CHICAGO – Three of the Packers' seven wins this season have come on the last play of the game, with two walk-off field goals and then Sunday's blocked field goal to beat the Bears, 20-19, at Soldier Field.
"Just like you draw it up, right?" Head Coach Matt LaFleur quipped at the postgame podium.
Jokes aside, Green Bay continues to live on the edge, and while last week's bye was supposed to provide time for the Packers to get healthy and sharpen up their game, that was only partially accomplished.
Quarterback Jordan Love certainly looked no worse for wear from his groin injury, scrambling around and diving for the pylon in the fourth quarter. At the same time, rookie safety Evan Williams (hamstring) and veteran center Josh Myers (wrist) were back in action, which was good news.
But cornerback Jaire Alexander (knee) only lasted the first half, an easy catch was dropped on third down, the defense appeared to take a step back, and the red-zone struggles obviously continued.
In the second quarter, leading 7-3, Green Bay's 19th red-zone penalty of the season led to a series of cascading events that resulted in an interception to swing the game Chicago's way. Another wasted chance in close, when LaFleur chose to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 6 and the Bears defended well, put the Packers' backs against the wall, trailing by five with time running out.
The Bears were doing plenty of their own struggling, but once they got some wind in their sails, they looked much more like the team that was 4-2 three weeks ago and on the verge of 5-2 when Washington's Hail Mary pass was launched.
That aside, this was not the performance the Packers were looking for to jumpstart the type of second-half run they got on last season. Instead, to their credit they once again found a way to win, but it feels like they should've been able to make life easier on themselves.
"I feel good getting the win," Love said. "We talked about all week, we knew it was going to be a four-quarter game, four-quarter battle.
"I'm proud of the guys. Nobody batted an eye, nobody flinched. It was not our best game. We left a lot out there. But I'm proud of the way we were down going into the fourth quarter, and guys continued to fight and compete."
That's this team's best quality right now, its fight. No matter how it looks, the Packers are always battling. It's been a trademark of every LaFleur team in his six seasons as head coach.
But it's not all that profound to say Green Bay has to stop battling itself for any kind of second-half run like last year to materialize. Judging from Sunday, that might be harder than it sounds.
"The margin for error in this league is so minimal," LaFleur said.
Very true, and the Packers need to start providing themselves more margin.
The defense that came up with a dynamite fourth-quarter stop in Los Angeles to close out a win over the Rams has come up short in the clutch against both the Jaguars and Bears since then, bailed out by the other phases.
Meanwhile the offense keeps letting chances to take or stay in control get away.
LaFleur wasn't happy with himself for calling a pass play on second-and-1 from the Chicago 5-yard line, which led to the penalty, then tackle for loss, then INT in the second quarter. Josh Jacobs had been chewing up the Bears and just getting to first-and-goal there was the way to go. LaFleur said so himself.
Basic execution for a touchdown (14-3) or field goal (10-3) keeps the Packers in command and it's maybe "here we go again" for the scuffling Bears.
Instead, Chicago doubles up around halftime with 10 points and Green Bay has its hands full the rest of the way. That failure was compounded by getting shut out near the goal line again in the fourth quarter when the Packers looked desperate, even though the deficit was less than a touchdown.
So the margin the Packers are looking for was there for the taking. But they didn't take it, and as the season rolls on, those sequences probably will decide where things will go.
Will the Packers start to assert that they're the contending team most believe they are? Or will they continue to live on the edge, constantly trying to pull out games that didn't need to be so hard?
It's up to them, with plenty of season left, and while there's no need to apologize for being 7-3, games that could've gone either way aren't always going to go yours.
Just ask the Bears.
