Thoughts on Week 16 (2025): Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears

Well, that game went down the wrong path in the final moments. Entering Saturday night’s game at Soldier Field, the Green Bay Packers were looking to sweep the Chicago Bears and take control of first place in the NFC North. Before the last two minutes, the Packers had control of the game despite some miscues and injuries (including Jordan Love leaving with a concussion). For the second time this season, dating back to Week 3 against Cleveland, the Packers blew a double digit lead in the final moments to the other team. The game ended with an overtime loss that might spell the end for a good chance at the NFC North title. Let’s get this game over with.

The Bears won the opening coin toss, but they deferred to the second half. As a result, the Packers started this game on offense. Bo Melton returned the kickoff to the Green Bay 32 yard line as he had to survive being part of a huge pile of players. Thankfully, the whistle was blown before any potential turnover could occur. In addition to that, there was an unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Packers great field position to start the drive (their own 47 yard line to be precise). The Packers got a free first down even on an incompletion on third and 1 from the Chicago 44. The reason was because a roughing the passer penalty was called on Austin Booker. Thanks to the penalty, the Packers got first and 10 at the Chicago 29. Three plays later, Jordan Love found Romeo Doubs for a sideline pass and catch that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Chicago 16. Later, the Packers had a decision to make: either settle for a field goal or go for the touchdown. They went for it on fourth and 1 from the Bears’ 7 yard line. Unfortunately, the play was not executed well as Love threw incomplete to Christian Watson, resulting in a turnover on downs. The Bears were able to move the ball down the field on their first possession with next to no problem due to the lack of a pass rush by Green Bay. There was even one play where Caleb Williams scrambled while Rashan Gary basically jogged and gave up on the play. Chicago’s offense made it all the way to the Green Bay 4 yard line before the drive failed in hilarious fashion. They tried to do a direct snap to the running back only for the snap to be too high. The ball was recovered by Kyle Monangai at the Green Bay 22 yard line, where the Packers took over possession of the ball. Jordan Love scrambled for a 7 yard gain to convert a third and 6 from the Green Bay 26. On the next play, Love found Doubs for another sideline pass and catch that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Green Bay 46. Later in the drive, Love found Doubs for a short pass that went for a 20 yard gain to the Chicago 23. Once they got to a goal to go situation, the drive stalled. On second and 5, Love threw a backwards pass that Emanuel Wilson failed to catch. The ball went out of bounds at the Chicago 8. After an incomplete pass on third and goal, the Packers had to settle for a field goal. The kick by Brandon McManus was good from 26 yards out, giving Green Bay a 3-0 lead with a little under 13 minutes left in the second quarter. The kickoff by McManus only went to the Chicago 16 due to wind. The kickoff was returned to the Chicago 37. In addition to that, Arron Mosby got injured and left the game after the kickoff return. The Bears were able to get into Green Bay territory, but were forced to punt after a false start penalty and an incompletion on third and 13 from the Green Bay 45. The punt went out of bounds at the Green Bay 5 yard line (kudos to the punter there). The Packers were able to get out of that tight situation thanks to a 5 yard run by Emanuel Wilson and a 7 yard catch by Christian Watson. Things went disastrous when Jordan Love took a severe helmet to helmet hit from Austin Booker and left the game with a concussion. The Packers got a free first down due to a penalty on Booker, who should have been kicked out after that hit. Due to Love’s concussion, Malik Willis had to step in for the rest of the game. Even with the quarterback change, the Packers were able to move the ball down the field in the hopes of getting another score. The drive was a good mix of run and pass plays, including a couple of scrambles by Willis. Unfortunately, the Packers had to settle for another short field goal after an incomplete pass on third and goal from the Chicago 4 yard line. The kick was good, increasing the lead to 6-0 with less than two minutes left in the half. The Bears weren’t able to get a score before halftime, resulting in the score staying as 6-0 in Green Bay’s favor at halftime.

