Despite total domination by the Green Bay Packers for the last decade-plus, they can still find a way to make things interesting against their biggest rival, the Chicago Bears. The Packers escaped with a one-point win on Sunday— their record 11th straight over their biggest rivalry— by their fingertips.
At this point, NFL fans are used to Green Bay defeating Chicago. This time, however, was unlike any other.
A quarterback sneak from Jordan Love gave the Packers a 20-19 lead with less than three minutes left. After stuffing the two-point try, the Bears needed only a field goal for their first win over Green Bay since 2018.
Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams made some crucial throws to march the offense down to the Packers’ 28. With three seconds remaining, kicker Cairo Santos had a chance to be the hero if he could connect on a 46-yard attempt. But rather than watching the ball sail through the uprights and into the netting, Santos watched as the ball deflected off the fingertips of a Green Bay defender before falling short of the end zone no good.
It wasn’t how the Packers drew it up, but it was a much-needed win to avoid their third divisional loss of the season.
Coming out of the bye week, Green Bay was hindered by some of the same mistakes that plagued them during the first half of the season. Jordan Love threw a bad interception, the offense failed to come away with points on two red zone trips, and the pass rush had another inconsistent performance. And yet, the Packers overcame all of it once again to capture their seventh win of the season.
Here are the standouts who contributed most to Green Bay’s Week 11 win.