CHICAGO _ At the end of an exhilarating Thursday night, Bears safety Eddie Jackson found himself enjoying the rush, immersed in the positive energy pulsing through the locker room.
"Bears 31, Cowboys 24" felt a little different. It felt overdue. It felt energizing. It felt gratifying.
It was, at long last, a complete victory with productivity across all three phases.
"Oh, man," Jackson said. "The whole game just felt right."
After Jackson left Soldier Field on Dec. 5, he connected with his family and headed to Chicago's River North neighborhood for a late dinner at Chicago Cut. A plate of Colorado double-cut lamb chops and a sense of genuine fulfillment.
"It just felt good, man," Jackson said. "We were finally clicking. Plus, we had played three games in 12 days. So to come through that and get three wins and especially that last one, a big game in prime time ... it was like a relief off your shoulders."
Jackson kept thinking about the electricity he felt inside Soldier Field. He was struck by the buzz of the crowd and the confidence of his teammates and how every big play took things up a level.
He immediately thought back to the bright-lights, big-stakes home games in 2018. Prime-time wins over the Vikings and Rams. The playoff game against the Eagles.
"It felt like that," Jackson said. "The high energy. The fun we were having. That vibe matters."
The result did too.
"For me it was just kind of like: 'Yes, baby. This feels like us again.' "
Don't get it twisted. Jackson and his Bears teammates haven't celebrated the victory over the Cowboys or their three-game winning streak as some sort of landmark breakthrough. They understand this season began with Super Bowl dreams, and as things stand, they remain playoff outsiders likely headed for an earlier-than-anticipated winter vacation.
In a matter of weeks, an inevitable reflection process will take hold as the Bears zoom out on how a midseason tailspin derailed their January plans.
But even with all of that, this team's ability to stay united, to keep itself focused, to remain solution-oriented and locked in on the present has become a major source of internal pride.
"Not once this season," Jackson said, "has it felt like guys are pulling apart."
That's part of why the win over the Cowboys felt so satisfying. Packers coach Matt LaFleur called it "a dominating performance." The Bears played at a high level and left with a surge of self-confidence to take forward into Sunday's rivalry game against the Packers.
