CHICAGO, ILL (WTAQ) – There’s still a heartbeat.
It took several automatic defibrillator plays in the 4th quarter but the Green Bay Packers moved past the Chicago Bears 29-18 Sunday at Soldier Field to not only earn their fifth win against eight losses, but collect victory number 787 as a franchise, moving them one ahead of their arch enemies for number one in National Football League history.
The Packers put up 18 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to wipe out early 10-0 and 16-3 deficits on a sun splashed, but breezy and chilly afternoon. It appeared the visitors were ready for their bye week early as Chicago marched 53 yards in 11 plays, a 24 yard catch by former Packer Equanimeous St. Brown and a couple of Justin Fields scampers to grab an early lead. Cairo Santos knocked through a 40 yard field goal to cap the 5:37 drive. When the offense failed to move, the Bears got another sparkling play from their young quarterback. The QB tackling drills required after Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts stung the defense a week ago, didn’t help when Fields eluded Keisean Nixon behind the line of scrimmage, found a hole and simply outran the likes of De’Vondre Campbell (back after missing a month with a knee bruise), Rasul Douglas and Jaire Alexander for a 55 yard touchdown and the 10-nothing lead.
With Aaron Jones getting busy and Allen Lazard catching a 20 yard pass, the Packers moved 64 yards to the Chicago 6 but on third down, Rodgers had to throw it away against solid coverage from a Chicago secondary missing three of it’s top four players. Mason Crosby got Green Bay on the board with a 24 yard field goal.
The defense came up with a big play when Chase Claypool caught a second straight pass against coverage from Douglas but Rasul knocked the ball loose and Rudy Ford recovered the fumble at the Packer 40. Again, the offense couldn’t take advantage of the takeaway giving up the ball after four plays and one first down.
That’s when Fields hurt the Packers with his arm. He bought time and found St. Brown shockingly behind Alexander on a 56 yard bomb. David Montgomery slipped a pair of tackles on the next snap and scored from 7 yards out. Santos missed the PAT wide right but it was looking bleak for the Pack with 6:15 left in the half.
With Jones nursing a sore shin, A.J. Dillon went to work, breaking loose for a 16 yard run. The Packers got into the red zone but were faced with a 4th and 4 call from the 14 with :23 left. Disdaining a sure three points, LaFleur kept his offense on the field and Rodgers delivered a strike to guess who? Christian Watson ran away from Elijah Hicks to pull in his 7th touchdown reception in the last four games. Despite giving up 196 total yards to Fields in the first half, the Packers trailed only 16-10.
Midway through the third, the Bears got two chunk plays, a 24 yard completion to a wide open Cole Kmet and a 21 yard run from backup Darrynton Evans but a holding call once inside the 10 allowed the Packers to get the stop and Santos made good on a 28 yard kick.
On the first play of the 4th, Rodgers went deep down the left sideline for Watson who drew a 36 yard pass interference penalty against Jaylon Jones. Two snaps later, Dillon burst through the left side and dove to the pylon for a 21 yard touchdown run to pull Green Bay to within 19-17.
Alexander would give up another explosive play when N’Keal Harry pulled down a 49 yard strike to the Packers 28 on the first play after the kickoff. The defense stiffened and then Dean Lowry made a big play, getting his hand on the 40 yard Santos field goal. The ball wobbled over the line of scrimmage after the block.
The Packers were able to move the ball steadily on the ground, even backup Patrick Taylor picked up a first down with a 6 yard burst. From the Chicago 14 on third down, Rodgers tried to hit Robert Tonyan in the end zone but the ball was just out of reach although both the passer and intended target claimed pass interference on the play. The Packers still grabbed their first lead with Crosby’s 32 yard field goal with 4:49 to play.
Chicago quickly moved into Green Bay territory but under pressure, Fields tried to hit St. Brown deep again. This time, Alexander broke on the ball and jumped in front of his former teammate to make amends for the long shots he gave up, collecting the interception at the 32. Rodgers found Watson for 19 over the middle, Dillon hammered out three more yards and on second and seven from the Chicago 46, the Packers displayed one more reason why they drafted the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month in the second round. Taking a jet sweep around the left end and getting a nice seal block from Sammy Watkins, Watson had a wide open dash up the sideline for an untouched, 46 yard touchdown that put the Packers up 26-19.
LaFleur decided to go for two and off play action, Rodgers found Marcedes Lewis alone for the final points.
One last gasp Chicago drive ended with the third takeaway as Nixon broke on a deep sideline pass for Dante Pettis and pulled in the first interception of his career at the boundary.
Rodgers genuflected twice to complete the sweep of Chicago and run his personal record of success against his rivals to 25-5.
Following the game, LaFleur said a big finish got it done.
The defense had another long day, giving up 409 yards, allowed Chicago to convert 6 of 11 third downs but they eventually came up with stops at key moments late. The offense struggled early too until Watson’s TD catch, but had several players make impactful plays down the stretch.
Green Bay finished with 357 yards of offense, hitting 6 of 13 third downs. Rodgers finished 18 of 31 for 182 yards and a score, good for a passer rating of 85.7. He wore a protective pad over his sore ribs. Dillon was the workhorse on the ground with 93 yards on 18 carries. Lazard and Jones shared the reception lead with 5. But the unquestioned playmaker continues to be Watson. The former North Dakota State speedster has now piled up 9 touchdowns this season, two on the ground and 7 through the air and he was ushered into the post-game interview room to answer questions, beginning with his big scoring grab on 4th down right before the half:
The Packers got through the game relatively injury free. Jones left with a shin injury but was able to return. All Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari was among the inactive players after he had an appendectomy on Friday. It’s not known how much time he may miss. Rookie Zach Tom started at left tackle and the offensive line held up well. The offense averaged 5.5 yards a carry and on 31 drop backs, Rodgers was neither sacked nor hit.
The other inactives were Shemar Jean-Charles, Darnell Savage, Krys Barnes, Romeo Doubs and Jonathan Ford. Doubs had been questionable coming off his high ankle sprain and did work out pre-game but was withheld.
At long last, the bye has arrived for the Pack. They’ll return two weeks from Monday to face the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau Field. While they’re away, they’ll at least be smiling at not only keeping the faintest of faint playoff hopes alive, they made it a sweep of the Bears, making it 8 straight in the series, giving them a 10 game bulge in the all-time standings at 105-95-6, with the added plum of knowing no other NFL team has won more games than they have, 787 and hopefully counting.
