CHICAGO — As the Chicago Bears clawed back from a 21-3 deficit against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night, Soldier Field shook.
The 60,338 in attendance stood throughout the fourth quarter and jumped from their seats as Chicago put together another late rally to survive and advance to the divisional playoffs after pulling out a 31-27 win.
The Bears are the 4th team in NFL history to win a playoff game after trailing by 15+ entering the 4th quarter.
The Bears’ only points of the first half came off a field goal. They trailed by 18 going into the locker room, marking their largest halftime deficit ever in a home playoff game. But Ben Johnson told Prime Video’s broadcast that he kept his foot on the gas despite unsuccessful fourth down attempts because he knew what the Packers were capable of on offense.
He also knew what his team has done to establish an identity with multiple last-second victories.
In familiar fashion, the Bears did most of their damage in the final moments. It was enough to capture the lead with 1:48 to play when Caleb Williams connected with DJ Moore for a 25-yard touchdown, and a defense that struggled in the first half, held to secure the win.
What to make of QB performance: Williams turned his deep ball passing around in the second half. In the first half, Williams completed only 2-of-5 passes for 40 yards and an interception on throws 15 or more air yards downfield. In the second half, Williams took more shots downfield, completing 7-of-13 passes for 166 yards and a TD. The 166 such passing yards are Williams’ most in a half in his career. He finished 24 of 48 for 361 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Williams now has seven game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or OT this season, tied with the Denver Broncos Bo Nix for the most in the NFL and the most in a season by a Bears QB since the 1970 merger (his six entering were already the most).
Most surprising performance: The Bears led the league in takeaways but were -2 in turnovers Saturday. Chicago’s red zone defense had been its only saving grace as of late (Green Bay was 0-for-5 in Week 16, Detroit was 1-for-4 in Week 18) but got torched in the first half when Love threw three touchdowns outside the numbers inside the 20-yard line. The Bears played too much man coverage and saw brutal results because of it. But the defense came alive in the second half by forcing the Packers to punt on four straight possessions.
Stat to know: Johnson is the first head coach in Bears history to win a playoff game in his first season with the team.– Courtney Cronin
Next game: TBD
It happened again. For the second time in three weeks, the Green Bay Packers suffered a collapse of epic proportions against the Bears. The first one cost them the NFC North. The second one cost them their season.
The Packers blew a 21-3 halftime lead, one they built with touchdowns on each of their first three positions, and got bounced from the playoffs on Saturday. The Packers blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and lost in overtime thanks in part to botching an on-side kick late in regulation. The Packers ended the season on a five-game losing streak and their Super Bowl drought is now at 15 years.
What to make of the QB performance: Rust? What rust? It wasn’t a slow start by Jordan Love in his first action since missing the last 2 ½ games that did in the Packers. Love threw touchdowns passes on the first three drives of the game to become just the second player in Packers history with three touchdown passes in the first half of a playoff game. Love finished 24-of-46 for 323 yards and four touchdowns.
Most surprising performance: The Packers had only one dropped pass in the game entering the final drive. They dropped two of them on their final drive – one by Jayden Reed and one by Romeo Doubs. The three dropped passes matched a single-game season high.
Trend to watch: The Packers have now been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for the second straight season and they last won a postseason game during the 2023 season. The loss dropped coach Matt LaFleur to 3-6 all-time in the playoffs. — Rob Demovsky
