His final shot of the game was the beginning of the end of Chicago’s surprising season.
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Williams nearly led the Bears to another memorable victory Sunday night. But he threw his third interception in overtime and Matthew Stafford led the Los Angeles Rams to Harrison Mevis’ winning field goal in a 20-17 victory in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“It’s tough. In those moments, you feel like you let your team down,” Williams said. “You feel this or that. It’s a good lesson learned for us, the first time we’ve been in this situation for me and for us as a team. I’m excited for what’s to come. But obviously I’m going to go back and look at this and figure out how I can be better, and that’s the exciting part.”
Williams, 24, led Chicago to an NFL-record seven wins this season when trailing in the final two minutes of regulation. He threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore with 1:43 left in a 31-27 victory over Green Bay in the first round of the playoffs.
This time, the Bears (12-7) were trailing 17-10 when they got the ball back with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter. And, just like before, Williams delivered.
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Facing a fourth-and-four at the Rams’ 14-yard line with 27 seconds left, Williams took a shotgun snap and scanned the field. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft was forced to back off when the pocket collapsed, and he ran to the 40-yard line with Jared Verse, Josaiah Stewart and Braden Fiske chasing the Rams.
Williams turned, saw Kmet in the end zone and threw the ball in his direction just as Verse and Stewart reached the second-year QB.
“I ended up getting a little bit of pressure, so I try to break containment and just break the angles and slow those guys down so that when I turn around, I can have a little more time to find someone,” Williams said, “and they did a good job containing me, so I gained a little more depth and saw Cole one-on-one there.”
Kmet wrestled with Rams cornerback Cobie Turner before catching the pass, sending a charge through the crowd of 60,253 on a frigid night at Soldier Field.
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“It felt like a pretty easy throw and catch and like it was in slow motion,” Kmet said. “I can’t believe Caleb.”
Bears coach Ben Johnson called the throw “ridiculous.”
“There are some things you just can’t coach… He has a special ability, he’s decisive,” Johnson said.
According to Next Gen Stats, Williams’ pass traveled 51.2 yards in the air for the longest completion by aerial distance in the red zone since at least 2016. He made the throw from 26.5 yards behind the line of scrimmage; no quarterback since 2016, according to Next Gen Stats, had completed a pass from deeper than 22 yards.
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It had a 17.8% completion probability.
“It was the most special throw I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve seen him do it so many times this year,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL