Good evening, everyone. On Sunday November 17th, the Green Bay Packers, who got well-rested after the bye week, took on the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in the 209th matchup in the rivalry’s history (which dates back to 1921, back when the Bears were known as the Decatur Staleys). Entering this game, the Packers were looking to get back to their winning ways and catch up with the Lions and Vikings in the NFC North division race. This game wasn’t an easy one for Green Bay at all. Like the previous two victories before the bye week, the game was decided in the final moments. Let’s get into detail on how this game went down.
Chicago won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, meaning that the Packers would get the ball to start the game. After the opening kickoff went to the end zone for a touchback, the Packers offense started their first drive at their own 30 yard line. Josh Jacobs started the drive with two runs that went for 11 yards and a first down. After an incomplete pass, Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs for a 17-yard pass completion that got Green Bay to the Chicago 42 yard line. After two more Josh Jacobs runs, the Packers were able to get a first and 10 at the Chicago 28 yard line. On that play, Emanuel Wilson ran for 13 yards to the 15 yard line. After that, Jordan Love caught the Bears defense with too many men on the field and found Jayden Reed for a 15-yard touchdown pass. The extra point kick by Brandon McManus was good, giving the Packers a 7-0 lead with 11:15 left in the first quarter. The Bears were able to take the ensuing kickoff to their own 32 yard line. From there, Chicago’s offense (who fired Shane Waldron before this game) was able to move the ball down the field against Green Bay’s defense. On third and 8 from the Chicago 34, rookie QB Caleb Williams was able to escape the defense and scramble for a first down. On the next play, Williams found DJ Moore on a short pass that went 16 yards. After that pass, there were two run plays to D’Andre Swift that canceled each other out. On first and 10 from the Green Bay 35 yard line, Swift ran for 3 yards. On second and 7 from the 32, Swift got tackled for a loss of 3 yards by Brenton Cox Junior. On third and 10, Caleb Williams threw a pass that went incomplete, forcing the Bears to settle for a 53-yard field goal. Cairo Santos made the kick, decreasing Green Bay’s lead to 7-3 with 7:49 left in the quarter. The ensuing kickoff went in the end zone for a touchback, giving Green Bay the ball at their own 30. After the Packers got a first down, the drive stalled after an incomplete pass, a run that went for a loss of one yard, and a pass that came up short of the first down marker. The punt by Daniel Whelan pinned the Bears at their own 5 yard line. The Bears were able to get out of that situation and move the ball down the field again. During this drive, there was a penalty that was about as soft as Charmin. On second and 13 from the Chicago 33 yard line, Calleb Williams decided to take the ball and run for 7 yards before going out of bounds. There was a slight push by Xavier McKinney and Caleb Williams responded with flopping to the ground. Xavier McKinney was called for a personal foul, adding 15 yards to the end of the run and making Matt LaFleur angry at the officials. Thankfully, the defense responded by forcing the Bears to punt shortly after that penalty. An incomplete pass on first and 10 was followed up by a 10-yard sack by Brenton Cox Junior. An 11-yard pass play on third and 20 was not enough to get the Bears a first down, and they decided to punt since they were not in field goal range. The punt was fair caught by Jayden Reed at the Green Bay 9 yard line. However, there was an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave Green Bay an extra 15 yards. Because of the penalty, the drive started at the 24 yard line with 13:28 left in the first half. After 2 run plays that went basically nowhere, the Packers faced a third and 11 from the 23 yard line. On that play, Jordan Love found Christian Watson for a 17-yard pass play to the Green Bay 40. Later in the drive, the Packers faced a fourth and 3 at their own 47 and decided to go for it. Jordan Love executed the hard count and made the defense go offsides, but the officials blew the play dead since Elgton Jenkins moved before the snap after the defender went offsides. The Packers got the free 5 yards, giving them a first and 10 at the Chicago 48. On the ensuing play, Love found Josh Jacobs for a short pass that Jacobs took 23 yards to the 25 yard line. 2 plays later, Chris Brooks caught a pass that went for 9 yards on second and 8. After a 9 yard run by Josh Jacobs on first and 10 from the 14 yard line, the drive stalled for the Packers. On second and one from the 5 yards line, there was a good play design that would have been a wide open TD for Dontayvion Wicks, but the Bears defense read the play well and forced Love to throw it away. In addition to the incomplete pass, there was an ineligible man downfield penalty on Elgton Jenkins that backed them up 5 yards. On second and 6, an end around play to Jayden Reed ended up in a loss of 5 yards. On third and 10, Jordan Love threw a pass that was too high for Tucker Kraft and was picked off by Terell Smith, who returned the pick to the Chicago 24 yard line. From there, the Bears were able to move the ball down the field and using up basically the rest of the game clock. This drive included a few scrambles by Caleb Williams in addition to a couple of good throws. This successful drive for the Bears ended with a one yard touchdown run by Roschon Johnson that, with the extra point, gave the Bears a surprising 10-7 halftime lead.
The Bears had the ball first in the third quarter due to deferring their option during the coin toss. Chicago’s offense was able to move the ball down the field on their first drive of the second half. A 14-yard run by D’Andre Swift was followed up by a 25-yard pass completion from Caleb Williams to TE Cole Kmet that got the Bears to the Green Bay 31. Later, the Bears converted a fourth and 2 at the Green Bay 23 with an 8-yard pass completion to Roschon Johnson. After a 6-yard run on first down by Johnson, the Bears’ drive stalled and they settled for a 27-yard field goal. The kick was good, increasing Chicago’s lead to 13-7 with 10:17 left in the third quarter. After the ensuing kickoff went into the end zone for a touchback, the Packers started their first third quarter drive at their own 30. On the second play of the drive, Jordan Love found Josh Jacobs on a short pass that went for 21 yards to the Bears’ 46. On the next play, there was an offsides penalty on Montez Sweat, which gave the Packers 5 free yards. Two run plays, one each by Emanuel Wilson and Josh Jacobs, gave the Packers a first and 10 at the 32 yard line. On that first down play, Jordan Love found Christian Watson on a 25-yard pass completion that gave the Packers first and goal at the 7 yard line. Josh Jacobs then finished the drive with a touchdown run right through the middle of the Bears defense. The extra point kick by Brandon McManus was good, giving Green Bay a 14-13 lead with 6:34 left in the third quarter. That lead did not last long, as the Packers defense once again allowed the Bears to move the ball down the field for a score. Just like in the previous drive, the Packers defense allowed the Bears to convert a short fourth down. This time, it was with a 4-yard scramble by Caleb Williams on fourth and 1 from the Green Bay 43. There was hope when rookie receiver Rome Odunze was called for offensive pass interference, which made the Bears face a first and 20 from the 49 yard line. The Bears made it a second and 15 after a 5-yard pass completion to Keenan Allen. Then, the Bears were gifted a neutral zone infraction penalty on Lukas Van Ness after the refs missed a false start on the same play. After that gift of a penalty, D’Andre Swift ran 39 yards for the touchdown that gave the Bears the lead back. Chicago tried to go for two points, but they failed, which kept the score as 19-14 in the Bears’ favor with 31 seconds left in the quarter. Keisean Nixon took the ensuing kickoff to the Green Bay 24 yard line. From there, the Packers went down the field in the hopes of answering back with a touchdown of their own. Josh Jacobs started the drive with two straight runs that totaled 20 yards. Then, Jordan Love found a double-covered Christian Watson for a 48-yard pass play that got Green Bay into scoring range. Josh Jacobs was stuffed for a loss of one yard on first and goal, but he gained 4 yards on the second play, which set up third and goal at the 5 yard line. On third down, Jordan Love could not find anyone and took a one yard sack. The Packers then decided to go for it rather than take the field goal. On fourth and goal from the 6 yard line, Jordan Love had to run for the goal line. Unfortunately, he came up 2 yards short, giving the Bears the ball back. The Bears tried to run out the clock on their next drive. The Bears did use about 7 minutes of game time during this drive, which got me frustrated and nervous. Thankfully, the Packers defense forced the Bears to punt with four and a half minutes left in the game. Jayden Reed was able to return the punt 16 yards to the Green Bay 22 yard line. From there, the Packers started their next drive with the mission of getting the game-winning touchdown. After a 4-yard run by Josh Jacobs, the Packers faced a second and 6 from the 26. On second down, Jordan Love found Christian Watson on a deep pass. Watson made a diving catch, then got up and ran all the way to the Chicago 15 yard line. On first and 10 from the 15, Jordan Love decided to run with the ball. He dove for the end zone, and it looked like he might have scored. However, the refs ruled him out of bounds at the one yard line (even after a challenge by Matt LaFleur). Love finished the drive with a QB sneak TD from one yard out. The two point conversion ended up short of the goal line, which kept the score as 20-19 in Green Bay’s favor with 2:59 left in the game. After the kickoff went for a touchback, the Bears started their final drive at their own 30 yard line. The Packers defense started the drive with two straight sacks of Caleb Williams, one each by TJ Slaton and Rashan Gary, setting up a third and 19 from the 21 yard line. After that, the Packers defense allowed the Bears to basically march down the field and get into field goal range. When the Bears got to the Green Bay 30 and did a 2-yard run, they let the clock go all the way down to 3 seconds before calling their final timeout and bringing out Cairo Santos for the field goal to win the game. However, Karl Brooks found an opening and raised his hand up just enough to tip the kick and make it short, saving the Packers’ 20-19 win. The win not only improved the Packers’ record to 7-3, but it also gave the Packers the longest winning streak against a division rival in NFL history. Between the 1994 and 1998 seasons, the Packers won 10 straight games against the Bears. On Sunday, the Packers earned their 11th straight win over the Bears since Matt LaFleur became head coach.
