The Green Bay Packers lost a devastating game to the Chicago Bears Saturday night in overtime. The Packers led by 10 points with two minutes left to play and suffered a painful collapse that allowed the Bears to tie the game in the closing seconds of regulation. The Bears then won it in overtime, 22-16. In a matter of minutes, the Packers went from having the inside track on the second seed in the NFC playoffs and at least one home playoff game, to battling for their playoff lives. The Packers still have an excellent chance to make the playoffs, but can they recover from this crushing loss to the Bears and get back to playing the kind of football they need to go on a playoff run?
Can the Packers Recover from their Loss to the Bears? The Initial Reaction
This was a game the Packers should have won. The Bears recovered an onside kick on the first play after the two-minute warning. Wide receiver Romeo Doubs had the best chance of recovering the kick, but he misplayed it and the Bears recovered. The odds of the kicking team recovering an onsides kick are roughly 1-in-12, but the Bears pulled it off after the Doubs mistake. Blown coverages, a costly facemask penalty that wiped out a potential game-clinching sack, and failures in the red zone were also costly to the Packers. The team was crushed after this game.
“It does hurt,” admitted head coach, Matt LaFleur. “Feel like you’re rubbing salt in the wound there, but that’s the reality of it. It should hurt, because these guys, all of us, we put a lot into this thing. You had opportunities, you’re up two scores late in the game, and unfortunately it flipped pretty quick. Just too many critical errors in critical moments.”
The players were also in shock. “The great thing about this game is it’s bittersweet now,” said defensive end Rashan Gary. “We’ve got another opportunity to erase the taste out of our mouth this week and we have another opportunity to correct ourselves and still put ourselves where want to be at the end of the season.”
Doubs too responsibility for his mistake. “[Bleep], I missed it,” Doubs said. “That’s just this game, bro. I rep this [bleep] all week and yeah, bro, somebody got to be responsible and I’m willing to take on 1000 percent of it.”
Injuries Are Mounting
One thing that made this loss so tough was how the team fought and battled through major injuries. Quarterback Jordan Love suffered a concussion in the second quarter and did not return. Backup Malik Willis played well in his absence and had a quarterback rating of more than 140. Willis also appeared to suffer an injury late in regulation, but he managed to return and finish the game.
Star running back Josh Jacobs played through a knee injury. He gutted one out for the team, but his effectiveness was limited. Jacobs had a key fumble inside the Bears five-yard line that contributed to the team’s 0-for-5 red zone performance. Willis also fumbled in the red zone in overtime.
The Packers entered the game without their best offensive lineman in Zach Tom and second-year safety Evan Williams. Top wide receiver Christian Watson played but was limited by chest and shoulder injuries. On the onsides kick, Doubs appeared to suffer an injury although we still don’t know his status.
Tight end Tucker Kraft and Micah Parsons are out for the season with injuries, as is defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt.
During the game, the Packers also lost tight end John FitzPatrick, leaving Luke Musgrave as the only remaining healthy tight end on the roster.
Despite all these injuries, the team persevered and put themselves in a strong position to win the game before it all fell apart so quickly in the final minutes of the game.
Can the Packers Recover from their Loss to the Bears? The Need to Regroup
Even with the multitude of injuries, the Packers have the talent to compete with any opponent in the wide-open NFC. They outplayed the Bears for most of this game but had difficulty putting the game away when they had the chance. This is something that has been an issue for this team all season.
Now, the Packers have to overcome the shock and disappointment of a very emotional loss and get back to the business of winning football games.
“I have so much confidence with our guys, that these guys will rally around each other, they’ll support one another, they’ll lift the guys that need to be lifted up. And they’ll battle. We saw it tonight,” LaFleur said after the loss in Chicago.
“Certainly, the game didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” LaFleur said in his introductory remarks. “I thought I was so proud of our guys, man, to be able to handle all the adversity and continue to battle and fight. Unfortunately, just some of those plays at the end of the game didn’t go our way.” Then he added, “If we can regroup and gather and learn from it, then, you know, it can be a great lesson.”
The cliché in football is that great teams don’t collapse like this late in games. But the truth is also that when things like this too happen, great teams respond. Now it’s up to the Packers to bounce back and win their remaining two games.
“It’s tough,” LaFleur added. “It’s always tough in this league to have to rebound and get it together, but that’s exactly what we have to do and exactly what we will do…Bottom line is, we’ve got to deal with it, we’ve got to learn from it, and we’ve just got to find a way to go 1-0. Period. That’s going to be the message to the team.”
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