Over the past few weeks, head coach Ben Johnson and the Chicago Bears had searched for their killer instinct.

Winning hadn’t been the problem. The Bears had won eight of their last nine games ahead of Friday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. But Chicago failed to develop its killer instinct to put teams away earlier and instead used various methods to win in dramatic fashion.

On Friday, the Bears found it in front of a national audience by stopping the NFL’s most controversial play.

Chicago stole Friday’s momentum and potentially changed the nation’s opinion of the team when the Bears forced a fumble on the Eagles’ infamous “tush push” play. Instead of squandering the momentum like it had many times this year, Chicago used it to score back-to-back touchdowns on its way to a 24-15 win and a 9-3 record.

“We just try to go out there and try to put our stamp on our culture, our physicality and who we are as a team,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. “I think we showed that tonight.”

The Bears put out their best when it seemed like Friday’s game would follow the same script as previous blown leads.

The Eagles stole the game’s momentum midway through the third quarter when they intercepted a pass from Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and returned the ball into Bears territory. Trailing 10-9, they drove the ball to the Bears’ 12-yard line and faced third-and-1 when it seemed like everyone in the nation knew what would come next.

Philadelphia ran the tush push play, and for the next few seconds there was confusion about what had just happened inside the pile of bodies. First, Bears players started to stand up and signaled they had forced a fourth down. Then some players started motioning that Chicago had recovered the ball.

Almost a minute later, cornerback Nahshon Wright stood up and held on to the ball.

Wright saw a moment to strike and took advantage. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts ran uncovered up the pile, and Wright punched the ball out of his hands. Once the ball was out, he then dove on it and recovered it.

“If I’m able to get in there, I’m gonna get in there,” Wright said. “It was just kind of the opportunity presented itself for me to get in there, and I was able to get the ball out.”

Bears coaches had talked about how they wanted to defend the play during the week. The Bears had actually done a good job of stopping the Pittsburgh Steelers’ version of the play on Sunday. Chicago had stopped one attempt and let another go for a big run.

But Wright said he hadn’t paid attention to it too much during meetings. Not that he didn’t care. He just knew if the opportunity was there, he’d act on instinct.

“It was cool to be able to stop the tush push,” Wright said, “and flip the momentum in our direction.”

With momentum back on their side, the Bears didn’t waste it this time.

Rookie running back Kyle Monangai provided a jolt on the very next play when he ran for a 31-yard gain to flip the field. The run started a 12-play, 87-yard drive that ended in a 4-yard touchdown run for Monangai with 12:49 left in the game.

The Bears’ defense kept it going and forced a three-and-out on the Eagles’ next drive before Chicago just kept running the ball at will. Chicago moved the ball 63 yards down the field thanks to some more stout running and some key first downs. The Bears took a 24-9 lead with 6:19 left in the game on a 28-yard touchdown pass by Williams to tight end Cole Kmet.

The touchdown sent Eagles fans toward the exits. It also proved the Bears had that killer instinct they had searched for all season.

“It’s kudos to [the defense] first and then having that momentum swing back in our favor, then having a big, explosive play is really important,” Williams said. “It shows who we are as a team. It shows the adversity and how we fight through and how we show up for each other. So it was huge for us.”

The win was also huge for changing the narrative about the Bears nationally.

Chicago had been criticized nationally for not beating any good teams during its streak of winning eight of nine games. To the critic’s credit, the Dallas Cowboys and the Steelers were the only teams the Bears had beaten this year that entered Friday’s game with a winning record.

“We just try to go out there and try to put our stamp on our our culture, our physicality and who we are as a team. I think we showed that tonight.”

—  Kevin Byard, Chicago Bears safety

But after Friday’s win, the Bears improved to 9-3 alone the top of the NFC North with the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs after beating the defending Super Bowl champions on the road. The narrative about Chicago might start changing as soon as Friday night.

Even if it does, the Bears didn’t seem to care that much Friday. They instead focused on what’s next and the team they could become over the final five weeks of the regular season.

“We understand who we are, we understand where we’re going to be as a team,” Williams said. “You focus on that. You focus on the betterment of the team as a group. And you come out with these wins week-to-week, and you don’t let the noise, the outside noise, negative moments, shine too bright within us and within our group. It’s a positive thing that we’ve been able to do this year and something we’ve got to keep going forward.”