Green Bay Escapes With 20-19 Win Over Bears

It did not look good as Chicago lined up for a game-winning 46-yard field goal with time expiring. But Karl Brooks produced the game-saving block, and the Packers added another win over the Bears to the stat sheet. This win, the eleventh in a row over the Bears, is a historical win.

Neither team, Bears nor Packers, had ever won 11 consecutive games against the other. The Packers accomplished that feat Sunday, but it was not easy.

CHRISTIAN WATSON!!! 😱

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— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 17, 2024

Offensive Struggles and a Second-Half Surge

Jordan Love led a touchdown drive to open the scoring that might have had Packer fans envisioning a blowout. Unfortunately, Love and company could not match that first drive the rest of the half. Love threw a crucial interception, turning the momentum of the game late in the second quarter.

Leading 7-3, the Packers were knocking on the Bears’ door. But Love threw the 12-play, 61-yard drive away when he overthrew a wide-open Tyler Kraft around the five-yard line. The interception at the one was returned to the Chicago 24-yard line. Chicago’s 13-play, 76-yard touchdown drive ended the half.

Going into halftime with a 10-7 lead seemed to bring confidence to the Bears. They came out with the first possession of the second half and drove 61 yards for a field goal to make the score 19-14 Bears. In the first half, the Packers only had three possessions.

The second possession ended in five plays after an incompletion, a negative run play, and a check-down pass by Love to Jacobs could only get half the needed yardage. The third and final drive was Love’s critical interception. LaFleur at halftime said the offense had to value their possessions.

Love and Christian Watson took that message to heart. Watson made a tough catch in the first half during their third drive, a 17-yard bullet from Love. In the second half, Watson exploded.

Watson’s game total was 4 receptions for 150 yards. That is a 37.5-yard average for the game. In the second half, when the offense needed a big play, Watson made it.

Contested catch with double coverage? Watson just knocked his defender out of the way and snatched a 48-yard bomb. Think that was the best he could do? Try a 60-yarder on the next series where he lay flat out for a diving 30-yard catch, then got up and ran for another 30. Watson’s catches kept putting the Packers in scoring position.

Defensive Woes and Special Teams Heroics

Matt LaFleur gambled and lost, going for it on a fourth and goal at the six-yard line early in the fourth quarter down 19-14. Love scrambled and tried to run it in but came up short by a yard. That choice, and the play call on the failed two-point conversion, are calls that left fans scratching their heads.

The defense did just enough against a Bears offense that had not scored a touchdown in November until they faced the Packers. There were some defensive highlights, two great plays by Brenton Cox, including a sack of Caleb Williams. Williams tormented the Packer defense with his scrambling and designed QB runs the rest of the day.

While the defense had some highlight plays and ended up with 3 sacks of Williams, there were no takeaways, and they struggled to get off the field. The final Bears drive was emblematic of the day. The defense had back-to-back sacks to open the series, leaving Chicago with a third and nineteen.

Chicago got 16 yards and then 4 yards on consecutive pass plays to convert and then marched down the field to the Green Bay 28 before Brooks blocked his second field goal as a Packer.

Quay Walker was back in the middle and did not impress. The first Bear touchdown had Walker in the hole before the runner, but he let the Bear’s back get underneath him and through him for the score.

He did have one great play defending a pass 15 yards downfield. In the run game, Cooper is already showing better instincts. Chicago gashed Green Bay’s defense for 179 rushing yards. Williams ran for 70 on a 7.8 average, and Swift averaged 5.1 yards per carry, totaling 71 yards.

The Bears were 9-16 on third down and 3-3 on fourth down. The Packer defense needs to get off the field. The Packer secondary is vulnerable without Alexander in the lineup, and the run defense had no answers against the Bears.

Swift’s long touchdown run highlighted the struggles. Lucas Van Ness was easily walled off on the run to his side. Cooper tried to take an inside line to the ball, making an easy block for the Bears’ wide receiver. Quay Walker, the backside backer, should have played an angle towards the sideline.

Walker starts moving toward the play, but as an offensive lineman leaks out, he also tries to cut inside. Walker’s poor decision leaves only Miller for the Packers in the correct position. When former All-Pro McKinney then whiffs on his tackle attempt, easy Bear touchdown.

A good note from Sunday is that special teams won a game for this team. Enjoy this win Packer fans. The road gets rougher ahead with San Francisco next Sunday and Miami four days later.