Anybody who followed the Chicago Bears for most of the 2010s will know the name Josh Bellamy. He was the Little Engine That Could of the receiving room. Arriving in 2014 as a deep reserve, he survived the firing of two head coaches and battled his way into a regular role as a contributor in the passing game. He was there with the team at its lowest and got to experience their revival in 2018.

It appears the New York Jets receiver was paying a visit to Chicago recently. This brought back memories of his time with the team. Yet it didn’t take long for one particular memory to rise to the surface. It’s clear Bellamy hasn’t stopped thinking about his last game at Soldier Field. That fateful night against the Philadelphia Eagles. A game where he had a big catch for 34 yards and the team was on the cusp of winning the game in the final seconds.

All Cody Parkey had to do was hit a 43-yard field in ideal conditions. It didn’t happen. Bellamy seems to think if the Bears had just gotten past that first test, they would’ve rolled through the rest of the competition.

Josh Bellamy can’t help but feel his fate would be different

One can understand why Bellamy still runs his thoughts over that sequence of events. His catch was the one that set up Allen Robinson’s touchdown in the 4th quarter, giving the Bears a 15-10 lead. If they’d held on to win the game, he might’ve been viewed as a hero afterward. An eternal underdog who stepped up to make a huge play when the team needed it most.

His words aren’t totally without merit either. The Bears would’ve gone to Los Angeles the next week, a team they’d beaten during the regular season. It isn’t a stretch to think they could’ve done it again. Then they would’ve had to get past the Saints in the NFC championship and the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Beaten them both is certainly a challenge, but given the momentum the Bears would’ve had by that point it’s hard to think they couldn’t have run the table.

Bellamy has no doubt it would’ve happened.