The Chicago Bears did not punt once in Sunday’s 23-12 win over the Jets. It was the first time the Bears had gone through an entire game without punting since Sept. 28, 2014. And the ‘Bears had a zero punt game’ fact actually opens the door to a much more interesting story.
Bears Zero Punt Game Hasn’t Occurred in Last 12 Seasons
The last time Chicago avoided punting, the circumstances could not have been more different. In that 2014 meeting with Green Bay, the Bears lost 38-17, with Aaron Rodgers throwing four touchdowns and Green Bay scoring on six of its first seven possessions. Chicago’s drives that day ended in interceptions and a clock that simply ran out — a messy, outclassed afternoon where the Bears never punted because they never settled into enough rhythm to need to.
Twelve years later, the same zero-punt line showed up in the box score for the opposite reason. The Bears controlled the football so thoroughly they never had a reason to kick it away. It’s only the fourth time in the Super Bowl era Chicago has played a full game without punting the ball.
The Stunning Control Numbers Behind the Zero Punts
Chicago ran 89 plays to New York’s 32 and held the ball for 42 minutes and 45 seconds, a season high across the entire league. The Bears piled up 34 first downs — a franchise record dating back to at least 1941. The Jets managed seven.
Here’s the number that stops you cold: Chicago recorded more first downs (34) than New York ran total offensive plays (32). That specific combination has happened at least once before, in 1999, when Pittsburgh posted 32 first downs against a Cleveland team that ran only 28 offensive plays in a 43-0 shutout.
New York went 0-for-7 on third downs and gained just 157 yards — the first time since 1997 the Bears have held an opponent without a single third-down conversion. The Jets finished with the ball for just 17 minutes and 15 seconds the entire game. This wasn’t a statistical quirk created by a few aggressive fourth-down calls. It was sustained, methodical domination.
Three Different Quarterbacks, One Relentless Formula
In 2014 the Bears didn’t pun because their offense kept self-destructing. On Sunday they didn’t punt because the offense and defense worked in genuine partnership. The defense that has allowed just 28 points over the last three games kept giving the ball back. The offense, with a backup quarterback and a backup running back, kept it moving — Tyson Bagent threw for a career-high 268 yards, and Kyle Monangai ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns on a career-high 30 carries.
It’s also only the second time since 1950, and the first since 2021, that three different Bears quarterbacks have won a game in the same season — Case Keenum, Caleb Williams and now Bagent. A zero-punt game built on 34 first downs doesn’t usually come with a rotating cast at the most important position on the field. For a team that’s had to piece together its quarterback room on the fly all season, that’s the stranger and more encouraging part of Sunday’s number. And it’s always good when you can break a 12-year record by doing everything right.
The Bears Did Something Sunday They Haven’t Done Since 2014