By Matt Schneidman, Kevin Fishbain and Michael-Shawn Dugar
The Green Bay Packers may not be the longstanding owners of the NFC North like they once were, but The Green and Gold’s continued unofficial ownership of the Chicago Bears earned the Packers a spot in the playoffs.
With their 17-9 win over Chicago on Sunday, the Packers clinched a postseason berth for the first time since 2021, knocking the Seattle Seahawks and the New Orleans Saints out of contention in the process.
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Green Bay set itself up for the playoffs with a strong three-game winning streak to close the season. Packers QB Jordan Love surpassed the 4,000-yard mark in his first year as a starter, finishing the regular season with a 316-yard, two-touchdown performance.
Both the Saints and Seahawks needed to win their own games and then have the Packers lose or tie in order to make the playoffs. Along with beating the Falcons, which they did, the Saints also needed the Seahawks to lose to the Arizona Cardinals.
The Packers locked up the final open playoff spot with their win and will now face the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round.
An impressive defensive turnaround
So much for a rebuilding year without Aaron Rodgers, huh? In their first year with Love as the full-time starting quarterback, the Packers are going to the playoffs. Love was exceptional for most of the second half of the season, but on Sunday, it was the embattled Joe Barry’s defense — Love played well, too, completing 27 of 32 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns — powering Green Bay into the postseason.
The Packers didn’t punt on any of their first six offensive drives yet only scored 17 points. Anders Carlson missed a 41-yard field goal, the Packers botched a scoring opportunity at the end of the first half and Love lost a fumble just inside Bears territory trying to scramble for a first down on third-and-2 with the Packers leading by eight late in the third quarter.
Barry’s defense, however, much like last Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, turned in an uncharacteristically dominant performance. The Packers didn’t allow a touchdown and sacked Bears quarterback Justin Fields five times — once each by inside linebacker Quay Walker, outside linebacker Lukas Van Ness and defensive linemen Karl Brooks, Devonte Wyatt and Kenny Clark. Bears star receiver DJ Moore caught four passes for 64 yards, but 33 of them came when the Bears schemed him against Walker. — Matt Schneidman, Packers beat writer
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Packers’ running game getting hot
After the Packers didn’t have a 100-yard rusher for the first 15 games, running back Aaron Jones eclipsed 100 yards on the ground for the third consecutive game to end the regular season. The 29-year-old ran 22 times for 111 yards (5 yards per rush) after running for 127 yards and 120 yards (6 yards per carry in both games), respectively, against the Panthers and Vikings. Jones’ final run on Sunday against the Bears, a 9-yard scamper around the left edge for a first down with the Bears out of timeouts, sealed the game. — Schneidman
Bears can’t stop dreaded streak
The Packers’ streak in the rivalry continued, and with another great quarterback. From Brett Favre to Rodgers, and now Love. He picked apart what had been one of the best defenses in football over the past two months. This offseason was already going to be focused on what to do at quarterback, but GM Ryan Poles got an up close look at Love, and what a quarterback making plays like him can do to even a good defense. The Bears end their season with a 7-10 record, and haven’t beat the Packers since 2018. — Kevin Fishbain, Bears beat writer
Disappointing end for Seahawks
This will be the fourth time the Seahawks have missed the playoffs since Pete Carroll became the coach in 2010 (2011, 2017, 2021). Missing the playoffs is an extremely disappointing result for Seattle, which entered this season with hopes of contending for a championship. In addition to falling short of that goal, the Seahawks weren’t even contenders to win the NFC West. Although everything came down to the final minutes of Week 18, it’s hard to put a positive spin on this season for the Seahawks. It’s likely that drastic changes will be made this offseason as a result. — Michael-Shawn Dugar, Seahawks beat writer
GO DEEPER
Bears couldn't stop Jordan Love and didn't have the quarterback who could outplay him
Required reading
(Photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)