After Caleb Williams’ miracle, should the Bears have gone for 2? 

Caleb Williams had just thrown a contender for the most miraculous touchdown in NFL history, a beyond-desperate, off-the-back-foot, huck-it-deep 50-plus-yard moon shot that landed in the hands of Cole Kmet with only seconds remaining in their divisional round playoff game. Williams’ Bears were one extra point away from tying the Rams with the most improbable play imaginable, a play that surely stunned all of the millions watching, either on TV or on the field.

The Bears hadn’t just risen from the grave, they’d clawed their way out through six feet of dirt. All that remained was that one extra point.

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But why not go for two? Why not shove the Rams right off the cliff, right then and there?

Let’s start with the dream-big possibilities and work our way down to field level. If Chicago had gone for two and won, they’d be one game away from a Super Bowl where they would be facing either a second-year quarterback or an injury-replacement one. There are no gimmes in the NFL, but either New England or Denver would have presented a favorable matchup for Chicago. (Yes, the Bears would have needed to get past the Seahawks — who just decimated the same San Francisco team that beat Chicago in Week 17 — but again, we’re dreaming big here.)

Ask Aaron Rodgers or Dan Marino how many bites you get at that Super Bowl apple. They played a combined 38 seasons and each reached the Super Bowl just once … and they’re two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Despite what Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes would have you believe, legitimate Super Bowl chances don’t come around often.

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Now, as for this specific game itself — momentum, if you believe in such a concept, would scream to go for two, to keep the pressure on Los Angeles, to flip that sudden disbelief into heartbreak. It sure seems like the right play, going all-in on your season … especially if it’s not your chips you’re pushing to the middle of the table.

But Ben Johnson is paid a whole lot of money not to think with his heart. You could see it on the replays after the miraculous touchdown; he was as stoic as if he was dropping off a library book. He knew the job wasn’t anywhere near done, even if that touchdown opened up options he didn’t have just a few seconds earlier.

Johnson knew that for all the exuberance of that miracle, you can’t exactly count on miracles to come your way. And he was thinking about what Chicago had done before in similar goal-to-go situations in the previous 59 minutes, 47 seconds, even when the game wasn’t on the line. And he knew, therefore, that an all-or-nothing 2-point conversion wasn’t the way to go.

"Probably what played a little bit of a factor (in the decision to kick) was our goal-to-go situations hadn't gone very cleanly, our inside-the-5 plan hadn’t worked out like we hoped,” he said after the game. “I just felt better about taking our chances there in overtime."

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Less than three minutes earlier, Chicago had faced first-and-goal at the Los Angeles 5. Three straight inconsequential runs by De’Andre Swift and a failed fourth-down pass by Williams surely played heavily in Johnson’s decision.

(Also worth noting: the Rams still had 13 seconds and two timeouts left. Two chunk plays, or one and a penalty, and Los Angeles would have been in position for a game-winning field goal.)

So Chicago opted for the conservative approach, living to fight another few minutes … and then saw their season fall apart on an ugly interception and a defensive breakdown. And thus Williams-to-Kmet joins plays like Kurt Warner’s 62-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald in Super Bowl XLIII and Julio Jones’ toe-tap sideline grab in Super Bowl LI as one of the greatest plays that ultimately didn’t make a difference in the outcome.

Where does that leave the Chicago Bears? Firmly in “don’t cry that it’s over, smile that it happened” territory. You can’t build a foundation on miracle plays like Williams-to-Kmet, but you can build a vibe on them. The never-give-up, never-give-in attitude of this Bears team is contagious and necessary for postseason success, and the team can take the lessons it learned from this season forward into the coming years.

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Williams will only be in his third season as a pro in 2026. He’s 24 years old. Think about how he could be performing in his 27-, 28-, 29-year seasons. There’s no guarantee he’ll progress at the same rate, or that the Bears will continue thriving in the postseason — see: Rodgers and Marino, above — but this is about as good a situation as Bears fans can hope for in the current NFL.

Years from now, if Chicago’s lucky, Williams-to-Kmet will be the first highlight in a long series of them … and it won’t matter what happened right afterward, because so much better was on the way.