GREEN BAY, WI — The Green Bay Packers advanced to the playoffs with a 17-9 victory against the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
The squad that began 2023 with the NFL’s youngest roster finished the regular season the same way it began: by defeating the Bears. Except that this victory awarded the Packers (9-8) the final unclaimed NFC playoff spot.
The Packers (9-8) will meet the NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys next Sunday (day and hour to be announced) as a wild-card entrant and the conference’s seventh seed.
Although the Packers let the Bears (7-10) hang around all day, quarterback Justin Fields and the Bears’ fairly awful offense couldn’t mount a comeback against Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s much-maligned squad in the fourth quarter.
Taking the field with 10 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the game after Anders Carlson’s 25-yard field goal gave Green Bay an eight-point lead, the defense stiffened after Rashan Gary’s fourth-and-5 offsides call — the game’s first enforced penalty — kept the Bears’ drive alive. The Packers eventually forced a fourth-and-22 punt.
With 6:08 remaining after the punt, the Green Bay offense took over at its own 6-yard line and continued to run out every last second.
Here are three things that jumped out to me.
Jordan Love was nearly faultless once more.
Okay, so the Packers’ first-year starter fumbled at the conclusion of a third-and-2 run near midfield with the Packers solidly in charge.
And that play stood out not only because it was terribly mistimed, but also because Love had been unstoppable in recent weeks, accumulating a 109.9 passer rating and tossing 16 touchdowns to only one interception in the previous seven games.
While the turnover resulted in a Bears field goal, Love was at it again on the next drive, hitting Jayden Reed for a 59-yard gain to set up Carlson’s field goal, restoring the Packers’ advantage to eight points.
