Packers Collapse in Epic Fashion, Lose to Bears in Wild-Card Playoff Game

CHICAGO – The Green Bay Packers staggered into the playoffs, a flawed team with a four-game losing streak.

In Saturday night’s NFC wild-card game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, the Packers were knocked out.

The Packers blew a 21-3 halftime lead and lost 31-27, a complete and epic collapse and a fitting end to a season that completely dissolved with five consecutive losses.

“Obviously, this one is going to hurt for a really, really long time,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “When you are in complete control of a football game and the script gets flipped in the second half. And it was a lot of self-inflicted things. Give credit to them. We knew they were a team that could come back and fight. They did it all season long. We had opportunities to kind of put them away and we didn’t get it done.”

LaFleur would not answer questions about his future with the team.

Jordan Love threw touchdown passes to cap three consecutive drives as the Packers were in complete control at halftime. The Bears hung around but the Packers still led 27-16 in the fourth quarter.

Caleb Williams threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore to give the Bears their first lead of the game, 31-27, with 1:43 remaining.

The Packers started at their 28 with 1:36 to go and one timeout. A checkdown to Josh Jacobs gained 3 and a downfield shot to Jayden Reed didn’t have a prayer against tight coverage by Kyler Gordon. Romeo Doubs, who kept the offense afloat at times, dropped the pass on third down.

On fourth down, with the season on the line, Love ripped a laser to rookie Matthew Golden for 13 to the 44 with 1 minute to go.

After a 7-yard pass to Josh Whyle, Love threw a bullet to Reed, who was open at the Bears’ 28. He dropped it. Doubs made amends for his drop, though, with a 6-yard catch on a slant, giving the Packers a first down at Chicago’s 43 with 44 seconds to go but at the cost of their last timeout.

On the next play, Love fired one over the middle to Reed for a gain of 20 to Chicago’ 23. Center Sean Rhyan, however, was injured on the play. With no timeouts, Green Bay incurred a 10-second runoff, leaving them 22 seconds. With Jacob Monk injured earlier in the game, Lecitus Smith entered at center.

On first down, Love fired deep but it was just a hair off to Christian Watson. That left 13 seconds. A false start by Rasheed Walker moved the ball back to the 28. Next, Love scrambled up in the pocket and was hit from behind by Gervon Dexter and the ball fluttered incomplete. That left 7 seconds. Love dropped the snap, scooped it up, had nowhere to go and threw incomplete.

“We had a play called to be able to take a shot to the end zone,” Love said. “And then, depending on the coverage they were playing, how soft they were, trying to get a pick up an easy couple yards on the sideline, so that’s what we went to. When I fumbled the snap and couldn’t get that, it kind of turned into a last-second Hail Mary.”

A stunning meltdown to a game – and season – was complete.

Love threw for 323 yards and four touchdowns but Williams threw for 361 yards. The Bears gained 445 yards and were 10-of-19 on third down.

The Packers dominated the first half but the Bears rallied, as they always do.

Green Bay’s first four possessions of the second half produced one first down and 9 net yards. After the Bears pulled within 21-16 with 10:08 remaining, Josh Jacobs had a big kickoff return but fumbled. Kitan Oladapo saved the day.

After Rasheed Walker was flagged for holding, Doubs saved the day with catches of 9, 22 and 9 yards, the third of which converted a third-and-9. On the next play, Love fired a pass into the flat to Golden.

The team’s first-round pick hadn’t scored a touchdown all season. He picked the perfect time to break the ice. He broke two tackles and hurdled another defender for a 23-yard touchdown. Maybe the Packers were on their way. Instead, Brandon McManus missed the extra point, making the score 27-16 with 6:36 remaining.

Chicago answered with a touchdown and two-point play, making it 27-24 with 4:12 remaining.

So, to keep their season alive, the Packers needed their biggest drive of the season.