The Bears were able to move the ball down the field on their first possession of the third quarter. There was a 34 yard catch and run by Kyle Monangai that gave the Bears a first and 10 at Green Bay’s 30 yard line. Thankfully, the Packers defense was able to keep the Bears from scoring a touchdown on the drive. Even with the wind, Cairo Santos was still able to make the kick from 46 yards out, cutting the lead to 3 points with a little over 12 minutes left in the third quarter. The Packers started their first second half possession at their own 35 thanks to a touchback on the ensuing kickoff. Malik Willis found Luke Musgrave for a 26 yard pass completion that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Chicago 39 (though he did miss a wide open Christian Watson on that same play). Three plays later, Willis found Musgrave again for a 5 yard pass that converted a third and 1 from the Chicago 30. During a 14 yard scramble by Willis, both Jayden Reed and Christian Watson got banged up (Thankfully, Reed and Watson were able to come back into the game). As the Packers were trying to get to the end zone, Josh Jacobs ended up losing the ball on a run play that ended in a huge pile of players. The fumble was recovered by Chicago at their own 2 yard line, ending a potential scoring opportunity for the Packers. Thankfully, the Packers defense was able to force the Bears to punt on their next possession. Starting from their own 36 yard line, the Packers successfully moved the ball down the field and scored a touchdown. The drive began with a 12 yard run by Emanuel Wilson. After a false start penalty on Luke Musgrave, the Packers had to deal with a second and 9 from the Green Bay 49. Willis found Watson for a 10 yard pass that gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Chicago 41. 3 plays later, Willis found Romeo Doubs for a 33 yard touchdown pass. Jayden Reed was somehow called for a taunting penalty (which should be taken off the penalty list), forcing the extra point kick to be from 47 yards away. The kick was good, increasing Green Bay’s lead to 10 points with a little over 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Even though the Bears suffered a penalty on the ensuing kickoff, they were still able to get into scoring position on their next possession. Once again, the Packers defense was able to force them to settle for what was essentially a long field goal due to the wind (it was 51 yards due to an intentional grounding penalty on Caleb Williams). Once again though, Santos made the kick, cutting the lead to 7 points with less than 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Savion Williams returned the ensuing kickoff to the Green Bay 37 yard line. From there, the Packers were once again able to move the ball down the field for some points. There was an unnecessary roughness penalty on Jaquan Brisker after a 4 yard scramble by Malik Willis ended in a big hit. That penalty gave the Packers a first and 10 at the Chicago 44 yard line. On the next play, which was an end around run by Matthew Golden that went for three yards, tight end John Fitzpatrick left the game with an Achilles injury. The Packers were eventually able to get into the red zone, but once again failed to score a touchdown in the red zone. The field goal attempt by Brandon McManus was good from 28 yards out, increasing the lead back up to 10 points with about 5 minutes left in the game. The Bears went down the field on their next possession desperate for a score to stay in the game. After a drive that lasted a little over 3 minutes (thanks to a facemask penalty that wiped out a potential game-sealing sack), they got that score when Cairo Santos made his third field goal of the game (this time from 43 yards out) to cut the lead to 7 points with 1:59 left in the game. All the Packers had to do was recover the onside kick and get a first down or two to seal the game. Unfortunately, Romeo Doubs messed up recovering the onside kick, which allowed the Bears to recover it instead. They then scored a touchdown when Caleb Williams found a wide open receiver in the back of the end zone due to a coverage error. Rather than go for two to take the lead, they decided to kick the extra point, tying the game at 16-16 with 24 seconds left in regulation. The Packers failed to do anything on the next possession, resulting in the game going to overtime.

The Bears won the OT coin toss, but they decided to be on defense first, since both teams now have a chance to possess the ball in OT. The Packers’ drive started at their own 21 after Savion Williams messed up by taking the ball out of the end zone (remember that touchbacks now result in possession at the 35 yard line). They got into Chicago territory thanks to a pass from Malik Willis to Jayden Reed that went 31 yards to the Bears’ 45 yard line. 4 plays later, they had a fourth and 1 at the Chicago 36 after the previous play went for no yards. There was a botched snap exchange, which resulted in a turnover on downs. The Bears capitalized on the opportunity by scoring the game winning touchdown when Caleb Williams found DJ Moore for a 46 yard deep pass TD. With that touchdown, the Packers lost by a score of 22-16 and are now 9-5-1 on the season.

(Here are the "lowlights" of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page. Click on "Watch on YouTube" if you're curious.)

