CHICAGO -- There's something different about the buildup for a primetime showdown between two good teams this late in December. Especially when they're in the same division. Especially when it's the Bears and Packers.
While this rematch took place just 13 days since the last game at Lambeau Field, quite a bit has changed for both teams since. Green Bay lost Micah Parsons to a torn ACL, as well as both Evan Williams and Zach Tom for this game. The Bears lost Luther Burden (and Kyler Gordon long term again), but got Tremaine Edmunds back.
Two good, banged up teams playing for control of the NFC North (and essentially the title) tonight. Just like we all expected at the beginning of the season.
And the Bears, whose comeback attempt two weeks ago came up just short, looked like little brother on both sides of the ball for 3.75 quarters. And then they came back to win in the most unbelievable of ways (again) to take control of the NFC North. Just a crazy, crazy ending.
I shared my in-game reactions, thoughts and observations from the game below. Follow me on X @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Thoughts and Observations
1. (PREGAME) -- Just a quick appetizer, given the time of year and the stakes. Those sweet noon CT kickoffs that fans love so much... will largely be a thing of the past as the Bears hopefully continue to establish themselves for years to come.
2. Quite an adventure first two possessions for both teams in a massive game. The Packers benefited from a personal foul call on the opening kickoff to get the ball at their own 47. After a horrendous roughing the passer, they moved inside the red zone. But the Bears turned them away as C.J. Gardner-Johnson was attached to Christian Watson's hip in the end zone and the ball sailed away.
The Bears used that momentum to rifle down the field and get inside the 10-yard line, where they faced a 4th and 1 of their own. But a bad snap on a trick play lost 18 yards and their own turnover on downs. The good news was Caleb Williams and the running game looked really good on the drive. But that result kills the momentum a bit. (I liked the decision to go for it, but didn't love the play call and the execution spoke for itself.)
3. Packers have weathered the initial storm and quieted the crowd. They've dominated possession and moved the ball at will down the field, and have started to beat the Bears up in the trenches. Reminder, they're missing Zach Tom and still have the DL largely in hell. Austin Booker's had a couple nice rushes and good QB hits, but both have been wrongfully called roughing the passer. Brutal.
Bears are fortunate to just be down 6-0 with 1:41 left in the half. Packers have gotten to the red zone / inside the 15 three times in three drives and have dominated time of possession. Impressive showing and coaching from them.
4. Booker's second "roughing" call knocked out Jordan Love for the time being. Obviously a big loss if it lingers, but Malik Willis did a good job salvaging that drive for Green Bay to get them their second field goal.
To me, the roughing call was terrible. Love lowered his head as Booker got to him. Unfortunate that he got hurt... but not a worthwhile penalty.
5. A clear defensive hold (at minimum) not called on third down on the Bears' final drive of the half. No call on Keisean Nixon's blindside hit away from the play no D.J. Moore. Bad roughing calls.
Look, the Bears have themselves to blame for the 4th and 1 failure in the red zone earlier, but these are game swinging plays that are just being ignored by the refs. Horrible.
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6. Last week, Kyle Monangai dropped a dump off on the first drive that would've gone for a huge gain -- potentially score. On the Bears' first drive of the second half tonight, Monangai caught a nice blitz beating sidearm throw by Williams to rumble for 44 yards and set up a field goal to cut it to 6-3.
The Bears got lucky on that drive as Caleb was late on an in-breaker over the middle of the field to Colston Loveland and Xavier McKinney almost streaked across the field to pick it off. Very close. Could've been a tendency read from McKinney, but Williams was a full tick late on the throw too. It was open initially.
With Jordan Love now out of the game with a concussion, the Bears need to find a way to contain the Malik Willis-led Packers offense. That means starting to win against that beat-up OL.
7. Goodness gracious. The Bears offered zero resistance to the Willis-led Packers as they strolled down the field to set up 1st and goal at the 4-yard line and chewed away much of the third quarter. A handoff to Josh Jacobs gained three yards... and then Nahshon Wright (of course) stripped the ball and Tremaine Edmunds recovered it.
They were looking absolutely HELPLESS against Matt LaFleur's brilliance, and then that.
But they didn't do anything with it. One first down to get out of their own end zone and then a bad sequence to punt.
8. In some ways, I feel like Micah Parsons' injury forced Jeff Hafley to be even more creative and funky with his defense and he's done a great job. He's really throttled the Bears' offense after the first drive. Superb coaching performance on both sides of the ball for the Packers.
LaFleur's called an immensely incredible game for Willis and it resulted in that touchdown to put Green Bay up 13-3. A total DOT to Romeo Doubs -- who got behind Gardner-Johnson on a switch-release play.
Through three quarters... I have to say this:
9. Bears got some momentum on their next drive -- riding a nice long completion to D.J. Moore and some tough running by D'Andre Swift. But a bad decision by Caleb to not run when the lane was there, followed by an intentional grounding call, led to a field goal attempt -- from 51 yards -- that Cairo Santos made.
13-6 Packers with 10 minutes left in the game. Again, just not coming up big enough when it matters tonight.
10. Jaquan Brisker with a horrendous penalty early in the drive to put the Packers in field goal range right away. It was their fourth personal foul penalty of the day -- two of them not real -- but still. Bears did not have their heads in the game well enough to win.
And you know what happened - the Packers' OL dominated the Bears' DL down the field again and the Packers kicked another FG inside the 10-yard line to go up 16-6 with 5 minutes left. Probably the dagger.
11a. I was hoping missing Rome Odunze and Luther Burden wouldn't impact the Bears THIS much, but my goodness were they sloppy before the 2-minute warning. Bad drops by OZ and Moore, bad illegal shift wiping out a first down, just bad football. And then Cairo Santos waltzed onto the field to kick the FG too slowly to not get it in before the 2-minute warning.
BUT just as I say that... Santos dribbled an onside kick that the Packers fumbled and Josh Blackwell recovered. Bears with life. Somehow... This feels apt, though.
11b. On 4th and 4 from the 4-yard line, Caleb drifted back and lofted a floater to the back of the end zone where Jahdae Walker scored a touchdown falling down. Unbelievable. This team was left for dead (rightfully so) and they pull off 10 points in 2 minutes. Crazy.
12. You cannot make this up... a repeat of Jayden Daniels' fumble in Washington. The Packers went for it on 4th and 1 in overtime in plus territory and Willis fumbled -- turnover on downs. Just when it looked like they were going to walk the Bears down the field again. Crazy turn of events.
And then after Kyle Monangai rifled through for a first down to give the Bears a first down in Packers territory (where a FG would win it), Ben Johnson dialed up a shot for the win -- and Caleb hit D.J. Moore in stride into the end zone. Unreal throw, unreal catch.
Absolutely unbelievable. Out of NOWHERE.
13. Bears move to 11-4 and have a 1.5 game lead over the Packers with two to play. They are one win away from the NFC North crown. Just unbelievable.
14. A very concerning performance tonight from the defense, but the Bears escape with yet another insane win. Having a little longer before going out west helps, but you can't help but wonder what Kyle Shanahan will have in store for this team after watching what LaFleur and Hafley did tonight. There should be concern. But the Bears seem to be able to overcome literally anything at this point.
Early prediction: Bears 27, 49ers 23.
