Live Updates: Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears
GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the 204th time in the fabled history of the rivalry, the Green Bay Packers will battle the Chicago Bears on Sunday night. Follow along all day for updates from Lambeau Field.
Final Score
Packers 45, Bears 30
Fourth Quarter
Packers 45, Bears 27 (4:33 remaining)
Green Bay put the game away on Aaron Rodgers’ fourth touchdown pass of the day, a 3-yarder to Davante Adams. Adams did the heavy lifting on the drive with a pair of third-down conversions. Rodgers is 29-of-37 passing for 341 yards, four touchdowns and a passer rating of 141.1. Adams had 10 catches for 121 yards and two scores.
Third Quarter
Packers 35, Bears 27 (8:24 remaining)
After all that went wrong during the first half, the Packers are up by eight. First, it was a sack-strip by Preston Smith that was recovered by Rashan Gary to give the Packers the ball at the Bears’ 23. On the next play, Aaron Rodgers floated a ball over defensive tackle Bilal Nichols to running back Aaron Jones, who caught the ball outside the 10 and beat cornerback Jaylon Johnson at the goal line for the touchdown.
Packers 28, Bears 27 (9:29 remaining)
Green Bay sliced right through the Bears’ defense to take the lead. AJ Dillon ran for 11, Davante Adams had catches of 12 and 16, Dillon ran for 11 more and Aaron Jones scored untouched from the 3.
Second Quarter
Bears 27, Packers 21 (end of half)
Cairo Santos made a 44-yard field goal on the final play of the half. The score was set up by, what else, a blunder by the special teams. Running back Khalil Herbert returned the kickoff 42 yards to the 42. A 20-yard scramble by quarterback Justin Fields put the Bears in scoring position.
Bears 24, Packers 21 (44 seconds remaining)
Put in a massive hole by the special teams, Aaron Rodgers threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams. Rodgers threw a rainbow up the left sideline, which Adams caught at the 9. Bears cornerback Xavier Crawford and safety Eddie Jackson took each other out and Adams trotted into the end zone.
Injury update: Packers RT Billy Turner (knee) is out. The Packers now have four starting offensive linemen out with knee injuries: left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Elgton Jenkins and center Josh Myers the others.
Bears 24, Packers 14 (1:32 remaining)
Green Bay’s special teams is so far down that it has to reach up to touch bottom. The fifth negative play of the first half put the Bears in control late in the first half. Corey Bojorquez’s punt was fielded by Jakeem Grant at the 3. Grant took a couple steps to his right, went left, eluded Oren Burks and was off to the races. When Equanimeous St. Brown was blocked inside, it was over. Grant, with his 4.38 speed in the 40, returned the punt 97 yards for a touchdown. It was the first punt-return touchdown in the NFL this season.
Bears 17, Packers 14 (2:54 remaining)
Injury update: On a 20-yard completion to Marcedes Lewis, right tackle Billy Turner went down and grasped his left knee. He refused help from the training staff as he walked off the field and into the medical tent. Veteran Dennis Kelly, who hasn’t played a snap with Green Bay, has entered the game.
Bears 17, Packers 14 (3:21 remaining)
Chicago wasted no time in recapturing the lead. On third-and-4, receiver Damiere Byrd lined up in the backfield and did exactly what the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson did a few weeks ago. Byrd ran a Texas route – diagonally out and diagonally in – against dime safety Henry Black, caught the ball in stride and zoomed through the secondary for a 54-yard touchdown. Chicago started at the 40 when Mason Crosby's kickoff out of bounds. It was the fourth special-teams gaffe of the night by Green Bay.
Packers 14, Bears 10 (4:59 remaining)
Rasul Douglas strikes again. On third-and-3, Justin Fields fired an out to the sideline to Darnell Mooney. Douglas read it like a book, caught the ball in stride and returned it 55 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. Douglas is the first Packers player with a pair of pick-sixes in a season since Julius Peppers in 2014.
The turnover helped the Packers overcome their third bad play on special teams, with Khalil Herbert returning the kickoff 40 yards to the 41.
Bears 10, Packers 7 (6:02 remaining)
Mark this down as a key moment. After AJ Dillon was stuffed on first-and-goal at the 2 and Aaron Rodgers threw incomplete to Davante Adams on second down and Marquez Valdes-Scantling on third down, coach Matt LaFleur kept the offense on the field. Rodgers faked the handoff to Aaron Jones and threw a bullet to Allen Lazard for the touchdown. Lazard took a jab step to the left, then ran a slant to roast cornerback Xavier Crawford. Earlier in the drive, Rodgers hit Adams for 12 on third-and-3, with an assist to the pick by Valdes-Scantling, and 25 yards to motioning tight end Josiah Deguara.
