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This week’s version of the Ben Johnson Effect: A year after the Bears were burned by the fickle finger of football fate with a Hail Mary loss to the Commanders that sent their season careening into unprecedented ignominy, they are just about even with the football gods.
The Bears earned their 22-16 overtime victory Saturday against the Packers by making plays, but the one play that set it up was a mathematical fluke. Onside kicks had worked only five times in 48 tries (10.4%) before Josh Blackwell recovered a muff by hands-team member Romeo Doubs with 1:59 left in the fourth quarter.