GREEN BAY – The Packers ended their regular season by losing to the Bears on a walk-off field goal, 24-22.
Here are five takeaways from the defeat:
- QB Jordan Love injured his throwing elbow but should be fine.
Love hit his right elbow on the ground while avoiding a sack early in the second quarter, and his hand went numb. So he was pulled in favor of backup QB Malik Willis, who brought the Packers back from a 14-3 deficit, but Love did not return to the game even though Head Coach Matt LaFleur said "he was good to go back in."
LaFleur chose the high side of caution with Love, particularly after seeing receiver Christian Watson go down with a non-contact knee injury and have to be carted from the sideline to the locker room. The specifics of Watson's injury aren't yet known, but there was little confidence it would be good news.
The Packers also rested running back Josh Jacobs after he rushed six times for 44 yards and a TD, setting a new franchise record with a rushing touchdown in his eighth straight game.
But back to Love, he said he "just lost pretty much all feeling" in his throwing hand, making it difficult to grip the ball. He expects to be fine for next week's NFC Wild Card playoff game at Philadelphia, and he was warming up at one point in the fourth quarter to potentially replace Willis after he hit his hand. Willis did finish the game, though.
- The wild finish ended up meaning nothing as far as the Packers' playoff seeding.
Because Washington pulled out a come-from-behind victory in Dallas, the Packers (11-6) were getting the No. 7 seed regardless of this game's outcome. But it sure was a crazy ending.
Trailing 21-13, the Packers scored with 4:28 left when Willis (10-of-13 for 136 yards) found Malik Heath for a leaping 41-yard completion, and Emanuel Wilson (14 carries, 73 yards) followed with a 21-yard TD run. But the two-point pass, with Willis struggling to grip the ball, was no good.
The Bears looked as though they might put the game away with one more first down after the two-minute warning, but a holding penalty followed by a fumble by receiver DJ Moore on a swing pass gave the Packers a chance.
Cornerback Carrington Valentine knocked the ball loose and safety Javon Bullard recovered at the Chicago 43-yard line. The Packers couldn't get a first down, but kicker Brandon McManus was good from 55 yards out for a 22-21 lead with 54 seconds left.
Chicago came back the other way, though, thanks to a penalty for horse-collar tackle and 15-yard completion. Eventually, the Bears were out of timeouts and faced third-and-11 from their own 49 with 15 seconds left. The Packers went into a deep-shell/prevent defense, Moore caught a slant for 18 yards, QB Caleb Williams spiked the ball with two seconds left, and kicker Cairo Santos was good from 51 yards out on the final play.
- LaFleur blamed himself for the Bears having their last chances.
On Green Bay's possession, the Packers had third-and-2 from the Chicago 35, and Wilson was stuffed for a 2-yard loss. Thinking he was going to go for it on fourth down – which he did when the Packers turned down a 55-yard field goal try earlier in the game – LaFleur called a timeout with 58 seconds left.
During the timeout, it was decided McManus would try the long field goal this time, so the Packers didn't run as much time off the clock as they could've. If LaFleur doesn't call timeout, the Bears likely would have, but it would've been their last one.
"Hindsight's 20/20, and I wish I wouldn't have taken the timeout because it gave them obviously way too much time to go down and operate," LaFleur said. "Like I told the team, that's on me, that can't happen."
The ensuing defensive sequence also was poor. The personal foul on Kingsley Enagbare got the Bears going, and at the pivotal moment, the Packers played too soft. They knew the Bears would have a chance for a completion and clock stoppage because more than 12 seconds remained. A dozen seconds is considered the cut-off for being able to execute that in the field of play.
But with the down and distance being third-and-11, any tackle before the first-down marker wouldn't have allowed the opportunity for a spike on fourth down. The completion to Moore (nine catches, 86 yards) surrendered way too much territory, and the Bears' hustle paid off.
"All in all, it's bad ball," LaFleur said.
- So was the early portion when the Packers fell behind.
The Bears ran a trick play to return a punt 94 yards for a touchdown, as one return man drew the Packers' coverage to his side despite the punt going to the other side of the field. John Blackwell caught the punt all by his lonesome and ran untouched with a convoy of blockers to the house.
"They got us, so kudos to them," LaFleur said. "It was a deceptive that worked."
The Bears scored their second touchdown following a fumble by receiver Jayden Reed deep in Green Bay territory, and the 14-3 deficit had the Packers scrambling the rest of the game. The Packers also wasted two second-half possessions that got inside the Chicago 40-yard line, with Willis fumbling on a sack and Reed losing yardage on a fourth-down end-around.
LaFleur called it a "sloppy game," which is what he called Green Bay's performance last week in the loss at Minnesota as well. For his own part before he left with the elbow injury, Love termed his play "inconsistent" and "not good enough."
It's not the way anyone wants to go into the playoffs, heading to second-seeded Philadelphia (14-3), but that's the Packers' reality now.
"We've got to be tough-minded and we've got to be critical, and we've got to flip the script as soon as possible and move on to the next game," LaFleur said. "It's a whole new season and we know we've got a tough road in front of us, but I think we got one that guys are going to attack for sure."
- There's no more time to waste.
Both LaFleur and Love mentioned players having their share of harsh words in the locker room after the game. The loss was not only disappointing but upsetting.
Will those emotions be put to good use?
"You lose a game like this, I don't really think you need a lot of motivation," Love said. "I think guys are going to be fired up. We talked about it in the locker room … if this is playoffs, we're going home.
"Guys are going to be ready. I've got no doubt about that. … Everything that we want is still out in front of us."
Love conceded he needs "to be great" and hasn't been, and while the offense has "definitely been a little stagnant," he doesn't think it's as out of sync as it might appear.
"We can't let anything slip," he said. "It just comes down to that. We're not far off, we just have to hit."
Somewhat in lockstep with their postgame messages, both LaFleur and Love emphasized nobody needs to go beyond doing his job, and the playoff run the Packers made last year wasn't anything special or superhuman, just sharp execution and clean football.
The Packers have been trying to find that level all season long, and they've got one more chance to get there.
"The guys had some strong words in the locker room," LaFleur said. "I think their mind will be in the right place, and it all starts with our energy, how we attack it coming into the building.
"This is like March Madness from here on out. I mean, anything can happen."
