LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Down by 11 and facing a fourth-and-8 in their own territory late in last week's wild-card game, the Chicago Bears needed a big play from Caleb Williams.
He had a Michael Jordan moment.
Williams' spectacular throw to Rome Odunze kept a touchdown drive going and helped the Bears rally to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-27 after trailing by 18 on Saturday night. Now, after winning a playoff game for the first time in 15 years, Chicago faces another big challenge.
The Bears host Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round on Sunday. But while they shifted their focus to the next task, Williams' incredible pass to Odunze in a big spot was still getting plenty of attention.
“It was just a good moment and ended up giving Rome the right football to be able to allow him to make the adjustment," Williams said Wednesday.
Trailing 27-16, the Bears (12-6) had a fourth-and-8 at their 43 with 5:37 remaining in the game. Williams took the shotgun snap and rolled to his left when the pocket collapsed. He leaped as a defender lunged at his leg and delivered a perfect throw to Odunze in traffic for a 27-yard gain.
The NFL Memes account had some fun on X, plugging in the Chicago Bulls' intro music and superimposing the famous Jumpman logo over Williams. It was just about a perfect — and almost eerie — match.
“I’ve had a couple passes like that going left where I’ve ended up being in the air in that way a few times in college and things like that and high school," Williams said. “I’m kind of used to it.”
Chicago isn't used to being in a spot like this.
The Bears hadn't advanced in the playoffs since the 2010 team beat Seattle in the divisional round. Chicago then got knocked out by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the NFC championship game and made quick exits in its only two postseason appearances since, with the 2018 and 2020 teams losing wild-card games. But the Bears envisioned moments like this when they drafted Williams with the No. 1 pick in 2024 and hired coach Ben Johnson off Detroit's staff a year ago.
Chicago captured the NFC North championship and finished with a winning record for the first time since the 2018 team won the division. Williams got more and more comfortable in Johnson's system and threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards during the regular season. He then passed his first playoff test, setting a club mark by passing for 361 yards while leading the big comeback.
Now, after knocking off the rival Packers, the Bears host Stafford and the Rams. Williams only briefly met Stafford when the two teams played at Soldier Field last season. But he's studied the three-time Pro Bowler in depth.
It's something his coach wanted him to do. Johnson was an assistant in Detroit during Stafford's final few seasons there and saw up close his elite footwork and vision.
“When you talk about the footwork, I think it starts there with him,” Johnson said. “But then as you talk about an experienced player that sees the field really well, he understands defenses. He knows how to manipulate defenses. He’s got a great feel for the game and that translates to everything he does every single week.”
Williams and Stafford don't exactly have similar styles. But there are things he can learn from the All-Pro.
“His feet are always under him,” Williams said. “He can make any throw at any time. The guy’s in his face, O-linemen may be getting pushed back, not looking — all these different things — and it comes down to his feet. He ties the routes with his receivers — the timing, all of that — with his feet. Obviously, he has a cannon.”
There's the trust Stafford has in his receivers, that they'll be in the right place and make the play. Williams trusted Odunze on that fourth-down completion. Five plays later, he threw an 8-yard touchdown to Olamide Zaccheaus and connected with Colston Loveland on a 2-point conversion that pulled Chicago within three.
Williams also mentioned Stafford's “snake eyes” — his ability to make opponents move by shifting his eyes and then throwing the ball where the defender was.
“He drops back and has what everybody calls snake eyes," Williams said. "Just knowing defenses, knowing the offense and being able to move people where you want to move them is something he’s been able to do very well.”
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Chicago Bears' Caleb Williams celebrates after an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
NEW YORK (AP) — Losses for several banks and Big Tech stocks pulled indexes lower on Wednesday, even though the majority of stocks on Wall Street rose.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% for its second straight loss after setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 42 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1%.
Wells Fargo helped pull the market lower after falling 4.6%. The San Francisco-based bank reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected, with analysts citing lower trading fees and other miscellaneous items.
Bank of America fell 3.8% despite reporting a stronger profit than analysts expected, with some consternation about the size of its upcoming expenses. Citigroup, which is in the midst of a turnaround under Chair and CEO Jane Fraser, fell 3.3% following its own profit report.
Companies across industries are under pressure to report strong growth in profits to justify how high their stock prices have run recently. Analysts are looking for businesses across the S&P 500 to report earnings per share for the final three months of 2025 that are roughly 8% higher than a year earlier, according to FactSet.
Biogen sank 5% after the biotechnology company said it expects to take a hit to its profit for the fourth quarter of 2025 due to research and development expenses and other costs that it acquired.
The heaviest weights on the market were tech stocks, which gave back a bit of their huge gains from recent years created by the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Such stellar performances caused some critics to say their stock prices had become too expensive.
Nvidia fell 1.4%, and Broadcom sank 4.2%.
Still, more stocks rose on Wall Street than fell, and the strongest forces keeping the S&P 500 from steeper losses were Exxon Mobil and other oil companies.
Exxon Mobil rose 2.9%, and Chevron climbed 2.1% as the price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. oil rose 1.4% to settle at $62.02.
Stocks of smaller companies also did better than the rest of the market, with the Russell 2000 index rising 0.7%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 37.14 points to 6,926.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 42.36 to 49,149.63, and the Nasdaq composite fell 238.12 to 23,471.75.
Oil prices have rallied recently after protests swept Iran, which is a member of the OPEC group that helps set crude prices. The protests could lead to disruptions in production and squeeze supplies of crude.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.6% and briefly brought its gain for the year so far to nearly 10%, before prices for both it and U.S. oil fell back later in the afternoon.
In the bond market, Treasury yields sank as investors sought investments seen as safer. Several reports on the U.S. economy also came in mixed.
One said that shoppers spent more at U.S. retailers in November than economists expected. That could be an encouraging signal about the main engine of the U.S. economy.
A separate report said prices rose modestly at the U.S. wholesale level in November. It followed data on Tuesday that said inflation at the U.S. consumer level was close last month to economists’ expectations, though it remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
Taken altogether, the reports did little to change Wall Street’s expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate at least twice this year to shore up the job market, likely beginning around June, according to CME Group.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.14% from 4.18% late Tuesday.
In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 1.5% to another record as expectations grew that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may call general elections soon.
Indexes were mixed elsewhere. Stocks rose 0.6% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after a report showed China’s trade surplus surged 20% in 2025 to a record despite President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Specialist Michael Pistillo works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A dealer watches computer monitors near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
The screens show the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won are seen at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer walks past near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A dealer stands near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
