It was a back-and-forth affair, but the Green Bay Packers showed why they are the team to beat in the NFC North on Sunday afternoon. Green Bay defeated the Chicago Bears 28-21, getting a go-ahead touchdown from Josh Jacobs with under four minutes left and a game-sealing interception from Keisean Nixon in the end zone with just seconds left and the Bears threatening to tie the game.
With the win, the Packers improve to 9-3-1 on the season, taking over the top spot in the NFC North from the Bears, who fall to 9-4. Green Bay also moves into the #2 seed in the NFC playoff picture.
It was another big day from Jordan Love, who shook off an early interception to throw for three touchdowns on the day — all of them longer than 20 yards. Christian Watson was the biggest recipient of Love’s passes, catching all four of his targets for 89 yards and two touchdowns, while Bo Melton added a 45-yard score. The run game came up clutch in the fourth quarter as well, with Josh Jacobs delivering a critical 21-yard run to move the chains on 3rd down as well as punching in the go-ahead score.
Defensively, the Packers’ defense was gassed in the second half, at one point dealing with a 34-10 play advantage for the Bears after the break. But they got the big play they needed at the end, with Nixon sealing the deal in the end zone after being the goat on a pair of personal foul penalties earlier in the half. Caleb Williams got off to a particularly slow start but picked it up in the second half, throwing for two touchdowns but delivering the game-sealing pick.
The Green Bay defense got off to a stellar start, however, forcing a three-and-out on the Bears’ first drive. They were aided by a holding penalty on Bears right tackle on a 3rd-and-5 scramble by Caleb Williams, who threw incomplete deep on the ensuing 3rd-and-15 to force a punt.
The Packers committed a rare turnover on their first series, as the Bears’ opportunistic defense capitalized on a bad throw by Jordan Love. After a lengthy drive to reach Chicago territory that featured returning wide receiver Jayden Reed heavily, Love reared back on 3rd-and-17 from near midfield and targeted Matthew Golden over the middle. He didn’t appear to see safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson in zone coverage underneath Golden’s route, and the veteran safety picked off the pass and returned it to the Packers’ 36.
The very next play seemed to be a takeaway for the Packers, after Evan Williams appeared to strip Colston Loveland of the football and recover. The play was originally ruled a catch on the field and Matt LaFleur challenged, expecting a turnover, but referee Craig Wrolstad called the play in incomplete pass after replay review. A false start and two pressures by Micah Parsons forced a pair of additional incomplete passes, however, forcing a Bears punt.
Green Bay was unable to take advantage. After a big gain from Christian Watson for 20 yards, Luke Musgrave appeared to make an incredible catch for a gain of 34 yards, but Ben Johnson challenged that play and it too was ruled incomplete. They punted, then forced another Bears punt quickly after a single first down on the ground.
At the end of the first quarter, the Packers took over in a scoreless game with Caleb Williams starting out 1-for-7 passing for just 3 yards. Josh Jacobs and the run game pounded up the middle before Josh Whyle hauled in a big gain of 21 yards off play-action on a 3rd-and-2 to put Green Bay in field goal range. Facing 3rd-and-10 from just outside the red zone. Love floated a perfect ball off his back foot to Christian Watson, who brought in the catch just in front of the goal line and easily scampered into the end zone for the opening score of the game.
That score was Watson’s fourth of the season, all coming in the last four games, and his third career touchdown (two receiving, one rushing) in his fifth game against the Bears.
Chicago
Williams converted a 3rd down with a pass to Luther Burden, then Keisean Nixon got flagged for a personal foul to get the Bears across midfield. Williams then converted a 4th-and-1 with his legs, outrunning Rashan Gary to the edge to move the chains. The Packers got flagged for another personal foul after some extracurricular activity with Burden, setting up Chicago in a great position. After Karl Brooks sniffed out a trick play to tackle D.J. Moore for a loss of four yards and Kyle Monangai picked up six, the Packers defense stopped a screen on third down to force a 33-yard field goal from Cairo Santos.
With all three timeouts and 1:14 on the clock, the Bears kicked off short of the landing zone, giving the Packers the football at the 40-yard line. Jacobs ran for a few yards on first down, then Musgrave had a 12-yard catch to move the chains before the Packers’ first timeout with 49 seconds remaining. After an incomplete pass to Musgrave, Love found a wide-open Bo Melton, who got behind the Bears’ defense after a coverage bust. Melton hauled in a great throw behind Jaquan Brisker, scoring his first touchdown since 2023 and giving the Packers a 14-3 lead with 38 seconds left in the half.
