CHICAGO – The Packers hung on to beat the Bears on Sunday thanks to Karl Brooks blocking Chicago's 46-yard field goal try on the last play of the game at Soldier Field.
The final score was 20-19, and Green Bay's record is now 7-3. Here are five takeaways from the skin-of-their-teeth triumph:
- Rich Bisaccia called it, sort of.
The Packers' assistant head coach and special teams coordinator must've seen something on film from the Bears' placekicking protection, because he made a prediction, sort of, on the eve of the game.
"Rich said to our team last night, 'I will not understand if we come out of this game without a block,' either field goal or PAT," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said.
"Coach Bisaccia talks about it, how it defines the character of your team, the effort you're giving on the field goal block unit."
The win is Green Bay's 11th straight over Chicago in the NFL's oldest rivalry, and this will go down as one of the more dramatic. LaFleur, in his sixth season with the Packers, still has never lost to the Bears, and it sure looked like he might in this one.
"I just saw the ball go up, and obviously fluttering out of there," LaFleur said. "Then I saw all our players surrounding Karl Brooks and figured he was probably the one who blocked it."
- The big block saved a rough day for the defense.
The Bears changed offensive coordinators this past week to help rookie QB Caleb Williams, and his own scrambling and zone-read keepers (70 rushing yards) seemed to get him comfortable against Green Bay's defense.
Chicago hadn't scored a touchdown in either of its last two games, but Williams drove the Bears to two TDs and a field goal on three straight possessions spanning halftime.
Then after the Packers regained the lead with just over two minutes to go, Williams got the Bears into position to win by overcoming back-to-back sacks, by T.J. Slaton and Rashan Gary, that set up a third-and-19.
He hit rookie receiver Rome Odunze for 16 yards after escaping a third straight sack by ducking under Kingsley Enagbare. Then he fired down the sideline on fourth down, again for Odunze, who made a great adjustment for the 21-yard reception to keep the game alive for the Bears and get them close to field-goal range.
"We got poor with our rush lanes and he was running right up the middle. We've got to be better than that," LaFleur said of the trouble Williams gave the defense. "Mostly his ability to use his legs, that definitely hurt us today.
"That's a talented receiving corps and they made some plays."
Williams finished 23-of-31 for 231 yards and didn't turn it over (95.0 rating), while Odunze (six catches, 65 yards) and DJ Moore (7-62) did most of the damage.
But the Bears, now 4-6, have lost two games when they seemingly had the win in their grasp on the very last play – a Hail Mary in Washington, and Sunday's blocked field goal.
- The Packers blew two massive chances offensively.
The Bears came into the game with the league's top red-zone defense, with the Packers struggling offensively in that area, and two red-zone possessions that resulted in zero points had a huge impact on the game.
On the first, the Packers were looking to add to a 7-3 lead midway through the second quarter and had second-and-1 on the Chicago 5-yard line. A penalty on a pass play – LaFleur criticized himself for a "bad play call … should've ran the ball downhill" – preceded a tackle for loss, and then QB Jordan Love overthrew tight end Tucker Kraft on third down.
The overthrow was picked off near the goal line by Terrell Smith, and the Packers were turned away.
"I missed him on the throw," Love said. "Sailed over his head, and the DB was there to make a play on it. Bad throw."
Added LaFleur, regarding Love's 11th INT of the season: "Good decision. That's where the play was designed to go. The ball sailed on him. I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it. It happens sometimes."
Then early in the fourth quarter, with the Packers trailing 19-14, they faced fourth-and-goal from the 6. LaFleur risked going for it rather than kick the field goal to get within two points, and a scrambling Love was stopped two yards short of the goal line with 11:19 left.
"Possessions were at a premium," LaFleur said, explaining his rationale. "There weren't a lot of possessions. I didn't know when we were going to get the ball back.
"The hope (was) that worst-case scenario we'll get a stop and get the ball back with pretty good field position."
- That didn't happen, but the Packers went the length of the field anyway to get the lead.
The Bears drove out from their own 2 all the way across midfield, but then stalled out and punted the Packers back to their own 22.
On the second play of that drive, receiver Christian Watson made a diving catch in the open field, got up and ran for 60 yards in all down to the Chicago 14-yard line. Just like that, the Packers were in business.
A scramble by Love took the ball to the 1, and then a sneak got the go-ahead TD.
The big play by Watson was one of several he made on the day, as he turned four targets into four receptions for 150 yards.
"Phenomenal play, phenomenal catch by Christian, the awareness to get up, not being touched, and put together a huge run," Love said of the 60-yarder. "
"It was a focus for us coming into this week trying to get him the ball, get him some touches. Obviously when we do … all four of those catches were contested catches. They were not easy catches and he made those plays."
Watson accounted for 150 of Love's 261 passing yards (13-of-17, one TD, one INT, 113.0 rating), while running back Josh Jacobs posted 134 yards from scrimmage (76 rushing, 58 receiving).
"Obviously not everything has gone his way this year," LaFleur said of Watson, "but he shows up to work every day with the right mentality and a great work ethic.
"I don't even know how many pass attempts we had in the game. We were trying to run the football. You've just got to maximize your opportunities when they come and he certainly did that."
- The Packers know they escaped with this one.
"It's relief," LaFleur said of his emotions. "It was a rollercoaster game."
A win is a win, but the offense left a lot of points out there, and the defense had one of its rougher games despite only surrendering 19 points in the end.
"It's great to come away with a win when you don't feel like you necessarily played your best," said LaFleur, stating what is becoming the theme of this season to date.
Next up is the 49ers, the first of two games in five days, the second of which on Thanksgiving begins a stretch of four consecutive primetime games.
"I told our guys we'll never, ever apologize for winning," he said. "We'll take it, learn from this, and we've got a big battle next week."
