Packers Punch Back: Winners and Losers from Dominant Win Over Rival Bears

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers needed a win against the Chicago Bears. It’s rare that the Packers have been the team in desperation in this rivalry for the last 30 years, but that was the reality following a sluggish and mistake-plagued start to the season.

The Bears entered play at 3-1 and winners of the last two games against the Packers. They spent plenty of times rubbing their nose in last year’s playoff loss, and mentioned a desire to make the Packers quit.

The Packers, conversely, were the team trying to punch the bully back. They were 2-2, facing a backup quarterback.

They could not afford another loss in the rivalry. They could not afford another loss on the season as they were beginning a stretch of four games against four potential NFC playoff contenders.

Perhaps there were some demons to be exorcised along the way, as well. The Packers’ two losses against Chicago last year included them holding second-half leads that felt insurmountable against a lifeless Bears’ offense.

After a hot start, the Packers led 14-7 at halftime. It felt tenuous, given the recent history between the teams, but they blew them out in the second half for a 31-7 win.

Here are our weekly winners and losers from Green Bay’s dominant win over the Bears.

Winner: QB Jordan Love

Jordan Love entered the fourth quarter with more than 300 yards passing. He was spectacular at the beginning of the game, and only was not brilliant after the offense fell out of rhythm due to a subpar run game.

Both of Love’s predecessors owned the Chicago Bears. There is little doubt that Love wanted to silence some critics after Chicago had won two in a row in the rivalry.

Love was a sharp shooter throughout the game. He finished the day with 367 yards passing, two touchdowns and zero turnovers.

The Packers had a dramatic advantage at quarterback coming into the game. They needed Love to play to that advantage.

He certainly did.

Winners: WRs Christian Watson, Matthew Golden

Death, taxes, and Christian Watson scoring touchdowns against Chicago at Lambeau Field?

That’s not quite accurate, but Watson did have two touchdowns last season against the Bears, and was the best player on offense for a vast majority of the game. Sunday’s scoring started on the back of Watson, who broke open for a 42-yard touchdown on a beautiful pass from Jordan Love.

Watson was not done there. After an offensive pass interference wiped out a touchdown pass from Jordan Love to J. Michael Sturdivant, Watson made a spectacular catch on third-and-22 for a 53-yard touchdown to give the Packers a 20-7 lead after Trey Smack missed the ensuing PAT.

Say it with us now... LET'S GO!!!

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/zLLSOq0xW5
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 11, 2026

Watson has a knack for making big plays, as he’s scored five touchdowns in four games against the Bears dating back to last season.

He finished the day with six catches, 143 yards, and two scores.

His running mate, Matthew Golden did not find the end zone, but he found plenty of real estate in Chicago’s secondary.

He caught six balls for 123 yards, and was a consistent target for Jordan Love.

Due to the injuries to Jayden Reed and Skyy Moore, the Packers do not have a lot of proven pass catchers on their roster, especially at receiver. Golden and Watson have a heavy burden to carry. They certainly did on Sunday, and should have more opportunities next week against the Dallas Cowboys.

Winner: S Xavier McKinney

When you’re facing a backup quarterback, your defense has to make plays. The Packers wanted to make Tyson Bagent beat them, as a clear effort to slow down their ground game was given in the first quarter of Sunday’s game.

After Watson’s touchdown to open the game, Bagent loaded up on two pass plays on the ensuing possession.

One was dropped by Cole Kmet. The second was dropped by Javon Bullard, but picked off by Xavier McKinney on a diving interception that put the Packers in business for what ended up being their second touchdown of the game.

McKinney’s pick was his second of the season, which equaled his total from a season ago.

He wasn’t done. McKinney picked off Tyson Bagent late in the third quarter to give the Packers a chance to throw the dagger early in the fourth quarter.

Winner: DB Javon Bullard

Javon Bullard did not mince words earlier in the week when he mentioned the team’s stated goal.

“We’re trying to kick their a**,” Bullard said.

Bullard did his part to attempt to do exactly what he said. Tyson Bagent stared down his intended target on the second play after Christian Watson’s touchdown opened the scoring. Bagent threw the ball directly into the hands of Bullard, who is still looking for the first interception of his career.

Instead, he had to settle for a tipped pass that ended up in the arms of Xavier McKinney.

Bullard entered Sunday’s game with one of the toughest assignments. He’s a slot defender who had to defend Chicago’s powerful run game. His potential matchups in the passing game included Luther Burden III, Colston Loveland, and Cole Kmet.

Perhaps it was a byproduct of bad quarterback play, but none of those players did much to impact Sunday’s game.

Bullard is one of the league’s best slot defenders, and proved it on Sunday.

Winner: RB Marshawn Lloyd

Lloyd has been through a lot in his two-plus seasons as a pro football player. His first two seasons were riddled with injuries that knocked him out of essentially all of the regular season games.

His third season, he’s been healthy, but has not gotten off to the start that he was hoping for. Green Bay’s run game has been the worst in football by a significant margin through four weeks.

