Good evening, everyone. On Sunday afternoon/evening, the Green Bay Packers took on the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Entering this game, the Packers had the same scenario as last year: win and they’re in the playoffs. Last season, the Packers could not get it done against Detroit. This season, the Packers got the job done, though the win was an ugly one. Let’s get into detail on how the game went down.
The Packers started this game on defense. At first, it didn’t look good as the Bears got into field goal range. During a third and 4 play from the Chicago 37 yard line, Justin Fields was able to scramble for the first down. Three plays later, Fields found WR Equanimeous St. Brown (who used to play for Green Bay) for an 18-yard pass play that got the Bears to the Green Bay 26. Thankfully, the defense forced the Bears to settle for a field goal after that. Lukas Van Ness sacked Fields on first down and the Bears couldn’t get the first down in the next two plays. Cairo Santos was called upon to kick a 50-yard field goal, which was good. That kick gave Chicago a 3-0 lead with 8:54 left in the first quarter. After the kickoff went for a touchback, the Packers started their first drive at their own 25 yard line. A mix of run and pass plays, with big plays by Aaron Jones and Dontayvion Wicks, got the Packers to the Chicago 15 yard line. Romeo Doubs nearly caught a touchdown, but the defender knocked the ball out of his hands. The pass was ruled incomplete, even though I thought that the pass was a TD. On third and 6 from the 15, Jordan Love was sacked for a loss of 8 yards, forcing the Packers to settle for a field goal. Unfortunately, Anders Carlson’s kick was wide left, keeping the score at 3-0 in Chicago’s favor. Thankfully, the Packers defense kept the Bears in check on their next drive and forced them to punt back to Green Bay. From their own 8 yard line, the Packers offense was able to go all the way down the field for a touchdown. On the second play of the drive, Jordan Love found Jayden Reed for a 32 yard pass completion that got the Packers to their own 44 yard line. A few plays later, including a few good runs by Aaron Jones, the Packers completed the drive with a touchdown pass from Love to Dontayvion Wicks. During the play, Love continued stepping back and kicked his left leg up as he threw. Wicks made a great contested catch and celebrated the TD with a Lambeau Leap. The extra point kick by Carlson was good, giving the Packers a 7-3 lead with 7:25 left in the second quarter. After the kickoff return, the Bears started their next drive at their own 34 yard line. During this drive, the Bears were able to run over 6 minutes off the game clock as they moved down the field. A big play occurred when Justin Fields found DJ Moore for a pass that Moore turned into a 33 yard gain that got the Bears into field goal range. That should not have happened because, earlier in the drive, Fields was visibly short when he did a QB sneak on a fourth and 1 from the Chicago 43. They brought the chains out and it looked like he was short of the first down marker. For some reason, the officials gave Chicago the first down. Thankfully, the defense forced the Bears to settle for a field goal after Fields was sacked by Kenny Clark on third and 6 from the Green Bay 13. The field goal by Santos was good, cutting the lead to 7-6 with a minute and change left in the half. The Packers were able to get down the field for a potential score, but things went downhill when they got to the Chicago 22 yard line with 16 seconds left. On the first play, Jordan Love went for the touchdown and was nearly picked off. Malik Heath thankfully broke up the interception. On the next play, Love connected with Wicks for a three yard gain, but Wicks got tackled backwards. Because of that, even though Wicks was out of bounds, the clock kept running and the Packers couldn’t get a snap off in time. The halftime score remained 7-6 in Green Bay’s favor.
Thankfully, the Packers were able to score a touchdown on their first second half drive. A couple of big plays happened back to back: Jordan Love found Dontayvion Wicks for a 17-yard pass play and Aaron Jones ran for 17 yards on the next play. Jones ran the ball a couple of more times before the drive ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Love to Wicks. The extra point was good, increasing the lead to 14-6 with 9:47 remaining in the third quarter. Even though the defense did allow Justin Fields to scramble for two first downs, they were able to force a punt after Fields was sacked by Quay Walker on third and 7 from the Green Bay 48 yard line. Something interesting happened on the ensuing punt: Corey Ballentine caught the ball while leaping and fell into the end zone for a touchback. If he didn’t do that, then the Packers would have started in their own 5. Because of what Ballentine did, the Packers started at their own 20. The drive was going good until Jordan Love got the ball punched out of him while he was running for a potential first down. The fumble was recovered by Jaquan Brisker at the Chicago 42 yard line. From there, the Bears were able to capitalize on the turnover by scoring points on their next drive. Their drive stalled at the Green Bay 17 due to two incomplete passes and a run play that was stuffed for no gain (karma for that “catch” by DJ Moore standing as called during a challenge). The kick was good by Cairo Santos, cutting the lead to 5 points with 13:03 left in the fourth quarter. Keisean Nixon returned the kickoff to the Green Bay 28 yard line. From there, the Packers had one mission: to get more points on the scoreboard. On the very first play of the drive, it looked like Jayden Reed was going to score a touchdown after he took a pass from Jordan Love, who ran to his left and found Reed. Reed ran out of gas and was pushed out of bounds at the Chicago 13 yard line. The bummer, besides Reed not scoring on that first play, was that the Packers didn’t score a TD on this drive. Bo Melton had a TD catch, but it was ruled incomplete after the officials looked at it. As a result, the Packers had to settle for a 25-yard field goal. The kick was good, increasing the lead back up to 8 points with 10:54 left in the fourth quarter. There was a bit of tension when Rashan Gary went offsides, giving the Bears a free first down on fourth and 5. Thankfully, the defense kept the Bears from scoring any points. Before the Bears punted back to Green Bay for the final time, Justin Fields was sacked by Karl Brooks. After the punt was fair caught by Jayden Reed at the 6 yard line, the Packers had the ball with 6:08 left in the game. All they had to do was run out the clock to seal the win. A 12-play drive followed where the Packers were able to do just that. A big play was when the Packers faced a third and 7 from their own 43 yard line. Jordan Love ran to his right and found Tucker Kraft, who took the pass and then fell down at the Chicago 42 yard line. 2 plays later, Aaron Jones sealed the win with a 10-yard run on second and 9 from the Chicago 41 yard line. Two kneel-downs later, and the Packers were victorious by a score of 17-9 over the Bears. With this win, the Packers are back in the playoffs.
