beast. Turnovers became their identity, and nobody was better at forcing them the rest of the year.
Without this play, the Bears more than likely start the year 0-3. Instead, they ended the day 1-2—and the first seeds of belief were planted as a result. Thank you, Tyrique.
2: Caleb Comes up Clutch on 4th and 8 (Wild Card Round vs. Packers):
Simply put, this is the single best play I’ve ever seen a quarterback make—and I would argue it’s in the running for one of the best plays in NFL history. From the way Caleb Williams went through his progressions to the way he kept his balance and extended the play, and of course the picture-perfect, pinpoint-accurate, downright exceptional off-balance throw to Rome Odunze that gave the Bears their single biggest first down in more than a decade, everything about this play brings a smile to my face every time I watch it. Even now, more than six months later, I still don’t know how he was able to complete the pass, let alone make it look as effortless as he did.
It also saved the Bears' season. Remember, the Monsters of the Midway were down two scores, there were inside six minutes left in the game, and the ball was on their side of the 50. For as magical as the Bears' comebacks had been all year, if they hadn’t converted on that 4th down, none of them would’ve mattered. Thanks to The Iceman, though (and, of course, Rome Odunze), they did convert that 4th down and went on to complete one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history.
But, as I said at the beginning of this article, this is not a list of the best plays from 2025; it’s a list of my favorites, which is why DJ Moore takes the top spot.
1: DJ Moore Becomes a Bears Legend (Week 16 vs. Packers):
Plays like this—and for that matter, games like this—are why, no matter how awful things may get, I’ll always be a Bears fan.
There’s no better feeling in the world than beating the Packers. But to do it like this? On a walk-off TD, in overtime, after (in my opinion) the best comeback of the Bears’ entire season? (Yes, I think it’s even better than 21-3. Why? The onside kick, Jahdae Walker’s TD, the defense standing firm in OT, etc.) I’ve never felt more joy as a fan of Da Bears (until the joy I felt a few weeks later, of course—also thanks to DJ Moore).
There’s no other way to describe it; the play is simply (and still) spectacular. Caleb Williams made an absolutely exquisite throw, and DJ Moore made the seemingly-impossible catch while being almost completely smothered by Keisean Nixon (AKA the guy who intercepted Caleb to end Bears-Packers I two weeks earlier). Not to mention the call by Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady, which still gives me goosebumps (and likely always will).
DJ Moore is no longer a Chicago Bear, but it doesn’t matter. After what he did on that frigid Saturday night in December, as far as I’m concerned, his catch is one of the defining moments of the Bears' 2025 season and one of the team's all-time great plays.
And there you have it, my five favorite Bears plays of 2025! Thanks for reading, and let’s hope there’s plenty more plays like these coming in 2026.
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