There is no real reason that the Green Bay Packers deserved to win their Week 11 matchup against the Chicago Bears, and yet they escaped with a 20-19 win, their 11th straight over their Illinois rival. Earning their seventh win of the season only because of a blocked, last-second field goal, Green Bay’s win was more lucky than good.

The coaching of Matt LaFleur put this team in multiple tough positions Sunday, as did the play on both sides of the ball. The offense failed to stretch together multiple positive plays, and the defense allowed the Chicago offense to put up its most points in its past four games.

Offense

Jordan Love wasn’t asked to do much, only attempting 17 passes, but he was efficient, connecting on 13 passes for 261 yards and a score to Jayden Reed. Love did throw a costly end zone interception, killing a potential scoring drive that would have made this game much easier.

Josh Jacobs had a busy day, racking up 134 total yards on 22 touches, finding the end zone on a short carry. The team ran for 106 yards in total, with Love accounting for 18 of those  – he also ran for a touchdown in the game.

Christian Watson had a career-best 150 receiving yards on four receptions, showcasing his game-breaking vertical threat. Watson and Love connected on a 60-yard pass, as he and Jacobs tied for the team lead in receptions with four.

Defense

Green Bay Packers

It was a sloppy tackling performance for the defensive unit, as Bears receivers were able to turn short completions into larger plays quite often. The defense allowed the Bears to rush for 179 yards, with D’Andre Swift (71) and Caleb Williams (70) accounting for most of that total.

Williams looked incredibly comfortable in the pocket, going through reads but also making decisions a lot quicker than normal. After letting offensive coordinator Shane Waldron go this week, Thomas Brown stepped in and called plays for this offense, and there was a noticeable change in how the offense was run.

The secondary allowed 60+ receiving yards to both DJ Moore and rookie Rome Odunze, as Jeff Hafley’s unit didn’t do the best slowing down an average passing attack at best. While Williams only threw for 231 scoreless yards, this was one of his better performances in his rookie season.

Key sacks from Rashan Gary and T.J. Slaton on Chicago’s final drive made things difficult for the Bears, but Chicago was able to overcome being in a 3rd-and-19 to get into field goal range for Cairo Santos.

Karl Brooks was able to get his hand up far enough to block the low kick from Santos, pushing Green Bay to the improbable win. While it wasn’t a game that Green Bay deserved to win, they absolutely needed it to help keep pace with both the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings winning their Week 11 matchups.

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Mike Johrendt has been an avid fan of the Packers ever since he can remember. He is now a writer at PackersTalk and you can follow him on Twitter at @MJohrendt23

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