Greatest Day in Chicago Sports History?

Chicago, IL - Saturday, January 10, 2026, a day that might go down as the greatest day in sports history in the city of Chicago. Sports fans in the Windy City have not had much to cheer for in the last decade with the Bears being mediocre at best, Bulls never going far in the playoffs, White Sox in a constant rebuild, Cubs having some nice moments but never truly getting over the hump, and the Blackhawks not having a winning season in the 2020’s yet. 

However, this season the Bears have had a magical season with some exhilarating 4th quarter comebacks. The team has brought about a sense of pride in the city that hasn’t been felt since the (“Loveable Losers”) 2016 Cubs went on their run to their first World Series in 108 years. 

The Bears came into the playoffs as the two seed and opened up the postseason with a home game against their biggest rival the Green Bay Packers. These two teams had played each other twice in the regular season with each time winning once. However, the Packers would be without their star linebacker Micah Parsons who was the leader of their defense. 

For most of the game this didn’t bother the Pack as quarterback Jordan Love threw for three first half touchdowns off of some excellent field position after a couple of failed 4th down conversions from Ben Johnson and the “Monsters of the Midway.” The Packers took a commanding 21-3 lead into the break. Then after the two defenses stepped up, Green Bay marched on to a 21-6 lead into the fourth. This is where the drama begins. 

As America was starting to get bored with this one and find other methods of entertainment on a Saturday evening, the Bears started to get going. Another Cairo Santos field goal made it 21-9, but there were only 12 minutes left. Had the Bears finally run out of comebacks? 

First, Chicago got a huge stop and then Deandre Swift punched one in from four yards out to make it 21-16. Green Bay got the ball back with just six minutes left Jordan Love passed for his fourth touchdown of the night putting what many thought would be the exclamation point on a statement win. The Bears got the ball back and behind some truly miraculous throws and scrambles from Caleb Williams were able to find the endzone on an 18-yard connection from Williams to Olamide Zaccheaus. The Bears defense orchestrated another quick stop on a missed field goal from Green Bay kicker Braden McManus. A lot of the credit goes to Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen who made some key adjustments in the second half holding the Pack to just 6 points.  

The Bears got the ball back and marched down the field and eventually scored on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Williams to receiver DJ Moore who had the ultimate in-game revenge after dropping a key pass earlier on the same drive. Green Bay got the ball back one more time and made Chicago fans sweat it out before Love’s final pass was deflected just short of the end zone and just like that for the first time since 2011 when I was just three-years old the Chicago Bears had won a playoff game. 

Earlier in the day both the Bulls and Blackhawks had won their games, and to top it all off the Cubs had won the Alex Bregman sweepstakes. Bregman was signed to a 5-year $175 million dollar deal bringing one of the top third basemen in baseball to the north side. It truly was a day that Chicago sports fans will never forget. There has never been a better time to be a sports fan in my hometown than right now.