GREEN BAY, Wis. — That was about as bad of a regular-season finale as the Packers could’ve imagined entering the playoffs.
Keep everybody healthy? Nope. The Packers lost wide receiver Christian Watson to what appears to be a significant knee injury and quarterback Jordan Love injured his throwing hand (more on that later).
Flush the sour taste of slow starts? Negative. Three points in their first four drives against a 4-12 team with nothing to play for except pride.
Eliminate self-inflicted mistakes that have plagued them? Not that, either. Head coach Matt LaFleur again botched clock management, this time in a critical fourth-quarter moment. Green Bay also lost two fumbles and vomited on themselves during multiple special teams plays.
GO DEEPER
Bears snap 11-game losing streak to Packers with 24-22 win: Takeaways
The No. 7 seed Packers (11-6) will visit the No. 2 seed Eagles (14-3) in the wild-card round next weekend. Green Bay made the playoffs. That’s great for them. All they need to make a run is a spot at the party and they earned one.
But after losing to a team that had dropped 10 straight games, a team that hadn’t beaten them in 11 tries under LaFleur, a team that has become a doormat in the NFL’s oldest rivalry, there is plenty of reason for the Packers to be concerned before flying to Philadelphia and not just because of what happened Sunday.
“Same stuff every week,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “I think the guys individually, everybody gotta look at themselves and say, ‘OK, what do we want to do? How far do we want to take this?’ I think that’s just the reality of it. … we know that we got one game. We got one chance. If we don’t do it right, then we’ll be bounced. That’s just the reality of it. I think that’s where we’re at mentally. Gotta move on from this game.”
Right guard Sean Rhyan echoed that sentiment.
“Losing to these f—ing guys right before the playoffs, it’s a kick in the gut,” right guard Sean Rhyan said. “We’ve got to flush it and start a new season. That’s all we can do.”
Love these guys 🥹 pic.twitter.com/7DwtXZBCki
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 5, 2025
LaFleur knew he was opening himself up to criticism no matter what decision he made on playing starters. There was still something to play for since the Packers would jump to the No. 6 seed with a win and a Commanders loss (they beat the Cowboys). That, and LaFleur said this week that there’s value in playing and playing well. It just so happened that playing starters resulted in injuries to two of his most important players.
Watson suffered a non-contact right knee injury running a route in the second quarter. Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson immediately called for Packers trainers. Watson walked off with his arms around two staff members, entered the medical tent and later rode a cart into the locker room with his head in hand. He was ruled out at the start of the third quarter and LaFleur said after the game, “I’m not super confident about that right now.”
LaFleur said wide receiver Romeo Doubs being inactive with an illness had “a lot” to do with Watson being active Sunday. Watson was questionable because of a knee injury sustained against the Saints in Week 16, though his injury Sunday was to the other knee.
Later in the same drive, Love came out of a free play shaking his right hand. He said postgame that he landed on his right elbow and his hand went numb. He left the game and didn’t return, though LaFleur said Love was good to go back in. Love threw the ball on the sideline before the second half started, but he later said that he still couldn’t feel the outside of his hand and his pinky at that time. Love said his hand felt the same at the podium before saying two answers later that it felt better. LaFleur also said he has no doubt Love will be good to go against the Eagles, while Love said he feels good about his chances to play in Philadelphia.
GO DEEPER
Packers’ Jordan Love exits vs. Bears with right elbow injury
After the Packers get their starting quarterback back, they must find a remedy for their slow starts. Not only did the Packers come out of the tunnel sluggish against one of the NFL’s worst teams on Sunday, but they also did twice against the Vikings this season and twice against the Lions, the two teams they might have to face if they get past the Eagles.
Running back Josh Jacobs was asked last Sunday night after the loss in Minnesota about those slow starts and he said, “I feel like today, we figured out a lot about ourselves. I don’t want to too much give it away what we feel like we figured out, but we’ll see. We’ll see how it plays out.”
It didn’t play out well.
Green Bay’s passing game, specifically, has been underwhelming in those instances and the Packers likely won’t be able to afford another slow start against the Eagles.
