With the change in playoff structuring that began in 1990, the Bears were not guaranteed a bye week for winning the division and had to play on Wild Card weekend.
For the only time in Mike Ditka's tenure as the Bears' head coach, the team played a regular season game in the state of Arizona when they visited the Phoenix Cardinals on October 28.
Late in the season, tragedy struck when defensive tackle Fred Washington, the Bears' second-round pick in the 1990 NFL draft, was killed in a car accident on December 21, 1990.
Rookies in italics [3] [4] [5] In the wild card, the Bears defeated the New Orleans Saints to advance to a Divisional Round matchup against the New York Giants.
Also, with 3 minutes left before halftime, New Orleans starting quarterback Steve Walsh, who had completed just 6 of 16 passes, was knocked out of the game and replaced by John Fourcade.
Still the Saints were just trailing 10–3 near the end of the third quarter, and had a great chance to tie the game when defensive tackle Renaldo Turnbull blocked Butler's 45-yard field goal attempt.
New Orleans defensive end Vince Buck recovered the ball and returned it 62 yards for a potential touchdown, only to see the play wiped out by an offsides penalty on teammate Robert Massey, who had lined up with his hand over the neutral zone.
On Chicago's second possession of the game, Giants defensive back Mark Collins intercepted Mike Tomczak's pass after it bounced out of the hands of Dennis Gentry and returned it 11 yards to set up a 46-yard field goal by Matt Bahr.
The Bears took the ensuing kickoff and drove to the Giants 27, but on 4th down and 12, coach Mike Ditka decided against attempting a field goal in the 13 mph (21 km/h) winds.
The Giants then drove 75 yards, including a 6-yard fourth-down conversion catch by reserve tight end Bob Mrosko, to go up 10–0 on Hostetler's 21-yard completion to Stephen Baker.