Packers vs. Bears Recap: Green Bay wins 20-19 on last-second blocked field goal

Jordan Love scored on a QB sneak late in the game and Karl Brooks got a finger on a field goal to send Packers fans home happy.

It took until the final seconds, but the Green Bay Packers finally delivered another crushing defeat to the Chicago Bears in the NFL’s oldest and most-played rivalry. Karl Brooks blocked a last-second field goal attempt by Cairo Santos, preserving a one-point win for the Packers as they moved to 7-3 on the season.

The win also gives the Packers 11 straight victories in this rivalry, setting a new mark for the longest streak by either team.

Throughout the game, the Packers struggled to get stops against the Bears’ offense. Chicago went 9-for-16 on third down and 3-for-3 on fourth down, and dominated time of possession by holding the ball for more than 36 minutes. But Green Bay got several massive plays from wide receiver Christian Watson when they desperately needed them, including a 60-yarder to set up the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter.

Josh Jacobs also had another big game, matching up 76 yards on the ground with 58 receiving yards and scoring a touchdown early in the second half. Meanwhile, Jordan Love only had 17 pass attempts on Sunday, but he completed 13 of them for 261 yards with one touchdown and one interception — another frustrating one at the goal line. Still, he delivered the go-ahead score with a quarterback sneak before Brooks send Bears fans home devastated.

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The Packers received the opening kickoff and drove straight down the field in eight plays. Josh Jacobs picked up 25 yards on four carries, Emanuel Wilson took a carry for 13 yards, and Jordan Love looked much more comfortable in the pocket on his three pass attempts. One saw him scramble away from pressure and hit Romeo Doubs for a 17-yard gain, then with the Bears unable to get players off the field, he fired a strike to Jayden Reed for a 15-yard touchdown and an early 7-0 Packers lead.

Here’s a look at the touchdown:

After allowing the Bears to pick up a pair of first downs — one on a Caleb Williams scramble and another on a pass to D.J. Moore, Green Bay’s defense got a stop on the edge of field goal range on the Bears’ first drive. Brenton Cox came up with a big tackle for loss on second down and Williams threw incomplete to bring out Cairo Santos, who hit his 53-yard attempt to get the Bears on the board.

After a Packers punt pinned the Bears at their own five-yard line, Chicago drove out out past midfield by the end of the first quarter, helped out by an extremely questionable late hit flag on Xavier McKinney, who barely made contact with Caleb Williams on the sideline. That call set up the Bears just inside Packers territory to start the second quarter.

Brenton Cox came unblocked off the left side of the defense to sack Williams for a loss of 10 yards on second down, pushing the Bears back into a 3rd-and-long and eventually forcing a punt. Check out the first sack of Cox’s career here:

After the punt, the Packers sustained a long drive to get into the red zone, but Jordan Love’s turnover issues returned. To get there, Green Bay leaned on its running backs and got some help from the Bears, who jumped offsides on a 4th-and-3 near midfield. But on 3rd and 11 in the red zone, Love sailed a throw over the head of a wide-open Tucker Kraft, and it was picked off at the goal line by Terell Smith.

Chicago drove down into Packers territory by the time the clock hit the two-minute warning, with Williams evading Edgerrin Cooper and scrambling for 13 yards on a 3rd-and-5. Williams continued to gash the Packers with his legs, running for 7 and 12 yards to push Chicago into the red zone. The Bears finally found the end zone for the first time in three weeks with seconds left int he first half, as Roschon Johnson punched through a Quay Walker tackle to give the Bears a 10-7 lead, while they were set up to receive the kickoff in the third quarter.

Coming out of the half, the Bears drove down the field once again, but the Packers’ defense managed to hold in the red zone. Chicago picked up a 4th-and-2 inside field goal range, but the Packers got another stop on the next set of downs to force a field goal and keep the Bears’ lead to just six points at 13-7.

Green Bay got a 23-yard gain from Jacobs on a swing pass to get their first drive of the second half moving, and Love then found Christian Watson off play-action for 25 yards down to the 7-yard line. Jacobs immediately punched the ball into the end zone for a 7-yard score, his fourth rushing score and fifth overall this season. Brandon McManus’ extra point put the Packers back on top 14-13.

Chicago took the lead right back on their next series, which was another long, sustained drive. They got some hard running from Roschon Johnson and a 4th-and-short pickup from Williams on a read-option, but it was D’Andre Swift who delivered the big play. Swift ran around the left side and got a huge block from pulling tackle Braxton Jones, then shook a tackle attempt from Xavier McKinney and pulled into the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown. Up 19-14, the Bears elected to go for two, but Williams, fade for Cole Kmet was nowhere near the tight end, keeping Chicago’s new lead at five points.

The Packers took over with about 30 seconds left in the third quarter and after two runs for Jacobs for 20 yards, Love dialed up a play-action shot for Christian Watson. Watson hauled in a deep ball between two defenders for a 48-yard gain, setting the Packers up at the 8-yard line. Two runs by Jacobs led to a scramble by Love on third down, and Matt LaFleur kept the offense on the field on 4th-and-goal from the 6. Love again could not find anyone open and tried to scramble, but came up a yard short of the goal line as the Bears took over on downs.

The Bears started on their own one-yard line, but picked up three third-down conversions to get near midfield as they ran several minutes off the clock. Green Bay finally got a stop on a third-and-long near midfield, however, and the Bears elected to try to get the Packers to jump offsides instead of trying to go for it. When they did not, Chicago punted away, and Jayden Reed returned the kick outside the 20 to give the Packers a bit more than four minutes and two timeouts to try to win the game.

Christian Watson delivered a massive play early on the drive. Watson made a diving catch, then got up and ran to pick up 60 yards. The catch held up on review, and it’s worth a long look at this play:

On the next play, Love found open space and scrambled, coming up just inches short of the goal line as he reached for the pylon. Then he called his own number on a quarterback sneak and easily got into the end zone, giving Green Bay the lead once again at 20-19. Jacobs got stuffed on a run on a two-point conversion attempt, keeping the lead at one.

Desperate for a stop, the Packers finally got their pass rush going. The Bears’ first two plays both went for sacks, first with T.J. Slaton collapsing on Williams before he could escape the pocket and then Rashan Gary bullrushing Braxton Jones into Williams for an 8-yard loss. That set the Bears up for a 3rd-and-19 coming out of the two-minute warning, and Williams managed to avoid the rush from Kingsley Enagbare and picked up 16 yards on a pass to Rome Odunze. Facing 4th-and-3, Williams lofted a ball to Odunze up the right sideline and Keisean Nixon never got his head around as Odunze hauled it in for 21 yards.

The Packers then gave up a 13-yard gain to Keenan Allen to get squarely into field goal range at the Packers’ 30, forcing Green Bay to use its final timeout with 35 seconds remaining. A two-yard run for Johnson set up Santos for a 46-yard field goal attempt to win the game.

Instead, defensive linemen Karl Brooks made the play of the day — and maybe the season. Brooks got a good push up the middle and leapt in front of Santos, getting just a finger on the football as it crossed over the line. That was more than enough to ensure that Santos’ kick came up well short of the goal posts, and the Packers escaped with a 20-19 victory.