Packers Blow Lead in Windy City

 By Eric Goska

DJ Moore's 46-yard TD reception in overtime
lifted Chicago past Green Bay 22-16.

How about this for a morning-after football head-scratcher: Would you rather your team trail for most of the game and lose, or would you prefer your team hold the upper hand for much of the game and succumb at the end?

The correct answer, of course, is neither. Who wants to lose?

The Packers chose the second option in the hypothetical above, sitting atop the scoreboard for most of their contest with the Bears Saturday night. Then, with the game on the line, they imploded allowing Chicago to walk off with a 22-16 overtime victory at Soldier Field.

In a matchup that determined first place in the NFC North Division, Green Bay wilted. Up by 10 with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the club again demonstrated its inability to close the door.

Here’s another question, one more practical than philosophical. Which of the following plays contributed most to the Packers’ downfall?

• Warren Brinson draws a 15-yard penalty for grabbing Caleb Williams’ facemask, a blunder that erases third-and-20 and allows the Bears to close to 16-9 on a 43-yard Cairo Santos’ field goal at the two minute warning.
• Romeo Doubs fails to secure Santos’ subsequent onside kick, an offering that hits him in the hands. Chicago then mounts an 8-play, 53-yard drive to knot the score at 16-all late in the fourth quarter.
• A botched, fourth-down exchange between center Sean Rhyan and quarterback Malik Willis, a miscue that paves the way for Williams’ 46-yard, game-winning scoring pass to DJ Moore four plays later.

This was a game the Packers should have won. Even losing their starting quarterback, Jordan Love, midway through the second quarter did not phase them. Willis filled in admirably completing 9 of 11 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 44 yards on 10 carries.

Green Bay struck first in this encounter, with Brandon McManus kicking a 26-yard field goal to put the Packers ahead with 12:45 remaining in the second period. By tacking on two more McManus field goals and a 33-yard TD pass from Willis to Doubs, the Green and Gold remained in front for the next 42:21.

Williams passed for 250 yards and two TDs.

Not until Williams tied the score with a 6-yard TD pass to Jahdae Walker with 24 seconds remaining in regulation did the Packers relinquish the lead.

Playing with the lead for so long – 40-plus minutes – has usually worked in Green Bay’s favor in this series. Until Saturday, the Packers were 56-2 when doing so against the Monsters of the Midway.

In fact, Green Bay had won its last 28 games against Chicago when it led for at least 40 minutes. It last slipped up on Nov. 8, 1987 when Kevin Butler’s 52-yard walk-off field goal lifted the Bears to a 26-24 win at Lambeau Field and tore the hearts out of Packers fans.

“Butler’s boot leaves Packers numb,” read the headline above Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Bob McGinn’s analysis. The kick, only the second success from 50 yards and beyond by the third-year kicker, rendered useless Green Bay’s 44:27 with the lead.

In Chicago, as in Denver, the Packers struggled in the red zone. After going 1-for-4 against the Broncos, they struck out (0-for-5) in Chicago.

Green Bay ran a season-high 19 plays in the red zone. It went 1-for-5 on third downs, and Love failed to connect with Christian Watson on fourth down early in the first quarter.

The team’s biggest slip-up inside the 20 occurred midway through the third quarter. Josh Jacobs ended a promising 9-play drive with a fumble at the 3-yard line. Tremaine Edmunds recovered to end the threat.

Swift led Chicago with 58 yards rushing.

Saturday was the second time this season that the Packers have led for more than 40 minutes and come away empty handed. They were out front of the Browns for 41:52 only to lose 13-10 on Andre Szmyt’s 55-yard walk-off field goal on Sept. 21.

Uncomfortably Numb
Since 1921, the three regular-season games in which the Packers lost despite leading the Bears for more than 40 minutes.

TWL*        Date                         Location                       Result
48:10         Oct. 4, 1953             City Stadium               GB lost, 13-17
44:27         Nov. 8, 1987           Lambeau Field           GB lost, 24-26
42:21         Dec. 20, 2025          Soldier Field               GB lost, 16-22

*TWL = time with lead