Bears 10, Packers 0 (11:09 remaining)
The Packers, the biggest favorite on the Week 14 slate, are in an early hole. The Bears drove 89 yards for a touchdown. On second-and-4 from the 46, a jet-motioning Jakeem Grant took a 1-foot pass from quarterback Justin Fields the distance. He took the pass at the 50 and turned on the jets, streaking through tackle attempts by safety Adrian Amos and cornerback Rasul Douglas for the score.
First Quarter
Bears 3, Packers 0 (End of Quarter)
The Packers started at their 5 thanks to Malik Taylor fumbling the kickoff out of bounds. It was the second huge special-teams blunder of the night. Had Taylor not fielded the ball, it probably would have gone out of bounds. The Packers got a 15-yard run by Aaron Jones and a 32-yard completion to Allen Lazard on third-and-18 but stalled when Aaron Rodgers and AJ Dillon botched a second-down handoff.
Bears 3, Packers 0 (4:21 remaining)
Set up with great field position by Jakeem Grant’s punt return, the Bears struck first on Cairo Santos’ 23-yard field goal. On third-and-goal at the 5, Justin Fields’ pass to tight end Cole Kmet was either broken up by linebacker Krys Barnes or dropped by Kmet. Two big plays set up the score. First, on third-and-5, Justin Fields connected with Allen Robinson for 8 yards. One play later, David Montgomery took a perfectly executed draw up the middle for 20 yards.
Packers 0, Bears 0
Aaron Rodgers was sacked on the second play of his 100th career start at Lambeau Field. It was No. 13 for Robert Quinn, a coverage sack if there ever was one. He was on the Bears’ line of scrimmage before Rodgers tried to extend the play and ultimately was dropped. Corey Bojorquez’s 57-yard punt went straight down the middle, allowing electric returner Jakeem Grant to take it back 34 yards to the Packers’ 44.
Packers 0, Bears 0
The Packers gave up a couple first downs but, on third-and-7, defensive tackle Dean Lowry tipped Justin Fields’ pass at the line of scrimmage and safety Henry Black deflected it again as it approached tight end Cole Kmet. The Bears punted from the Packers’ 40 and booted a touchback.
Lineup Note
With Kevin King healthy and active, how will the Packers line up at cornerback? Based on warmups, it will be Rasul Douglas and Eric Stokes at corner and Chandon Sullivan sticking in the slot
Packers vs. Bears Inactives
As expected, standout linebacker De’Vondre Campbell is active for the Packers. He returned to the team on Friday and was activated from the COVID-19 list on Saturday.
The Packers’ inactives are left tackle David Bakhtiari, safety Vernon Scott, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and defensive tackle Jack Heflin. Only Bakhtiari (knee) is out due to injury as the Packers came back relatively healthy from their bye.
For Chicago, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and speed receiver Marquise Goodwin are among the inactives. Hicks was downgraded from questionable to out on Saturday.
Big Deal at the Bye, Part 1
Other than the week of rest, relaxation and healing, there wasn’t a more important issue to address at the bye week than the team’s putrid red-zone offense.
Last season, Green Bay’s red-zone offense was all-time great. Its 80.0 percent touchdown rate was the best in the 22 seasons the league had been charting that stat. The gold zone, as offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett coined it, has turned into fool’s gold. Headed into Sunday, the Packers were scoring touchdowns at a 55.3 percent clip. That ranked 24th in the NFL. For contrast, the teams front and center in the chase for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, Arizona (fourth, 68.8 percent touchdowns) and Tampa Bay (fifth, 66.7 percent touchdowns), have excelled in the red zone.
Simply put, the Packers have got to turn weakness into strength in a hurry.
“We put ourselves in a lot of bad situations,” Hackett said. “I didn’t realize how many get-back-on-tracks, which is first-and-11-plus, a second-and-11-plus situations, we were in. I think that was the starting point. Those penalties, those turnovers, that we’re not accustomed to, that showed up, and then running the ball. I think we just need to be better all-around in that. When you’re dealing with third-and-10, third-and-11, third-and-8, it’s just harder to execute down there because it’s that tighter field.”
Running the ball will be key because defenses have successfully taken away All-Pro receiver Davante Adams. Adams has caught 10-of-15 targets and scored five touchdowns in the red zone this season compared to 23-of-28 targets and 14 touchdowns last season.
The reality is there’s little Adams can do if defenses are hell bent on taking him away. It’s one thing to be doubled in the middle of the field, because there’s still room to maneuver and defenders have a lot of grass to cover. When the ball’s at, say, the 10-yard line, defenses only have to be concerned with 20 yards. With Robert Tonyan and Randall Cobb on injured reserve, Green Bay has even fewer secondary options.