On offense, the Packers played well when it mattered the most. I do wish that they scored more than 17 points on Sunday. There were definitely missed opportunities to score points. On the first drive, there was the touchdown catch by Romeo Doubs that wasn’t a TD due to the defender punching the ball out, a sack of Jordan Love, and then the missed field goal. At the end of the first half, there was that bad clock management situation plus a near interception. In the second half, there was a drive that should have resulted in points had it not been for Love’s fumble. In the fourth quarter, Bo Melton had a touchdown catch a few plays after the big catch and run by Jayden Reed, but the officials ruled the pass incomplete due to not maintaining possession in bounds. Even with those missed opportunities, the Packers did enough to win the game thanks to them accumulating 432 yards of total offense. Aaron Jones had a great day against the league’s top defense, running for a total of 111 yards on 22 carries. Jones also added 5 catches for 30 yards on Sunday. I do hope that he comes back next season. The offense is extremely strong with him playing at full health. Jordan Love completed 27 of 32 passes for 317 yards and 2 touchdowns to Dontayvion Wicks, who finished with 61 yards on 6 catches. 2 of Love’s five incompletions were the near touchdowns to Bo Melton and Romeo Doubs. Doubs had to exit the game shortly after his near-TD and go to the hospital due to coughing up blood on the sidelines. Thankfully, Doubs came back for the locker room celebration after the win. Melton contributed well with 5 catches for 62 yards, while Jayden Reed led the receiving corps with 112 yards on 4 catches. That big catch and run was fantastic, though I wish he scored at the end of that play. Other than one sack, the offensive line played great against a Bears defensive front that played well the past few weeks (albeit against weak teams). Even when Yosh Nijman replaced Zach Tom due to injury, the O-Line didn’t miss a beat. Kudos to everyone on the O-Line (thank goodness for no Royce Newman) for their hard work on Sunday. It wasn’t perfect and points were left on the board, but the Packers got things done when it mattered on that final drive to seal the win. This is a great group of young guys that I think will play well come playoff time, regardless of what the outcome is. Things have to get better in terms of clock management and execution next week and (potentially) beyond. I have faith that the offense will play well next week against the Cowboys.
On defense, the Packers played well against Justin Fields and the Bears offense. There were a few moments where Fields scrambled for a first down and when he found a couple of open receivers for easy catches. For the most part, however, the Packers defense held the Bears in check. Most importantly, they kept them from getting into the end zone. 5 sacks of Justin Fields by the defense helped that cause. Kenny Clark, Lukas Van Ness, Devonte Wyatt, Karl Brooks, and Quay Walker were all credited with a sack each. Jaire Alexander and the rest of the defensive backfield played well on Sunday. Their blanket coverage was part of the reason for a couple of the sacks of Fields. I do feel bad for Fields in that he was put in a bad situation when he got drafted by the Bears. Hopefully he has a bright future somewhere else, but he did not have a great game against Green Bay. Thank goodness the defense got the job done in front of their home crowd. Joe Barry’s job is not safe still, but the unit played well on Sunday. A big test will come when they play the Cowboys on Wild Card Weekend, but anything can happen.
On Special Teams, the Packers didn’t play perfectly at all. Anders Carlson had yet another missed kick when his first field goal attempt went wide left. Once again, he made every other kick on Sunday. I’m sure that he will improve next year in terms of kicking accuracy, but it’s always frustrating when he misses a kick shorter than 50 yards, especially extra points. Daniel Whelon thankfully had a break (other than holding for Carlson) as he didn’t punt at all against the Bears. There were a couple of kick returns by the Bears that went past the 30 yard line, but at least the Packers didn’t allow a TD. No punt returns happened for either team. Corey Ballentine made a smart play by catching the ball and falling in the end zone for a touchback. That was the difference between starting at the 5 and starting at the 20. During the playoffs, there can’t be any mistakes on Special Teams at all. Any blunder will give the opposing team more momentum, especially at their home stadium. I’m hoping that they keep the mistakes to a minimum.
Overall, a win is a win no matter how ugly it is. This win against the Bears was a hard fought battle to the end. Now, the Packers are past the regular season and in the playoffs. Regardless of what happens from here, I am proud of how the Packers did this year. A new starting quarterback, some problems early on offensively and defensively, and some tough losses were the precursor to how the Packers are now. Jordan Love is the franchise quarterback and I am hopeful for the future. They are playing with house money as they start their postseason journey against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. This is a place that the Packers have never lost in, including the Super Bowl against the Steelers and some big wins against the Cowboys over the years. Anything can happen in the playoffs and I hope for a great performance by Green Bay. I’ll be here for the recap regardless of the outcome. Have a great rest of your week, everyone. Go Pack Go! (Also, The Bears Still Suck)
(Here are the highlights of the game, provided by the NFL's YouTube page. Click on "Watch on YouTube").
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