Green Bay ended their regular season with a loss to the Bears last Sunday. Not only did Chicago break their 10-game losing streak on the season, but they also broke their 11-game losing streak to the Packers. The Packers finished the regular season at 11-6 and will be the 7th seed in the playoffs for the NFC.
The loss to Chicago was ugly. Nothing about the game was remotely good. The Packers lost Christian Watson in the first quarter due to a non-contact knee injury. It would later be revealed that the Packers deep threat suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. Not only did the Packers lose Watson early, but Jordan Love also went down in the first quarter with an elbow injury.
Backup quarterback Malik Willis had to take over. Willis finished the game 10 for 13 for 136 yards. The Packers found themselves down 14-13 at halftime. The Bears found a way to widen their lead 21-13 early in the fourth quarter. A touchdown by Emanual Wilson cut the Bears lead to 21-19 as the Packers failed the two-point attempt.
Brandon McManus would later put the Packers up 22-21 with a little under a minute left in the fourth. Unfortunately, the defense was unable to keep Chicago out of field goal range, and Bear’s kicker Cario Santos ended the game with a walk off win for Chicago.
Most were hopeful that the Packers would end their regular season on a high note and find some momentum before traveling to Philadelphia in the Wild Card round. This loss will hopefully be the wakeup call Green Bay needs to start playing better football.
Between several offensive fumbles, allowing a punt return for a touchdown, poor clock management and playing an overly soft coverage on defense to end the game – the Packers continue to make too many mistakes. If these mistakes continue into Philadelphia, foresee the playoff run lasting very long.
Despite the disappointing loss to end the regular season, let’s look at a few positives moving forward.
Health
The Packers will be much healthier on defense against Philadelphia. Evan Williams and Quay Walker are trending in the right direction to play Sunday. Evan Williams back at safety will help with absence of Zayne Anderson, who has already been ruled out for Sunday.
Jordan Love’s elbow injury came early in the game against Chicago. It seems there is no concern for his status Sunday, as head coach Matt LaFleur announced that Love was a full participant in practice on Friday.
We’re In
It’s simple, you can’t get to the big game if you aren’t in the playoffs. The Packers have once again given themselves a chance at competing to go to the Super Bowl. There are many other teams that would be happy to have our 7th seed spot.
It’s also worth noting, Green Bay is once again the youngest team in the playoffs this year. They improved last year from their previous 9-8 record. Whatever happened in the regular season is behind them. This team has the opportunity to go and make noise again.
The Eagles have numerous weapons on offense and a solid defense. It will take a near perfect, as in mistake free, performance from Green Bay in Philadelphia on Sunday. The Packers control their destiny from here on out.