“I’ve just got to score longer touchdowns, I guess, (and) get in from further out,” Adams said with a smile. “If they pay more attention in the red zone, I’ve got to figure out a different way. I’ve seen guys doubled down there throughout the year – Mike Evans, a couple guys that are reliable red-zone targets, and they still get it and still make it happen. So, it’s either find a way regardless or score more 60- and 50- and 40-yarders. It’s not something I’m stressed about. It’s about winning the game. We’ve got to find different ways to do it if they do want to double and try to bracket me down there tight.”
Chicago’s defense is No. 11 in the red zone and No. 4 in goal-to-go situations. The Packers had one of their best days of the season in the first matchup, scoring three touchdowns in four possessions.
Big Deal at the Bye, Part 2
What’s worse than bad red-zone offense? Compounding bad red-zone offense with bad field-goal kicking.
But that’s where the Packers are through 12 games. Mason Crosby is 18-of-27 on field goals, his 66.7 percent success rate better than only Seattle veteran Josh Myers. Crosby is 7-of-7 from inside of 30 yards but a putrid 11-of-20 from 30-plus yards.
That 51-yard field goal to beat San Francisco on the final play, which extended his streak to 22 consecutive makes, seems like ancient history.
A series of bad snaps, bad holds and bad protections seemed to put Crosby in a funk. Even when those areas seemingly improved before the bye, Crosby’s slump continued. So, maybe a week away worked wonders in giving the combination of long snapper Steven Wirtel, punter/holder Corey Bojorquez and Crosby a fresh start.
“I think everybody needed a break,” special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton said. “And having a break and you get away, you find out that the real world, that life, is a whole lot harder than this sport of football. At the end of the day, it’s still a child’s game with a king’s ransom, and I think getting away from that standpoint, you’re like, ‘You know what? We can handle this kicking-holding-snapping situation.’ So, having a break it definitely helped. I think it resets your mind and it kind of prioritizes things.”
Drayton spoke after what he called “the best set” of practice-field kicks all season. Whether that continues to when it counts – when there’s 78,000 fans hoping for the best but expecting the worst – is the only thing that matters.
How to Watch Packers vs. Bears
Kickoff: 7:20 p.m. Sunday.
TV: NBC – Al Michaels (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analyst) and Kathryn Tappen (sideline).
Stream: You can stream the game on FuboTV. Get a 7-day Free Trial.
Coverage Map: This is a nationally televised game. Check out the map at 506Sports.com to see which games will be broadcast in your neighborhood on Sunday.
Radio: Packers Radio Network – Wayne Larrivee, Larry McCarren. SIRIUS – 81 (Chi.), 85 (GB), 88 (National) | XM: 226 (Chi.), 225 (GB), 88 (National) | SXM App: 805 (Chi.), 811 (GB), National (88). Westwood One – Ryan Radtke (play-by-play) and Mike Golic (analyst).
Packers vs. Bears: Betting Update
The Packers opened as 12.5-point favorites but it was down to 11.5 at SI Sportsbook as of Sunday morning. The spread was also down to 11.5 at FanDuel on Sunday. Bettors are on Green Bay’s side, with 71 percent of the bets and 70 percent of the money on Green Bay to cover. On the 43-point total, 52 percent of the bets are on the under but 58 percent of the money is on the over.
Packers vs. Bears: Weather Report
The weather outside won't be frightful. At kickoff, according to Weather.com, it will be 34 degrees with a southwest wind of 10 mph. Temperatures will remain steady throughout the night.
History Lessons
In 1992, the Bears held a 27-game lead in the series. It’s been total domination the past three decades, though. Green Bay leads 102-95-6. Brett Favre turned the tide and Aaron Rodgers made it a tsunami. He’s 22-5 as a starter against Chicago. Starting with their 10-3 win in the 2010 finale that got them into the playoffs and on the way to a Super Bowl championship, the Packers have won 20 of the last 23 games. They are 11-2 in the last 13 matchups played at Lambeau Field, with an average score of about 28-15.
Packers-Bears Injury Reports
Packers: Out: LT David Bakhtiari (knee). Questionable: LB De’Vondre Campbell (illness).
Bears: Out: DL Akiem Hicks (ankle), OLB Cassius Marsh (knee). Doubtful: QB Andy Dalton (left hand), WR Marquise Goodwin (foot). Questionable: Mario Edwards (ribs).
There were two updates on Saturday.
Pregame Reading
Three: Reasons to Worry
Two: X-Factors
One: Playoff Berth
One: Dominating Quarterback
