The Magnificent 7

Seven players who made the biggest impact in the Bears' 47-42 victory over the Bengals on Sunday at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati:

1. Kyle Monangai

Forget all the gobbledygook at the end, the seventh-round rookie from Rutgers was the dominant force in the game with 26 carries for 176 yards (6.8 avg.) in his first NFL start. Monangai had room to run — due credit to Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman, Jonah Jackson and the Bears' offensive line. But on several occasions Monangai himself powered through the Bengals' shoddy defense for extra yards — particularly on an 18-yard run in the second quarter. Of his 26 carries, 15 went for five yards or more. But he only had three carries in the fourth quarter, though one went for 39 yards. For the record, Monangai now has 363 rushing yards on 68 carries (5.3 avg.) for the season — more than Patriots second-round rookie TreVeyon Henderson (67-283, 4.2, 1 TD).

2. Caleb Williams

A week after Justin Fields took advantage of the porous Bengals defense to rally the Jets to an unlikely victory (21 of 32, 244 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, 99.0 rating), Williams got his chance and did the former Bears quarterback one better and then some — completing 20 of 32 passes (62.5%) for 280 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 114.8 rating. One of the touchdowns was a virtual handoff to Olamide Zaccheaus on a fly sweep, but no matter. Williams continually managed pocket chaos to avoid mistakes and give himself a chance — and it ultimately made the difference when he threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to rookie Colston Loveland that won the game.

3. Joe Flacco

The 18-year veteran doesn't rank with the all-time greats, but he still has a gear the great ones get to — like in the superb Super Bowl run in 2012 when he threw 11 touchdowns with no interceptions and a 117.2 rating in the postseason. He was there again in the second half against the Bears — throwing for 305 of his 470 yards and three of his four touchdowns to nearly rally the Bengals to a miraculous victory. He had 10 completsion for 20 yards or more, including a 44-yarder to Tee Higgins, a 36-yarder to Ja'Marr Chase and a 33-yarder to tight end Tanner Hudson. Overall, Flacco completed 31 of 47 passes for 470 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions (one on the final play) for a 109.4 rating. All things considered, he was actually better than those numbers indicate.

4. D.J. Moore

It's almost like Johnson and/or Wiliams were on a mission to defuse the narrative that Williams' growing chemistry with Rome Odunze was pushing Moore into a secondary role. Moore was in every facet of the game plan against the Bengals — throwing for a touchdown (to Williams on a "Philly Special"), rushing for a touchdown (a 17-yard score on an end around) and catching four passes for 72 yards. Moore also was a gamer — after leaving the field grabbing his hamstring following a 14-yard catch early in the third quarter, he returned to score on the 17-yard end around. Odunze, surprisingly, had no receptions (on three targets) for the first time in his two-year career (25 games) after coming in leading the Bears with 31 receptions for 473 yards and five touchdowns.

5. Colston Loveland

The rookie tight end's modest production this season (11 receptions, 116 yards, no touchdowns coming into the game) was raising more and more eyebrows each week as fellow rookie Tyler Warren continued to excel with the surprising Colts (37-492, three touchdowns). There's no such thing as a "breakout" performance against a defense as poor as the Bengals', but Loveland's production was notable — six receptions for 118 yards, including the game-winning 58-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left. The final 35 yards on that play were courtesy of the worst tackling in the NFL since the "Minnesota Miracle" in 2018 at U.S. Bank Stadium, but Loveland put himself in position for that good fortune. Warren, by the way, had five receptions for 26 yards in the Colts' loss to the Steelers on Sunday.

6. Tee Higgins

Already in the shadow of Ja'Marr Chase, Higgins' production has been notably down with Joe Burrow out with another injury — from 75.9 yards per game with Burrow last year to 45.2 without Burrow this year. But while Chase was good against the Bears on Sunday (six receptions for 111 yards), Higgins was better —  seven receptions for 121 yards (17.3 per catch) and two touchdowns, including a spectacular reaching grab while battling Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright down the left sideline for a 44-yard touchdown that gave the Bengals a 20-17 lead in the second quarter. This was Higgins' first 100-yard game since Week 17 of last season against the Steelers (11-131, three touchdowns).

7. Jordan Battle

While Charlie Jones, the pride of Deerfield, got this pinball game started by returning the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to light the special, ultimately Battle's inexplicable and unforgivable defensive lapse on Loveland's 58-yard touchdown made a bigger impact. After Loveland made the catch at the Bengals' 35-yard line, Battle not only carelessly tried to shoulder Loveland to the ground but in doing so, bumped Loveland away from safety Geno Stone, springing Loveland for the touchdown. It typified the Bengals' abysmal defensive performance, and with the Bears out of time outs, saved the Bears from a fire-drill 50-yard field goal attempt to win the game.

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