The Bears still had all of their timeouts left to try to respond before the half, and they started with a 14-yard pass from Williams to Loveland. Kingsley Enagbare followed up a pressure by Parsons to deliver a 9-yard sack, forcing a timeout with 21 seconds left. After an incomplete pass and a short catch by D’Andre Swift brought up fourth down, the Packers called a timeout to force the Bears to punt and try to set up a block. They put in a good effort, but couldn’t quite get home, and the punt ran out the clock on the first half.
Green Bay was unable to pick up a first down on the opening drive of the third quarter, with an incomplete pass, then a 2nd-and-10 run for no gain, and another incomplete deep ball to Melton. That allowed the Bears to take the momentum back, getting their offense moving for the first time all game. Williams escaped pressure a few times on that drive, at one point evading Evan Williams to deliver his finest pass of the day to Cole Kmet up the right sideline for 26 yards. The run game pushed Chicago to 1st-and-goal from inside the 1, and Williams found Olamide Zaccheus for a one-yard score. Monangai then punched in a two-point conversion, pulling the Bears back to within a field goal at 14-11.
The Packers started their next drive at the 37 after a good kickoff return by Melton and immediately got a chunk play in the run game as Jayden Reed picked up 15 yards on a jet sweep. On 3rd-and-3, Watson put up his second touchdown of the day. Out of a 3-wide split on the right side, Watson ran a slant and burned his man, then turned on the afterburners and sprinted to the end zone for another long touchdown. This one covered 41 yards, and it restored the Packers’ lead to double digits.
Check out the alignment here, with no members of the Bears’ secondary on the left side of the field:
Brandon McManus put his next kickoff out of bounds, giving Chicago the ball at the 40, and Williams started the drive with a delivery to Kmet for 16 yards. He found Burden for another 18, but then the Packers’ discipline appeared. Edgerrin Cooper stopped an end-around to Burden for a short gain, Nixon blew up a wide receiver screen, and Hafley schemed up a great pressure on third down to force an incomplete pass on third down. Santos hit his field goal attempt from 41 yards, cutting Green Bay’s lead to 21-14.
Green Bay’s offense went three-and-out again, with Chicago getting help from a no-call by the officials on a 2nd-down deep ball to Romeo Doubs. Nate McCloud had Doubs’ arm all the way down the field and appeared to make contact with the receiver’s body before the ball arrived, but no flag appeared. Then a dump-off to Chris Brooks gained just six yards on 3rd-and-10, forcing Daniel Whelan on for a 50-yard punt to pin the Bears just inside their own 20.
The inside run started working against the Packers’ defense, as Chicago started to move the line of scrimmage up the field. A heavy rotation of Swift and Monangai drove the Bears into the red zone, and a tunnel screen to Burden on 3rd-and-10 set up a 1st-and-goal from the 5. Swift took a second down run down to the 1, and Williams found Loveland off play action for a one-yard score to tie the game.
That score capped off a 17-play drive that ate up more than 8-and-a-half minutes of clock and converted five third downs. To that point, the Packers’ offense had run just 10 plays in the entire second half, with their earlier touchdown drive taking just four plays and 2:10 of time.
After a touchback set them up at their own 35, the Packers got a nice run from Jacobs on the first play of their next drive, picking up 11 yards to give the offense a good start on the ground. The next play went for 18 yards to Jayden Reed on a crossing route, quickly putting them inside the Bears’ 40 in just two plays. Facing a 3rd-and-1 from the 28, Josh Jacobs took a pitch and cut back, rumbling for 21 yards down inside the 10. Jacobs finally punched in his 12th touchdown of the season on 3rd-and-goal from the 2, pushing through a tackle and falling over the goal line to give Green Bay a seven-point lead once again.
The Bears took over at their own 26 with 3:26 to play, and all three timeouts, and Caleb Williams found a pair of big plays through the air. He first hit Burden for a 27-yard gain, then found Devin Duvernay for another 21 to get to the edge of the red zone. Three straight runs after the two-minute warning set up a massive 4th-and-inches at the 14 after Enagbare came up with a massive stop on Monangai on 3rd-and-1.
Instead of running the ball, the Bears gave Caleb Williams a chance to tie it. Instead, it was a disaster for Chicago. On a bootleg to the left, Williams threw to Cole Kmet in the end zone, but Keisean Nixon was in coverage underneath and picked off Williams’ pass, sending Green Bay home as winners after one kneel-down to finish out the clock.
The Packers and Bears will meet once again in just 13 days after both teams play AFC opponents next week. Green Bay heads to Denver to play the Broncos, while the Bears host the Cleveland Browns.