“It hasn’t been good,” LaFleur said of the passing game. “It is extremely frustrating right now, so I think that’s something that we’re gonna have to take a deep dive into and we have been. It’s not like it’s anything new, but we gotta do a better job.”
Love said the Packers need to be “great” with “accuracy, ball placement, everything.”
What is he now in those areas?
“I feel like it’s inconsistent,” Love said.
The Packers have also made far too many avoidable mistakes both Sunday and prior that endanger their postseason chances.
Long snapper Matt Orzech sailed a snap over punter Daniel Whelan’s head on the opening drive and he recovered for only a 35-yard pooch. The Bears later fooled the Packers on a 94-yard punt return touchdown when, after Whelan told his coverage team that he was punting left, returner D.J. Moore acted as if the punt went right. The Packers’ coverage team followed Moore and Chicago’s Josh Blackwell caught a punt left with nobody close to preventing him from scoring.
JOSH BLACKWELL TO THE HOUSE
📺: #CHIvsGB on FOX pic.twitter.com/nuFCFxCY7B
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 5, 2025
Wide receiver Jayden Reed lost a fumble on an end-around that gave the Bears possession at Green Bay’s 21-yard line. Chicago added seven points three plays later. Backup quarterback Malik Willis didn’t see a free rusher off the edge, got obliterated and lost a fumble on first down in field-goal range. Even something as small as Willis taking a 6-yard sack on second-and-4 instead of throwing the ball away, which he had plenty of time to do, is something the Packers can’t afford in the playoffs.
And then there are more glaring miscues, like another instance of LaFleur not correctly managing the clock (he botched it at the end of the first half against the Seahawks three weeks ago, too). With 58 seconds remaining, the Packers trailing by two and the ball at Chicago’s 37-yard line on fourth-and-4, he called a timeout. Kicker Brandon McManus drilled a 55-yard field goal to give the Packers a 22-21 lead, but the Bears (with one timeout remaining) had enough time to drive down the field and kick a game-winning 51-yard field goal themselves.
Quarterback Caleb Williams spiked the ball with two seconds remaining, made possible in part by LaFleur giving the Bears enough time (and the horsecollar tackle by defensive end Kingsley Enagbare to jumpstart the drive, if you were looking for another bonehead mistake by the Packers).
LaFleur said he called timeout because he planned to go for it on fourth-and-4.
“Hindsight’s 20/20 and I wish I wouldn’t have taken the timeout because it gave them obviously way too much time to go down and operate,” LaFleur said. “Like I told the team, that’s on me. That can’t happen.”
Matt LaFleur called timeout with 58 seconds left on fourth down before Brandon McManus’ 55-yarder because he was planning on going for it.
“That’s on me … I wish I wouldn’t have taken that timeout.” pic.twitter.com/AQJ1WUm39B
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) January 5, 2025
LaFleur said players had “some strong words” in the locker room after the loss. McKinney declined to elaborate on what was said, while tight end Tucker Kraft said of the vibe in the locker room, “Just trying to make sure that everyone’s still together. Like sure, that’s an extremely disappointing loss. We should not have lost that game. However, there is more life to our season. We get a chance to go on the road and make history, so we’re going to try to do that one game at a time, one play at a time.”
The Packers have little time to remedy their slow starts and to correct their self-inflicted problems. Their next failure to do so will be their last. Do they have the pieces to make an unexpected postseason run? Sure. But that doesn’t matter if those pieces don’t fit together. Right now, they’re disjointed.
The Packers can say in front of microphones and cameras until they’re blue in the face that they have the players it takes, that they know what needs to be fixed, that they’re confident their next shot will be different. All that matters, though, is turning talk into action. At this point, there’s not much reason to think they can.
“You can say everything in the world about how you’re ready, how you’re going to do this, how you’re going to do that,” McKinney said. “When you get to the fight, you gotta fight.”
Are the Packers prepared for their biggest fight yet? We’re about to find out.
(Photo of Malik Willis fumbling on a sack by Kevin Byard: John Fisher / Getty Images)