Lloyd was the lead man of that group, and the team desperately needed to find some semblance of a ground game to help their offense.

After Xavier McKinney’s interception gave the Packers the ball back almost immediately after Christian Watson’s touchdown to open the game, they moved into the red zone looking for a score to put a stranglehold on the game.

On the first play of the second quarter, Lloyd got the ball moving to the right side of the offense and had Jaylon Johnson in his sights. He lowered his shoulder, powered through Johnson and into the end zone for what was arguably the most impressive touchdown of the season.

The rest of the game was par for the course for the Packers so far this season. The run game went dormant after a solid start to the game, but Lloyd’s touchdown alone does give them a glimpse of the talent the Packers continue to insist will help their run game.

Winner Matt LaFleur

Matt LaFleur can say all he wants that this win did not feel different. He can say that the game is about the players.

His behavior says otherwise. With the Packers leading 31-7 in the fourth quarter after an interception by Ty’Ron Hopper, LaFleur dialed up a deep ball instead of trying to run the clock.

LaFleur has taken plenty of heat this season after the way last season ended. A large portion of that heat has come because of how the Packers lost to the Bears, and how much their coach, Ben Johnson, had to say after the fact.

LaFleur responded by doing what every Packers’ coach has done for the most part since Mike Holmgren took over in 1992.

He beat the Bears, and beat them badly.

Furthermore, that killer instinct late in the game is something that he can take to other games. We’ve long speculated this team is missing an edge that trickles down from their head coach.

Maybe getting his nose rubbed in the dirt gave him a reason to punch back and find something he didn’t have before?

That remains to be seen, but for one game at least, LaFleur found something.

Loser: LB Zaire Franklin

Zaire Franklin had a rough series in the second quarter. The Bears were starting to gain some traction in their run game, and Franklin likely felt like he needed to put an end to that to make Chicago throw the ball to beat them.

Franklin read a run on a second down that was dead to rights if he made the tackle, which would have put the Bears in an obvious passing situation.

D’Andre Swift made him miss, and rumbled for a first down to keep the drive going.

Franklin was also tagged for a holding penalty on a desperation third down where Bagent was running around aimlessly in the backfield. Instead of a field goal attempt, Chicago punched the ball in from the goal line on a fourth down for their first touchdown of the game.

He did make up for it on Chicago’s second drive of the second half with a stuff of Roschon Johnson on third-and-1 to force a punt.

Loser: LT Jordan Morgan

The Green Bay Packers received what every athlete dreams of in the first half. A second chance at a bad series. After their first two-minute drill went up in flames, Green Bay’s offense took the field with an opportunity to put points on the scoreboard before the end of the half.

Matthew Golden’s punt return set them up to where they did not need much to get into Trey Smack’s field goal range.

Instead, they were sacked twice, penalized once, and scored no points before the half. As a result, they were booed off the field.

Both sacks will likely be credited to left tackle Jordan Morgan, as Love was taken down by Austin Booker. Through five weeks, Morgan has been a mixed bag at left tackle. If the season were to end today, it’d be hard to say the Packers know for sure they have their left tackle of the future. The season does not end today, but the half did, largely on the shoulders of Morgan.

Loser: Pass Rush

There are some moments where the pass rush has some life, but they are too few and far between. That’s going to work against quarterbacks like Geno Smith and Tyson Bagent. It’s not going to work in a stretch coming up where the Packers will face Dak Prescott, Jared Goff, Bryce Young, and Drake Maye before a home date in mid November against Minnesota.

Maybe Micah Parsons will be back during that stretch, but relying on him to be the sole source of the pass rush is not a good recipe.

Loser: K Trey Smack

Rookie kicker Trey Smack’s only missed field goal in the first four games was a block against Atlanta. Against the Bears, he missed two field goals and one extra point.

The Packers played great so the seven points were irrelevant. They’ll need him to bounce back in a hurry with games coming up against the Cowboys and Lions coming up.

CISSE 🔥

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/S3IKO0l0aE
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) October 11, 2026

Parsons will likely be limited when he returns from the injury, and having just one man be the source of all the good things that happen in one phase of the game is a losing strategy anyways. Green Bay’s front had one sack in the first half, and it came as a result of Tyson Bagent falling down more than anyone winning individually. Their second sack came on a nice rush from Van Ness which was cleaned up by rookie Brandon Cisse.

Otherwise, Bagent was pretty comfortable for most of the game. Ditto for Case Keenum until Devonte Wyatt added a strip sack late in the fourth quarter.

It’s not as if there is not an investment that has been made in this unit. Javon Hargrave and Devonte Wyatt were both given contracts this offseason. Lukas Van Ness is a former first round pick. They’ve spent multiple mid-round draft picks trying to add some rotational rushers to the mix.

Bagent was not able to light up their secondary, but other quarterbacks will be able to.

Spin it however you want, the Packers just beat the crap out of their rivals.

Here's the early story from Green Bay's 31-7 victory over the Bears. ⬇️https://t.co/SC5hxlfxQP
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 11, 2026

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