Bears Stun Packers in Overtime, Control NFC North

CHICAGO – The Green Bay Packers, with first place in the NFC North in their hands, let it all slip away.

The Bears overcame a 16-6 deficit in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to force overtime, then shocked the Packers 22-16 on Caleb Williams’ 46-yard bomb to D.J. Moore.

The Packers led the game for most of the final three quarters but went 0-for-5 in the red zone, were minus-2 in turnovers and botched an onside kick.

“It does hurt,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “Feel like you’re rubbing salt in the wound there. But that’s the reality of it. It should hurt because these guys, all of us, we put a lot into this thing and we had opportunities. You’re up two scores late in the game and unfortunately, it flipped pretty quick.”

The Bears improved to 11-4 and are in control with a game-and-a-half lead over the Packers, who fell to 9-5-1. Green Bay had won 14 of its last 15 trips to Soldier Field and will kick itself for not making it 15 of 16.

The Bears will close the season at San Francisco and at home against Detroit. Green Bay will host Baltimore on Saturday before playing at Minnesota in Week 18. The Packers might have to win both to get into the playoffs.

“It’s always tough in this league to have to rebound and get it together but that’s exactly what we have to do and that’s exactly what we will do to get ready for a tough Baltimore team,” LaFleur said.

With Jordan Love suffering a concussion in the second quarter, Malik Willis was excellent with 9-of-11 passing for 121 yards and one touchdown. However, he was part of one killer mistake.

The Bears won the overtime toss and elected to kick. Starting at their 21, Willis hit Jayden Reed for a catch-and-run gain of 31 to Chicago’s 45. Moments later, it was third-and-1. Willis was corralled and did well to make it a 0-yard sack. On fourth down, Willis couldn’t handle the snap from Sean Rhyan, giving the Bears the ball at their 36 with 6:10 to play.

“Just a miscommunication between me and Sean,” Willis said. “He wasn't expecting me to change up the cadence, but the clock got low and I was just trying to hurry up and get a snap. So, we're just a little off-timing, off-kilter there. That's on me.”

The Bears converted a third-and-3 on Kyle Monangai’s 11-yard run. On the next play, Moore beat Keisean Nixon for the game-ending touchdown.

Williams was 19-of-34 passing for 250 yards.

Just like the first game two weeks ago, the game went down to the wire because the Packers instead of pounding the nail into the coffin kept hitting themselves in the thumb.

The Packers went 0-for-5 in the red zone during regulation, including a fumble by Josh Jacobs inside the 5, but were in control, anyway. After the Bears pulled within 16-9 with 1:59 remaining, all the Packers had to do was recover the onside kick. Instead, Romeo Doubs couldn’t control the bouncing ball and the Bears had the ball at their 47.

“Sh**, I missed it,” Doubs said. “That's just this game, bro. I rep this sh** all week and yeah, bro, somebody got to be responsible and I'm willing to take on 1000 percent of it.”

Completions of 3 yards to tight end Cole Kmet, 10 yards to tight end Colston Loveland and 8 yards to running back D’Andre Swift moved it to Green Bay’s 32 with a timeout with 1:05 remaining. Next, Williams ripped a bullet to Moore against Carrington Valentine for 20 yards to the 12.

On fourth-and-4 from the 6, Brenton Cox came flat-free to pressure Williams but there was a colossal coverage bust, with neither Keisean Nixon nor Nate Hobbs covering Jahdae Walker, who was wide open for the touchdown. Bears coach Ben Johnson opted for the extra point to tie the game at 16 with 24 seconds remaining.

The Packers beat the Bears 28-21 at Lambeau Field two weeks ago. Love threw three touchdown passes and Micah Parsons was a thorn in the Bears side.

Neither player was on the field for the rematch, with Love suffering a concussion in the second quarter and Parsons on injured reserve. So, rather than Love throwing three long touchdown passes, it had to be Willis to the rescue.

Nursing a 6-3 lead and having wasted opportunity after opportunity, the Packers needed an answer after the Bears had just scored to open the third quarter. The pressure was on Willis on third-and-2 – literally and figuratively.

Known for his tremendous running ability, Willis stood strong in the pocket as defensive tackle Gervon Dexter was taking aim. Willis dropped a dime to Doubs against C.J. Gardner-Johnson for a 33-yard touchdown to give the Packers a 13-3 lead with 33 seconds left in the quarter.

The Bears answered with a 51-yard field goal, making it 13-6 with 10:52 remaining in regulation.

The Packers needed one more drive. Willis ran for 4 and got 15 more for unnecessary roughness. On third-and-1, Emanuel Wilson went up the middle for 3. On the next play, Sean Rhyan and Aaron Banks cleared a lane as Wilson fired up the middle for 12 more.

The drive stalled – Green Bay a stupefyingly terrible 0-for-5 in the red zone – but Brandon McManus’ 28-yard field goal made it 16-6 with 5:03 remaining following a drive of almost 6 minutes.

The Bears were in must-score mode. On third-and-20, Warren Brinson sacked Williams but was flagged for a facemask, giving the Bears a first down at Green Bay’s 31 with 3:11 to play. The Bears went for a field goal, in hopes of getting off the kick before the 2-minute warning. Cairo Santos made a 43-yard field goal, but with 1:59 to go.

Midway through the second quarter, Bears defensive tackle Austin Booker sacked Love with a helmet-to-helmet. Love ducked a bit, leading to a direct hit to Love’s helmet.

He stayed on the turf for a couple of minutes before jogging off the field to boos from Bears fans. Willis entered the game and made his presence felt with a 13-yard run on fourth-and-1. Luke Musgrave had the lead block. Later, the threat of Willis running allowed Emanuel Wilson to get around the corner for 13 yards to Chicago’s 5.

The drive stalled, though, and the Packers settled for their second chip-shot field goal of the half to lead 6-0.

That’s where the score stood at halftime, when the Packers announced that Love was out. They largely dominated the first 30 minutes but didn’t have nearly enough to show for it. The tale of the tape:

Total yards: 178-126.

Total plays: 39-20.

Combined third and fourth down: Packers, 3-for-8; Bears, 1-for-5.

Green Bay’s first three drives went nine plays for 31 yards and gained two first downs, 14 plays for 70 yards and five first downs and 16 plays for 76 yards and six first downs.

However, the damning figure was this one:

Red zone: Packers, 0-for-3; Bears, 0-for-1.

The Packers drove down the field to start the game, but Love threw incomplete to Christian Watson on fourth-and-1 from the 7. The next drives reached the Bears’ 8 and 4 but the Packers had to settle for chip-shot field goals by Brandon McManus.

Thus, the big questions entering the second half were whether the Packers could weather the second-half storm better than they did two weeks ago and if Willis could make enough plays to keep Green Bay in front against a stout Bears defense.

The Packers fell to 0-for-4 in the red zone on their first possession of the third quarter. After Chicago drove to a field goal to cut the margin to 6-3, Willis made two big plays with a 26-yard completion to Luke Musgrave and an 11-yard run in which he torched star linebacker Tremaine Edmunds in the open field.

However, on first-and-goal at the 4, Jacobs had it stripped for a huge turnover. Chicago entered the game with a league-high 30 takeaways.

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