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL’s YouTube page. Click on "Watch on YouTube" if you're curious.)
On offense, there were some mistakes made by the Packers. A couple of play calls in the red zone (plus the two-point conversion) were very unsuccessful and the Packers failed to score on two of the red zone possessions, including one where Jordan Love threw an interception on a pass that was too high for Tucker Kraft (the other guys get paid too). Outside of that interception, Love played a great game as he completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown to Jayden Reed when he caught the Bears defense with too many men on the field. It was obvious that he was healthier coming out of the bye week, and I think that it helped him not do too many bad things on the field. I’m hoping that he stays healthy for the rest of the season. Josh Jacobs had a great game as well, totaling 22 touches for 134 yards (76 yards on 18 carries and 58 yards on 4 catches) and a touchdown run. Christian Watson led the receiving corps with 4 catches for 150 yards, with each of those catches coming up in crucial moments. His most crucial play was the huge catch and run that helped set up the final TD of the game for Green Bay. He is definitely a guy who does the dirty work on run plays and plays his heart out, and I am glad that he got rewarded with those big catches. The offensive line played good for the most part, allowing Love to be sacked only once. There were times that they allowed run plays to be stuffed, but that did not happen too often. There are definitely a lot of things to be cleaned up on offense, including some play calls that need to be eliminated (looking at the end arounds here), and I hope that they get cleaned up ASAP, especially with some tough teams coming up in the next few weeks.
On defense, the Packers did allow less than 20 points to a Bears team that hasn’t scored that many in a few weeks. They were able to sack Caleb Williams 3 times. However, the first sack came early in the game and the other two came on back to back plays in the final drive. Other than that, the Packers defense struggled to get off the field against a Bears offense that hasn’t looked great at all in these last few weeks. The Bears were able to win the time of possession battle while also besting the Packers in total yards, rushing yards, third down percentage, fourth down percentage, plays, and first downs. Caleb Williams was able to scramble 9 times for 70 yards in addition to throwing for 231 yards and no interceptions. At times, I had flashbacks of last season against the Giants where the Packers defense could not stop Tommy DeVito of all QBs run all over them and lead the Giants down the field for long drives. That definitely happened on Sunday, which is part of the reason why the Bears won the time of possession battle. Quay Walker had his worst game as a Packer as he was picked apart time after time. There was one play where Quay had Caleb in his sights, but he did not finish the play. Walker was the guy who gave the defense a speech on the sideline, yet he was the one who got exposed the most. He can’t be on the defense for every play from now on. Xavier McKinney had an angry moment on the sidelines, which I thought of as him wanting to be great after he messed up on the play that ended in the 39-yard D’Andre Swift touchdown. The secondary did not play well on Sunday against the Bears. What did not help matters was when Jaire Alexander, who came back on Sunday, had knee issues again and left the game in the second half. I really hope that he plays next week and beyond. As a whole, Jeff Hafley’s unit needs to be much better next week. They can’t rely on a miracle to happen each and every week. The 49ers are coming to town, and they love to run the ball. Hopefully the defense is ready for that game and beyond.
For the third time this year, it all came down to one play by the Special Teams unit. Against the Texans and Jaguars, Brandon McManus made the game winning field goal to give the Packers the win in those games. On Sunday against the Bears, it was a tip of Karl Brooks’ hand tat blocked the field goal that would have given the Bears a win. This was not luck, people. Special Teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia pointed out a flaw in the Bears’ field goal operation during meetings on the night before the game. It also helped that the Bears didn’t bother to move the ball closer so Cairo Santos would have an easier kick. The ball was kicked low enough so Karl Brooks would get his hand on it, saving the Packers win over the Bears. I screamed my head off when this blocked field goal happened, along with every other Packers fan worldwide. Thankfully, the Packers played well on Special Teams and did not turn the ball over. Brandon McManus made both PATs and the only punt by Daniel Whelan went deep in Bears territory. Kudos to Bisaccia for getting the team ready for that final moment on Sunday.
Overall, it was yet another ugly win for the Packers. There are definitely things to clean up on all sides of the ball, but I am glad that there were fewer penalties overall. I’m sure that the Packers won’t apologize for winning in ugly fashion, especially against the Bears. 7-3 is great so far for the Packers, but 8-3 would be even better. Hopefully the Packers get to 8-3 after next week’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field. Green Bay needs to be ready for anything against the 49ers, even at home. I have hope that they can get it done in front of their home crowd. In the meantime, it’s always good to know that The Bears Still Suck. Have a great week, everyone. Go Pack Go!
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