When your team is playing to win the top spot in your division, you need your best players at their best. That is even more important when your opponent is also your oldest and most hated opponent. Fortunately for Wisconsin fans, the Green Bay Packers’ offensive playmakers all made key plays needed to win the border battle against the Chicago Bears.

Jordan Love

The quarterback is undoubtedly the most important offensive player for every NFL team. Green Bay’s playcaller is fortunately not only one of among the best Packers’ offensive playmakers, but also one of the best in the entire NFL.

EPA (expected points added) is a stat that measures the probability of any play to score points for a team. It is a stat that can effectively measure the effectiveness of an offense as a whole as well as individual players. Of all quarterbacks with at least 100 snaps, Jordan Love has been the most valuable with an EPA per play of 0.26.

This stat is no surprise to anyone who has watched Love play this season, especially in the current 4 game winning streak. In the last 4 games, Love has thrown for 781 yards, 9 touchdowns, and only 1 interception.

After starting Sunday’s game with sack followed by an interception on the Packers first drive, Love finished the game by throwing for 211 yards and 3 touchdowns. More impressively, his final 2 touchdowns were longer than 40 yards; one being a perfect moon ball to Bo Melton and the other a perfectly thrown slant to Christian Watson with nothing but green in front of him.

The two touchdowns to Watson in this game demonstrate Love’s growth before the snap. On the first play, Love adjusted Watson’s route allowing him to get several steps ahead of the Bears defender at the goal line for an easy score. The second was a similar situation where Love noticed a mismatch between the speedy Watson and the defender across from him. Love did not hesitate to throw the short slant and let Watson run away from the Bears defense for a 41 yard score.

Christian Watson

Sunday was Christian Watson’s second 2 touchdown performance since returning from his ACL injury that occurred against the Bears late last season. In a matchup against the team on the field when he ended his season last year, Watson continued to be a dominant member of the Packers’ offensive playmakers.

Although only being targeted 4 times, Watson made the most of his opportunities by being a total mismatch for the Bears defenders. 2 of his 4 catches went for 20+ yard touchdowns against cornerbacks that just couldn’t keep up with his elite speed. On the second touchdown, he reached a top speed of 21.6 MPH which was the fastest of any player in week 14.

Against Lions and Bears, Watson now has 2 touchdowns of over 40 yards on the season with no sign of slowing down. I expect Watson to continue to be a feature of the Packers offense as they look to close out the season as the NFC North champions

Josh Jacobs

Last year Josh Jacobs was one of the key Packers’ offensive playmakers with over 1300 yards and 15 touchdowns. While this season has not been nearly as spectacular, Jacobs has still played an important role on the team. If not for one excellent play in the 4th quarter, the Packers may not have scored a touchdown that forced the Bears to be aggressive on their final drive.

Although Jacobs did not light up the score sheet, he did tie his 3rd best game of the season with 86 yards on the ground. His key moment came on the Packers final drive when he converted a 3rd and 1 for a 21 yard gain to put the Packers in the red zone. It was not any 3rd down conversion however, below is a picture of what the field looked like for Jacobs right before converting (photo courtesy of Reddit user u/DeltaP42).

Jacobs managed to squirm between 5 Bears defenders for his second longest rush of the year. Without this play, the Packers would likely have attempted a field goal which would have allowed the Bears to win with a walk off touchdown. Instead, Jacobs punched in the touchdown 3 plays later and the Packers walked off with a Kesian Nixon interception in the end zone.

Playoff teams need excellent players and they need those players to play excellently. The Packers entered Sunday’s division matchup against a Bears team with 5 straight wins under their belt and the top spot in the NFC North on the line. The Packers’ offensive playmakers in Jordan Love, Christian Watson, and Josh Jacobs proved they are ready to will their team to victory in any situation