On second-and-8, Doubs lined up in the right slot, took his route to the right sideline and made an amazing one-handed catch for 34. One play later, Love hit Golden at the sideline, and he got both feet down against Kyler Gordon for 12.

That set the stage for third-and-10 at the 21 with 3:02 remaining. Unbelievably, after calling timeout, the Packers were flagged for delay of game, making it third-and-15. Love went deep to Doubs, but the ball led him out of bounds. McManus missed a 44-yard field goal wide right.

McManus called it the “biggest disappointment in my career. Just an embarrassment of a performance.”

So, it was a three-point game with 2:51 to go.

Chicago, with all the momentum in the world and needing only a field goal to force overtime, took over at its 34. Instead, of three points, it scored a touchdown.

“I felt like just our team got a little bit disheveled in the second half,” LaFleur said.

Chicago won the coin toss and drove to an opening field goal, but Green Bay answered with three consecutive touchdown drives – all punctuated by Love touchdown passes.

On their first drive, Love on third-and-2 went deep to Romeo Doubs for 33 yards. Moments later, the Packers faced a third-and-2 at the 7. Love used a quick bootleg to the right to hit Christian Watson on the move for a touchdown.

After Chicago’s second drive ended with a fourth-down interception, Love extended the play and found Matthew Golden downfield for 36. Next, it was Doubs for 10 yards on third-and-8 and Jayden Reed for an 11-yard touchdown on third-and-9. Reed beat star linebacker Tremaine Edmunds on a double move.

After Xavier McKinney broke up a third-down pass and Edgerrin Cooper deflected a fourth-down pass, the Packers made it 21-3. On fourth-and-1, it was carbon-copy completion from Love with a quick boot and flip to Watson.

Watson had clear sailing to the goal line and tried to score by hurdling a defender. Instead, he got the ball jarred loose by Tyrique Stevenson. Romeo Doubs, the goat of the overtime loss at Chicago, pounced on the ball in the end zone.

By rule, the Packers took the ball at the 1. After three consecutive failures, Love hit Doubs for a touchdown on a well-designed play in which Watson delivered a legal pick and Doubs was wide open in the flat.

The Packers took a 21-3 lead into halftime and had a chance to deliver the knockout to start the third quarter. Instead, they went three-and-out and the Bears kicked a field goal. And then they went three-and-out again and the Bears drove deep into the red zone.

On fourth-and-1 from the 6, Chicago went for it. Williams went play-action but had nobody open and Karl Brooks in his face. Williams’ desperation pass was intercepted by linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper.

That stemmed the tide, but only for a moment. Green Bay managed one first down – avoiding disaster in the process when Love’s pass to tackle-eligible Darian Kinnard turned into a catch and fumble that defensive tackle Gervon Dexter couldn’t recover at the sideline – before punting it back.

Big-play returner Devin Duvernay’s 37-yard return gave the Bears the ball at Green Bay’s 35 late in the third quarter.

Green Bay’s defense made a huge series of plays, though, to limit the damage. On first down from the 24, Williams’ deep pass was deflected by linebacker Isaiah McDuffie. On second down, Evan Williams made a leaping pass breakup in the end zone against Rome Odunze. On third down, Lukas Van Ness recorded a sack and strip. The Bears recovered the loose ball, and Cairo Santos made a 51-yard field goal to make it 21-9 with 13:29 remaining.

The Packers went three-and-out again. This time, finally, the Bears found the end zone. Two downfield shots to tight end Colston Loveland set up D’Andre Swift’s 5-yard touchdown run, which cut Green Bay’s once-commanding lead to 21-16 with 10:08 to play.

Last week, Packers coach Matt LaFleur rested almost all of his top players in a meaningless Week 18 loss at the Vikings. Bears coach Ben Johnson, meanwhile, played to win but fell short against the Lions.

“Some teams, they rest their starters. We don’t. We play football,” Johnson said after the game.

The Packers won’t be playing football again until next year. They have a lot of work to do.

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