On offense, it was a rough outing for the Packers on Saturday night. For one thing, they failed to score a touchdown when they got inside the red zone. In addition, they suffered a couple of turnovers on downs, including on the first and last drives of the game. Josh Jacobs fumbled the ball close to the goal line, even though it could be argued that forward progress should have stopped before he lost the ball. The game plan completely changed after Jordan Love left with a concussion (dirty hit by Austin Booker). Once Malik Willis stepped in for him, the Packers were mainly focused on the ground game to modest success (kudos to Josh Jacobs for roughing it out with his bad knee). Even with that focus on the run, Willis did make some good throws, including the 33 yard touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs in the third quarter. The offensive line did not allow too many sacks, which was surprising given the weird decision to put Jordan Morgan at right tackle in the place of an injured Zach Tom (who hurt his knee last week in Denver). What really bothered me, outside of the turnovers, is that for the second game this year, the Packers scored less than 20 points in a game in which no drives ended with a punt (the other time was back in Week 9 against the Panthers). Even though the defense was playing great for most of the game (which I’ll get to shortly), the offense did not do their job well enough in return. And now, there could be a QB problem for next week. Jordan Love still has to pass the concussion protocol and Malik Willis suffered a right shoulder injury that caused him to be sore afterwards. Whoever starts at quarterback against the Ravens next week needs to be smart with the football. Hopefully a game plan is set up by Matt LaFleur and company that works well with any quarterback.

On defense, the Packers played their heart out against the Bears for the most part. Even without Micah Parsons, Evan Williams, and Devonte Wyatt, they were able to keep them out of the end zone for nearly the whole game. Despite the offense coming up short in the red zone all night long, the defense did their part in keeping the Bears from scoring any touchdowns. Yes, there were chunk plays galore and there were no sacks or takeaways, but the defense held their own for most of the night. Things went downhill in the final minutes. Warren Brinson was called for a facemask penalty on a play that would have resulted in a sack of Caleb Williams. Xavier McKinney messed up another opportunity for an interception. After the onside kick debacle (which I’ll get to shortly), Keisean Nixon messed up the coverage that led to a wide open touchdown that tied the game. In OT, Nixon covered DJ Moore well enough, but the throw was perfectly executed by Caleb on that walk off touchdown. At the end of the day, the Packers defense messed up when it mattered the most. I give kudos to Jeff Hafley for getting his unit ready, but it was a bummer that no takeaways or sacks happened. Hopefully the defense gets ready for whoever plays at quarterback for the Ravens next week.

On Special Teams, the Packers did not have a perfect game, as usual. Let me get the positive stuff out of the way. Brandon McManus made every kick, no kicks were blocked, there were no penalties against Green Bay on any kick or punt returns, and Daniel Whelan did not have to punt the ball at all. Now that I got those out of the way, let’s talk about the onside kick debacle. All Romeo Doubs had to do was catch the ball and the Packers would have most likely won a gritty 16-9 game despite being banged up to heck. There were less than two minutes left on the game clock and the Bears only had two timeouts. Had Romeo recovered the onside kick, Malik Willis would have been able to lead the offense to a first down or two and seal the season sweep of the Bears. Romeo, to his credit, took full responsibility for the debacle (unlike Keisean Nixon, who didn’t comment to reporters after the game). This loss is yet another one that the Special Teams unit played a part in contributing to. It might be time for Rich Bisaccia to leave Green Bay if the Packers come up short of the Super Bowl.

Overall, it was a total collapse for the Packers on Saturday night in Chicago. Even though Jordan Love missed most of the game due to a concussion, they had control of it for the majority of the night. Even with the loss, the Packers still have a chance to win the NFC North. The caveat is that the Packers have to win out and the Bears have to lose out. Otherwise, the Packers would have to settle for the 7th seed for the third straight season. If the Packers somehow lose both two games and the Lions win their games, the Packers would miss the playoffs altogether. For now, the Packers need to focus on their next game against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday December 27th. Hopefully they can rebound from the Bears loss and get the win at Lambeau Field against Baltimore. I’ll be back to cover that game regardless of the outcome. In the meantime, I hope you all have a great Holiday Season. As always, Go Pack Go.