'You can't give him that many opportunities' — Packers on the 'other side' of Bears rivalry

I've covered Packers losses before — including a playoff loss to the Giants in 2012 after a 15-1 regular season, and the gut-wrenching overtime loss to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game in 2020 when Brandon Bostick stuck around to answer every question after botching an onside kick that could have clinched a berth in the Super Bowl. But I've never seen a Packers locker room clear out like Saturday night at Soldier Field. After coach Matt LaFleur talked to reporters in the interview room for 10 minutes, only a smattering of players remained in the locker room.

The Bears inflicted some pain Saturday night. They've beaten the Packers before but never have the Packers truly felt the pain they've given the Bears and their fans so often during the Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers eras. It was a very familiar scene to me — just not in that locker room at Soldier Field. The Bears are far from even, but Saturday night's thrilling 31-27 victory over the Packers in a wild-card playoff game — after trailing 21-3 at halftime – was a start.

Here's the story I filed for the Sun-Times:

Like many of his teammates, Packers safety Evan Williams was a little stunned after the Bears’ rallied with 25 fourth-quarter points for a 31-27 victory in their wild-card playoff game Saturday night at Soldier Field. But not necessarily surprised. As even the Packers know by now, it’s what the Bears do. Ben Johnson’s Bears, anyway.

“We came in at halftime, we know they’ve made a season out of comeback victories and being down in the first half and finding a way to come back,” Williams said in a quickly vacated Packers locker room. “We were just talking about upholding the standard — there cannot be any falloff from first to second half.

“We put a good foot forward in the third quarter. We’ve just to to find a way to finish. “[Credit] to those guys for finding a way. That’s the beauty of football. Sometimes you’re on the other side of it, and it stinks for sure. But you’ve got to give them credit.” 

The Packers have had a voodoo curse on the Bears through most of the Aaron Rodgers era and into the Jordan Love era. But this time, it was the Bears and Caleb Williams who willed themselves to an unlikely victory and left the Packers lamenting a frustrating loss in disbelief, wondering what went wrong and rationalizing the fickleness of football — with their coach answering post-game questions about his future. The Packers knew what might be coming if they gave the Bears a chance, and still couldn’t avoid it. 

“Frustrated,” defensive end Rashan Gary said. “Just got to find a way to get off the field. We had them where we wanted. Just got to find a way to finish.” 

“Obviously this one is gonna hurt for a really, really long time,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “When you’re in complete control of the game and the script gets flipped in the second half [like that]. And it was self-inflicted things. Give credit to them. We knew they were a team that could come back and fight. They’ve proven it all season long. We had opportunities to put them away and we didn’t get it done.” 

This isn’t the first Packers team to get lulled to sleep by a listless Bears offense and porous Bears defense to open a game. But most of those other teams have let up and gotten away with it. This one paid a dear price — playoff elimination and a dreary offseason of regret — because the Bears not only have fight, they have a quarterback who can be like Rodgers even if he isn’t Rodgers. 

Caleb Williams was out of sync throughout the first half and still struggling to find a groove into the third quarter when the Packers gave him one chance too many. Williams had a 41.7 passer rating (177 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions) through three quarters, as the Bears trailed 21-6. He completed 10 of 21 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns — eight yards to Olamide Zaccheaus and 25 yards to DJ Moore for a 31-27 lead with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter. 

“He’s a great player. He’s proven it time and time again,” LaFleur said. “You just can’t give him that many opportunities. That’s collectively — offense, special teams and on defense. You’ve got to find a way to put him away.” 

The fourth-quarter rally seemed to sneak up on the Packers. They punted on all three possessions in the third quarter, yet the Bears could only manage a 51-yard field goal by Cairo Santos to cut the lead to 21-9 with 13:29 left in the fourth quarter. 

But after a fourth consecutive second-half punt,  the Bears responded with a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-16 with 10:08 left — and that’s the spark Williams needed to ignite his uncanny relentlessness and fortitude. 

It was never more evident on fourth-and-eight from the Bears 43 with 5:37 left and the Packers leading 27-16. Williams, whose trademark elusiveness had been contained for much of the game, was flushed out of the pocket, chased by a defender and desperately threw downfield and somehow connected with Rome Odunze for a 27-yard gain. Five plays later, Williams threw the eight-yard touchdown pass to Zaccheaus, and the comeback was fully fueled. 

“He’s a heluva player,” Gary said. “And as you see, the team goes as he goes. So you’ve got to stop that engine, which is him. But he’s a great player, extending plays and making plays for his team.” 

“He’s a guy that’s tough to contain,” LaFleur said when asked about the fourth-and-eight play. “The whole plan was to try to especially eliminate his ability to go right — that’s what he likes to do. But he made a heckuva a play. A heckuva throw.” 

It yet another turnabout, it was LaFleur deflecting questions about his future after losing to the Bears. LaFleur, who is 76-40-1 (the fourth-highest winning percentage among active NFL coaches) with six playoff appearances and two NFC championship game losses, has one year remaining on his contract. 

“With all due respect to your question, now is not the time for that,” LaFleur said. “Im just hurting for these guys. I can only think about just what just happened, and there will be time for that.”

---