The Bears have overcome extremely long odds to make the playoffs

Chicago’s chances of making the playoffs looked historically grim after starting 0-2. But here they are.

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) is swarmed by teammates after throwing the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime against the Green Bay Packers during their football game Saturday, December 20, 2025, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If the Chicago Bears have taught us anything in 2025, it’s just how true that old adage is: “It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish.” 

The team just proved that for the sixth time this season, coming back for an unforgettable victory 22-16 against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night to help punch their ticket to the playoffs. 

In a way, that shocking win is emblematic of the Bears’ season in general.

Way back on September 16, the Bears were among 10 NFL teams that had started off this season 0-2, which historically has been a death knell for teams’ playoffs hopes. Since the NFL merger in 1970, only 43 of 422 teams have gone on to make the playoffs after losing their first two games of the year. That’s a lousy 10.2 percent. Adding an extra playoff team to the mix in 2020 has only marginally improved that rate to 11.6 percent (five out of 43 teams). Basically, if you start slow, you’re likely doomed.

This year, of those 10 aforementioned teams, seven, including the perennial Super Bowl-maven Kansas City Chiefs, are already eliminated from playoff contention heading into Week 17. As of now, the Bears are the only one to clinch a playoff berth, though the Carolina Panthers just stormed back to take control of the NFC South and the Houston Texans are hanging on as the AFC’s final Wild Card team.

Long story short: there was no reason to believe the Chicago Bears could turn things around the way they have and make the postseason, even with the soft schedule they had in the middle of the year. Given how close many of those winnable games were, it easily could’ve gone the other way. But it didn’t.

The Bears proved their mettle time and time again and now have wrested control of the NFC North back from the Packers, whom many billed as a Super Bowl contender this year, and the resurgent Detroit Lions, head coach Ben Johnson's old squad. It’s past a simple “fairy tale” run or wondering how long they keep coming back on opponents at the end of games. They can play with—and beat—anyone.

A 10.2-percent chance to make the playoffs after starting 0-2 are only slightly better than the probability of recovering an onside kick. Then again, the Bears have shown they can do that, too. Never tell them the odds.

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