CHICAGO — As the Chicago Bears clawed back from a 21-3 deficit against the Green Bay Packers on Saturday night, Soldier Field shook.
The 60,338 in attendance stood throughout the fourth quarter and jumped from their seats as Chicago put together another late rally to survive and advance to the divisional playoffs after pulling out a 31-27 win.
The Bears are the 4th team in NFL history to win a playoff game after trailing by 15+ entering the 4th quarter.
The Bears’ only points of the first half came off a field goal. They trailed by 18 going into the locker room, marking their largest halftime deficit ever in a home playoff game. But Ben Johnson told Prime Video’s broadcast that he kept his foot on the gas despite unsuccessful fourth down attempts because he knew what the Packers were capable of on offense.
He also knew what his team has done to establish an identity with multiple last-second victories.
In familiar fashion, the Bears did most of their damage in the final moments. It was enough to capture the lead with 1:48 to play when Caleb Williams connected with DJ Moore for a 25-yard touchdown, and a defense that struggled in the first half, held to secure the win.
Jordan Love couldn’t have been much sharper to start the game. He threw touchdowns passes on the first three drives of the game to become just the second player in Packers history with three touchdown passes in the first half of a playoff game. (Lynn Dickey, in a 1983 wild-card game vs. the Rams, was the other). ADD LOVE’S FINAL STATS
Most surprising performance: Last week, Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich didn’t offer much hope that rookie receiver Matthew Golden would have an impact in the playoffs. His exact words: «Right now, just with the room, the way it is, he’s not going to be in that premier role when the playoffs come around.» The first-round pick apparently wasn’t listening. He scored his first career touchdown on a 23-yard catch and run that put the Packers up by nine with 6:36 left in the game. Earlier in the game, Golden caught a 36-yard reception.
Stat to know: In their Week 16 overtime loss to the Bears, the Packers didn’t score a single touchdown on their five drives that reached the red zone. This time, they found the end zone on their first three red zone trips.
Turning point: Take your pick on which fourth-down stop was bigger by Jeff Hafley’s defense, but it might have been Ty’Ron Hopper’s interception on fourth-and-1 from the Packers’ 6-yard line after Karl Brooks pressured Caleb Williams. It came with 3:11 left in the third quarter with Green Bay leading 21-6. A touchdown there could have changed the game. In all, the Packers stopped the Bears on 4-of-5 fourth downs. — Rob Demovsky
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