Seventeen seconds. That’s all the Chicago Bears had left when Caleb Williams dropped back, searched the middle of the field, and found rookie tight end Colston Loveland at the Cincinnati 36-yard line. Nobody in Soldier Field’s front office drew this play up as a touchdown. It was supposed to be a first down. Maybe a shot at a game-tying field goal.
Loveland had other plans.
The Play That Saved Chicago
Two Bengals defenders converged on him near midfield. He bounced off the first hit. Then he shed the second. By the time the sideline realized what was happening, Loveland was in a full sprint, chased by four Cincinnati defenders who never had a chance. Fifty-eight yards later, he crossed the goal line, and the Bears escaped Paycor Stadium with a stunning 47-42 win.
“I got no idea what’s behind me,” Loveland said afterward, still catching his breath. “I’m kind of gassed… so, yeah, just digging. Like, man, pick the legs up, try to get in this end zone. Luckily, I did.”
The stadium had gone from deflated to delirious in the span of one snap. Bears fans who’d watched a 14-point lead evaporate in under three minutes were suddenly celebrating one of the wildest finishes of the season.
How the Bears Nearly Blew It
Chicago led 41-27 with just over four minutes to play. Then everything unraveled. Cincinnati quarterback Joe Flacco, playing through a banged-up throwing shoulder, caught fire. He found Noah Fant for a touchdown, then hit Tee Higgins for a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to six. The Bengals recovered an onside kick — just the second successful one in the NFL all season — and drove right back down the field.
With 54 seconds left, Flacco found Andrei Iosivas in the end zone. Evan McPherson’s extra point gave Cincinnati a 42-41 lead. A 14-point cushion had disappeared in barely two minutes.
Olamide Zaccheaus is always flying in for the celly 🤣 pic.twitter.com/7sdIZmk03X
— NFL (@NFL) July 7, 2026
Flacco finished the night with a career-high 470 passing yards, the fourth-most in Bengals franchise history. He wasn’t done trying, either — his final heave of the game, intended for a miracle score, was picked off by Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright to seal it after Loveland’s touchdown.
Loveland’s Breakout Was Building All Night
The game-winner wasn’t Loveland’s first touchdown of the day. Chicago opened the second half with a 12-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Loveland, putting the Bears up 24-20. That score came right after starting tight end Cole Kmet exited with an injury, thrusting Loveland into a bigger role.
He answered immediately. Six catches. 118 receiving yards. Two touchdowns, including the walk-off. It was, without argument, the best game of his young career — and it arrived at the exact moment Chicago needed it most.
“Just poise, composure and then Colston being a dog,” receiver Olamide Zaccheaus said of the game-winning score. “Bounced off two people and cribbed it.”
Zaccheaus had his own moment in the game too, hauling in a 15-yard touchdown catch on a jet-sweep pass design that helped the Bears build their early cushion. His postgame excitement — the same energetic celebrations that have made him a fan favorite on social media — matched the emotional whiplash of the entire fourth quarter.
Quarterback Caleb Williams delivered the throw that made it all possible, finishing with four total touchdowns on the day. Head coach Ben Johnson didn’t hide his admiration for the decision-making under pressure.
“Caleb did a great job seeing it, delivered a good ball,” Johnson said. “Figured it was gonna be explosive, but wasn’t expecting it to be a touchdown, though. And I think that was Colston’s speed, just taking off and going for it.”
A Historic Stat Line
Loveland’s outing didn’t just win a football game — it put him in rare company. His performance made him just the fifth rookie tight end in the Super Bowl era to post at least 100 receiving yards and multiple touchdowns in the same game. He also became the third Bears rookie since 1970 to top 100 receiving yards with multiple scores, joining Willie Gault and Marty Booker, and the franchise’s first rookie tight end to do it since Mike Ditka in 1961.
| Player | Key Stat | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Colston Loveland | 6 catches, 118 yards, 2 TD | NFC Offensive Player of the Week |
| Kyle Monangai | 26 carries, 176 yards | Career-high rushing performance |
| Joe Flacco | 31/47, 470 yards, 4 TD, 2 INT | 4th-most passing yards in Bengals history |
Chicago’s other rookie standout, running back Kyle Monangai, quietly put together one of the best debuts of the season in his own right — 176 yards on 26 carries in his first career start, filling in for the injured D’Andre Swift.
Why This Game Still Matters
Loveland’s touchdown wasn’t just a highlight-reel moment. It reshaped how the Bears used him for the rest of the season. Kmet’s injury opened the door, and Loveland never gave the job back, closing his rookie campaign with 70 receptions, 906 yards, and six touchdowns, plus a franchise playoff record for receiving yards by a rookie tight end. The Week 9 explosion against Cincinnati was the spark.
It’s also why clips like Zaccheaus’s touchdown celebration and Loveland’s sprint to the end zone keep resurfacing on NFL social channels months later. Comeback wins with this much chaos packed into three minutes don’t fade from highlight rotations — they become the moments fans replay every time the Bears and Bengals meet again.
