Going into week 17, there were lots of NFL games that contended for the title “Game of the Year,” but the 2 games that led those discussions were week 1 Sunday Night Football Ravens Vs Bills, and Thursday Night Football, which I covered here. But this week, on December 28th, 2025, the final game of the year 2025 may have stripped that title from either of these 2 games. The San Francisco 49ers narrowly defeat the Chicago Bears in a 42-38 NFL history-making thriller. Let’s take a deep dive into how the game started and ended.
The first score came when 9er QB Brock Purdy threw a pass to the other team, and TJ Edwards would house a INT with 59 minutes to go in the contest, giving the Bears a 7-0 lead. But that was just the beginning of an action-packed 1st quarter and game. Brock Purdy would find Jake Tounges for a 1-yard TD to tie the game at 7 a piece. Then Purdy would once again find the endzone, this time doing it himself for a 10-yard scramble TD to go up 14-7. Then, to end the quarter, Caleb Wiliams would find Luther Burden deep for a 35-yard TD pass to tie the game at 14. This would wrap up the first quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same. Christian McCaffery would take the lead with a 5-yard rushing score to take the lead at 21-14. Then Caleb Wiliams would respond with a 36-yard deep ball to Colston Loveland to tie the game at 21. The 9ers would march right down the field and go up 28-21 on the Brock Purdy TD scramble, which was the second time he fould the endzone with his legs. The half would end with a few punts, and we went to the 3rd quarter with the 9ers up by 7.
The 3rd quarter was the first full quarter that I was able to watch due to family fun in Crossville, TN. So I watched as DeAndre Swift would tie up the game 28-28 with a 2-yard rushing TD. Then Purdy would hit Kyle Juszczyk for a 6-yard TD reception to take the lead 35-28.
In the 4th quarter, history was made by the Chicago Bears as Swift would once again take a run up the middle, making the score 35-35. This score was the first time in NFL regular season history that a game had been tied at 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35. Cairos Santos would later kick a field goal to take the lead. 38-35, then Brock Purdy would find Jauan Jennings, who would run after the catch, getting a block from his TE and score the eventual game-winning TD. The Bears would attempt to go down the field with 2 minutes left, but would come up 4 yards short. There were lots of creative plays, including a lateral to the RB to get the Bears down inside the 5 to set up a final play which would fall at the feet of DJ Moore. This would end the thrilling SNF matchup. Now the 49ers control their path to get the 1 seed.
In the end, both QBs showed serious talent, with the Bears’ Caleb Williams getting over 300 yards passing, and Brock Purdy would come up just short with 296. The major storyline was comparing the 2 QBs’ stories, 1 being the first overall pick, the other being the last man called, which is a term deemed “Mr Irrelevant.” Despite the term Purdy has proven to be a top 15 QB in the NFL, and Caleb showed promise, if I had 1 crituqe of Williams it would be his short throw accuracy, he had 3-4 throws in that final drive, including the final play where it was at Moore’s feet, that could have resulted in big plays, the biggest 1 in my opinion came on a drag route where Williams would throw the ball about a yard short of his target, if complete the WR would have easily gotten 20-25 yards, and possibly a TD as there was nobody on that side of the field going all the way back to the goal line. So lots of things to be happy about and mad about going into the final week of the regular season.
