At face value, you wouldn't think there was much to write home about the Green Bay Packers' win over the Chicago Bears. Green Bay overcoming Chicago in a one-score game at home, where it seemingly had every late big play swing its way, is an all-too-familiar script for anyone who has followed the NFL's oldest rivalry for, I don't know, the last 30-plus years.

The Packers breaking the listless Bears' heart is such a run-of-the-mill outcome that most have grown to expect it.

But something felt different about this anything-but-ordinary Packers win over the Bears with control of the NFC North on the line. That is, after trailing 14-3 at halftime, the Bears actually fought back. Convincingly so. In fact, "fighting back" is probably an oversimplification of how Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson, and company completely flipped the game on its head in a gritty second-half performance in which they dictated terms to the Packers like they hadn't in years.

Williams kept making special throw after special throw. Johnson's adjustments and play-calling had Micah Parsons and the Green Bay defense on its heels. For all intents and purposes, after being put on the ropes, the Bears put a genuine scare into the Packers in one of the NFL's two toughest places to play. If Williams makes a better end-zone throw on fourth-and-1 in the closing moments (or if the Bears' defense brings down Josh Jacobs on a late third-and-short when it had him dead to rights), we might be talking about Chicago winning at least back-to-back games in Lambeau Field for the first time in almost two decades.

That's not a typo.

Yeah, it's technically a moral victory, but we learned a lot about the Bears in watching their almost-comeback in Green Bay. This, after they unseated the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in their own building on Black Friday. These Bears are not smoke and mirrors. They are legit. And they're not going anywhere.

Jacobs echoed this sentiment when he sang the praises of a rising Chicago offense that clearly believes in its operation more than ever. Even the Packers, of all teams, think these aren't the same old Bears anymore:

Oh, hmm. Jacobs would expand further on this thought process about what he saw from the Bears:

Are the Bears still flawed? Absolutely. They can't generate consistent pass-rush pressure with their defensive front four. Plus, Williams still has to work through some of his accuracy mechanics on a long-term basis. These two drawbacks, centered around consistency and precision (and a serious lack of talent on defense), are likely to put a ceiling on what they can ultimately accomplish over the rest of this season. There's no need to deny it.

But it's clear that Johnson has the Bears playing way ahead of schedule. They are different. They often throw the first punch, and then you know what? As good teams do, they keep throwing their hands! And if these Bears happen to get bullied first, as they did on Sunday, they get up off the mat with plenty of time left in the 10-second count, ready for another round. They keep playing, believing someone, somewhere will make a play.

When you're that confident as a team, someone usually does.

Put another way: Flawed as the Bears are, they're not necessarily more flawed than most other NFL playoff contenders. They believe in each other and are talented enough to make their competition sweat, if not get the win outright. They're not just another team.

The Bears and Packers have a primetime rematch in Chicago in less than two weeks. If you think the Bears are going to simply lie down for that matchup, you haven't been paying attention to what Williams, Johnson, and friends have been building. This is a group that will lick its wounds from this defeat in Green Bay and learn from its mistakes. This is a group that will put an attentive, confident focus on getting revenge in an aggressive fashion that we haven't seen from the Bears in a very long time. Book it.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Josh Jacobs said what everyone’s thinking about rising Bears

Reporting by Robert Zeglinski, For The Win / For The Win

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