Chicago Bears fans knew the feeling. They felt it all of last year.

The Raiders lined up to attempt a field goal with 38 seconds left. After storming back to take a late lead, the Bears were on the cusp of stealing a defeat from the jaws of victory. If the collapse vs. Minnesota in Week 1 was all too familiar, losing in the final seconds might’ve felt as routine as a morning coffee.

What happened next was different.

Defensive back Josh Blackwell blocked the game-winning field goal attempt. Is that allowed?

Are the Chicago Bears allowed to deal the opposition crippling, heartbreaking and agonizing losses? Usually, it’s the other way around.

That wasn’t the case Sunday. The Bears rallied to beat the Raiders 25-24 on the road. 

“It’s a testament to the team that we have,” Blackwell said. “We’re not the same old Bears. We’re different.”

The one stark, looming example of how these Bears aren’t the same as the Bears of old is, quite simply, the road win. 

The last time the Bears won a road game on Sunday was December 26, 2021, in Seattle. Matt Nagy was the head coach. Nick Foles was the quarterback. Jimmy Graham caught the last touchdown, and Damiere Byrd caught the go-ahead two-point conversion.

Nearly four years later, the Bears got their next road win. They got that monkey off their back. Now, they have a chance to prove they’re not the Bears of old under head coach Ben Johnson by getting more monkeys off their back.

“As of late, when we get into those close games, normally it goes the other way,” Safety Kevin Byard said. “It was huge for us to, I’ll say get that monkey off our back too. We got our first win last week, but to be able to win on the road, it’s huge for our culture.”

That Bears culture is a bit different under Johnson. Part of it is because the results have been there.

For example, the Bears benched starting left tackle Braxton Jones, moved Theo Benedet out to left tackle and plugged rookie Ozzy Trapilo at right tackle because of the injured Darnell Wright. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. The two blocked on a 12-play, go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.

That was a big moment for a rookie head coach who isn’t afraid to make changes.

“We were just at the point where we weren’t doing a whole lot on offense,” Johnson said. “We felt like that might give a little spark and ignite us on offense.”

Even more proof lies in how quarterback Caleb Williams won NFC Offensive Player of the Week, and has begun to look like the quarterback the Bears have always wanted. 

More importantly, the Bears won a game thanks to all three phases coming together when it mattered most. The Bears understand this, especially with how the narrative played out last season in a 10-game losing streak and with how the Bears had a 5-19 record in one-score games under the previous regime.

“The narrative is that the Bears 

can’t finish out the games that are close,” Blackwell said. “This team is different. We took our licks in the beginning, and it’s time to lock in.”

The Bears couldn’t finish those games. In the last three seasons, they had teams that didn’t have the roster or staff to piece together close wins when they needed it.

Frankly, it’s not easy to win games in the NFL, either. Think about NFL MVP Steve Young, who had a sideline camera crew famously record him as he asked teammates to “get this monkey off my back” in the final minutes of Super Bowl XXIX.

The Bears feel like this Raiders win was a monkey taken off their backs. It’s not Super Bowl big, but Sunday showed Ben Johnson’s Bears can win a close game. What does help is how Johnson is coaching them to forget how to panic.

The Bears were down 14-6 to Las Vegas. That’s a familiar story Bears fans have heard before. 

“It’s easy to get frustrated, but we don’t panic,” Johnson said. “That’s not who we are, that’s not what we do.”

After wins like Sunday, it’s easier to believe that’s not the norm for Johnson’s Bears. Especially considering this is a roster of players that haven’t tasted many NFL wins before.

Now, the Bears enter the bye week with that belief. They have two weeks to prepare for the Washington Commanders, and a stretch of games that looks much different than it did to start the season. 

The Bears don’t have to prepare for Joe Burrow or Russell Wilson coming out of the bye week. They can focus on holding on to the winning ways they showed they have in Las Vegas.

Sunday went down as a game that focused on what the Bears can do, as opposed to their shortcomings.

That’s what winning does.

“Any win, it feels good,” Tyrique Stevenson said.