The Chicago Bears pulled off the impossible on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati.

It seemed like the Bears would lose after they had given up a 14-point lead in the final minutes against the Cincinnati Bengals. But quarterback Caleb Williams led another game-winning drive in the final minute, this time finding rookie tight end Colston Loveland for the go-ahead touchdown in a 47-42 win.

Lots went right and wrong for the Bears Sunday. They got career days from two rookies to pull off a much-needed win on the road. But some of the same mistakes continued to plague Chicago, leading to a late blown lead.

Here are the five big takeaways from the team’s thrilling win on the road.

Kyle Monangai’s career day

The Bears needed rookie running back Kyle Monangai to step up Sunday afternoon. Chicago was without lead running back D’Andre Swift, who was out with a groin injury all week, and Monangai had an opportunity to take a big step Sunday.

Monangai did that, and more.

The rookie took over the game at times Sunday afternoon. With strong blocking in front of him, Monangai took advantage of gaps to break out for big gains. He also showed how strong of a runner he is, a reputation he had coming out of Rutgers, sometimes continuing to move the pile when it seemed like a play was over.

Monangai rushed for a career-high 176 yards on 26 carries. He also caught three passes for 22 yards.

Sunday was what the Bears had been looking for out of Monangai after they drafted him in the seventh round this season. He proved that he can carry the load when Swift is out and also be a complement when Swift returns. It’s something Monangai has known he can do since he joined the team.

“I have high expectations of myself,” Monangai said in Cincinnati. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. So the work I put in, I expect the results that I get. But that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied or anything like that.”

Bringing out the bag of tricks

Bears head coach Ben Johnson brought out his bag of tricks Sunday, a couple days after Halloween.

Both plays came on the Bears’ opening drive of the game. The first came when tight end Cole Kmet took a direct snap and then tossed the ball over to Williams. Kmet received the ball back and threw a 14-yard pass to wide receiver Rome Odunze. The play was overturned, however, after Odunze couldn’t make the catch.

Chicago’s second trick play had a much better result. Facing fourth-and-2 at the Bengals 2 2-yard line, Williams tossed the ball over to Odunze, who then tossed the ball over to DJ Moore. He found a wide-open Williams in the end zone to complete his first career pass. The Bears said the play was called “hot potato.”

“I felt really confident,” Williams said. “I know [Johnson] felt really confident about calling those moments and they showed up for us.”

Johnson pulled out one more trick in the fourth quarter when he had Williams and backup quarterback Tyson Bagent both in the game at the same time. Williams took the snap and tossed it over to Bagent, who then sent it to Williams for a 20-yard pass.

Taking advantage of mistakes

Penalties and unforced errors got in the way of the Bears picking up a win against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8. They took advantage of a couple Bengals mistakes early to get into the end zone Sunday.

Cincinnati seemed to have forced Chicago to punt on its opening drive when the Bengals sacked Williams on third down. But a Cincinnati illegal contact penalty during the sack gave Chicago a fresh set of downs. The Bears took advantage and went on to score on Moore’s pass.

The Bengals gave the Bears more life on their second drive. Kicker Cairo Santos seemed to cost his team some points when he missed a 47-yard field goal attempt. But Cincinnati was lined up offside and moved the ball up for Chicago. The Bears picked up a first down on the next play and went on to score a touchdown.

Sunday felt like the Bears were playing themselves at times with how much the Bengals kept shooting themselves in the foot. Cincinnati finished the game with seven penalties for 49 yards.

No air defense

Although the Bears found a way to win Sunday, they almost lost because of an inconsistent passing game defense that’s hurt them for parts of the season.

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Flacco had no trouble throwing the ball down the field despite battling an AC joint sprain in his throwing arm all week. Flacco threw a career-high 470 passing yards against the Bears, completing 66% of his passes and throwing four touchdowns.

Part of the hurt came from the talented Bengals wide receivers. Ja’Marr Chase caught six passes for 111 yards while Tee Higgins made some impressive catches, finishing with 121 receiving yards on six catches.

But the pass defense has struggled at times even though it had a four-game stretch where it forced at least three turnovers in each game. The Bears will need to sure that area up as they head into the second half of the season.

“We’ll never apologize for winning in this league,” safety Kevin Byard said. “It’s very hard to do. I’m super duper proud of this group. Obviously, on the defensive side of the ball, we didn’t finish how we wanted to in the last few minutes of the game.”

Not a special day

The Bears’ special teams made too many plays that hurt the team once again Sunday.

None was worse than the first play of the game when Bengals returner and Deerfield-native Charlies Jones returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. Jones had clear space as soon as he caught the ball and Santos was the closest Bear who actually had a chance to tackle him.

Chicago allowed Cincinnati to return eight kickoffs for 297 yards. Jones led the way with 179 yards on four returns.

“I have high expectations of myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself. So the work I put in, I expect the results that I get. But that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied or anything like that.”

—  Kyle Monangai, Chicago Bears running back

Costly special teams penalties also continued to hurt the Bears for a second straight week. Jahdae Walker committed a holding penalty late in the second quarter that wiped away a 52-yard punt return by Devin Duvernay that would’ve given Chicago the ball at the Cincinnati 38.

The Bears also gave up an onside kick at the end of the fourth quarter that the Bengals recovered after it hit defensive lineman Daniel Hardy. Cincinnati went on to score and take the lead after recovering the kick.