There’ll be no place like home for the playoffs and the Green Bay Packers. They coupled their second straight NFC North Division title by completing another 13-3 regular season under Head Coach Matt LaFleur but this time, it earns them the number one seed in the conference and paves the way to Super Bowl 55 in Tampa by running through Lambeau Field.
It was accomplished with a 35-16 victory over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, a game which saw more offensive records tumble for Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams. Four touchdown passes for Rodgers gave him 48, eclipsing his record of 45 set in 2011, the last time Green Bay earned the number one seed. Adams caught six passes, breaking Sterling Sharpe’s record of 112 by three and his 18th touchdown matched Sharpe’s record set in 1994.
Yet this wasn’t a cake walk by any stretch. The Bears were fighting for their playoff lives and they put up a clock consuming fight. They controlled time of possession by nearly 11 minutes, outgained the Packers by 40 yards and 74 offensive plays to just 44 for Green Bay. The difference was finishing drives. Green Bay capped it’s NFL leading red zone season by scoring on all four trips inside the 20 while the Bears were just one for five.
It was a 21-16 game early in the 4th quarter when it finally swung toward the Pack. After converting four times on 4th down, Chicago faced 4th and 1 at the Green Bay 25 when Trubisky rolled out and tried to hit Allen Robinson but Chandon Sullivan broke up the play by nearly coming up with an interception.
The offense which stumbled with their first two series of the second half, put up 76 yard, 12 play scoring drive capped by Aaron Jones with a 4 yard run to make it a two score game. Two plays later, Adrian Amos picked off Trubisky and the Packers cashed that in with Adams’ record tying score and the NFC mission was accomplished.
Afterwards, LaFleur had high praise for nearly everyone in the organization for finishing 2020 at 13-3 with so many challenges on and off the field.
Chicago opened the game with a 60 yard touchdown drive, given great field position after a very unusual start. Cordarelle Patterson tried to field the opening kickoff but his foot slid out of bounds just as he touched the ball at the one yard line. LaFleur challenged the play but lost and Chicago opened at their 40. David Montgomery finished the 7:31 drive with a two yard run.
Green Bay used up the rest of the first quarter on their opening possession covering 80 yards in 112 plays, capped by Robert Tonyan’s 11th scoring catch of the year on the first snap of the second quarter.
After getting a stop, the special teams made another in a series of late season mistakes. Tavon Austin fumbled a punt return giving the Bears the ball at the 20 yard line but the defense came up with it’s first red zone stop. Kenny Clark and Krys Barnes stopped Montgomery on third and 3 at the 13 and Cairos Santos hit a 30 yard field goal to give the Bears their last lead at 10-7.
It took the Packers only 3 plays to push in front and it came on a big play. On third and 4, Rodgers caught the Bears in a corner blitz leaving Marquez Valdes-Scantling in man to man coverage against linebacker Danny Trevathen. It was no contest, as MVS ran right by him and caught the 72 yard touchdown pass in stride.
Two snaps later, the defense made a big play when Jaire Alexander ripped the ball from Montgomery and Rashan Gary covered it at the Chicago 25. From the 13, Rodgers found rookie fullback/tight end Dominique Dafney alone in the back of the end zone to make it 21-10.
Chicago got another chip shot field goal before the half, only after Kevin King nearly came up with an end zone interception.
Things got hairy in the third quarter when Valdes-Scantling got behind a defender again but dropped what would have been a 53 yard touchdown. The Bears answered with Darrell Mooney pulling down a 53 yard catch himself but the D got another stop inside the 10. Santos hit his third field goal to make it a five point game and that’s where it turned for good.
Rodgers finished19 of 24 for 240 yards and the 4 scores. He was sacked only once with an offensive line playing without All Pro David Bakhtiari who suffered a torn ACL during last Thursday’s walk through practice. Billy Turner moved to left tackle and Rick Wagner, despite his own sore knee, played the right side. Rodgers finished the year with a club record 70% completion rate to go along with the 48 TDs.
Adams finished with 6 catches for just 46 yards and the score. Chicago gave him extra attention all game long as Adams had only two receptions at halftime. LaFleur said they were aware and so they moved him into the slot and Adams caught two big passes on the drive that made it 28-16.
Aaron Jones led the ground game with 42 yards on 11 carries and the score. Jamaal Williams had five for 26 and A.J. Dillon got only one carry after his big 124 yard effort last week.
Defensively, Krys Barnes piled up 14 tackles, Darnell Savage and Kevin King each had 10. Christian Kirksey had the only Green Bay sack and Adrian Amos made it two years in a row with an interception against his old team in Chicago.
The inactive players were Jordan Love, Josh Jackson, Jonathan Garvin, Simon Stepaniak, Jace Sternberger and Kingsley Keke.
Damon “Snacks’ Harrison made his Packer debut but saw only limited duty on the defensive line.
Green Bay has now won 19 of the last 22 meetings against the Bears and leads the regular season series 100-94 with six ties. They’ve split two playoff games.
As for the playoffs, even at 8-8 the Bears get in as the number 7 seed because the Rams knocked off the Cardinals.
The NFC Wild Card weekend triple header will have Chicago travel to number 2 seed New Orleans, the third seeded Seahawks will host the Los Angeles Rams and the 4-5 matchup will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 11-5, traveling to 7-9 Washington which claimed the NFC East title by beating Philadelphia in the final regular season game of the year.
The Packers will enjoy the weekend off and play the lowest remaining seed either January 16 or 17.
The celebration, which even included LaFleur dancing it up in the Soldier Field locker room was short lived for only the first two goals have been accomplished. Two big ones await, get to and then win the Super Bowl.
