So the big question entering the game against the Bears was whether the Packers would cave-in to Aaron Rodgers’ insistence that he was going to play with two injuries whether the team liked in or not—or whether the Packers would humor Rodgers for a half, and then replace him with Jordan Love. The general feeling among football commentators was that nobody should be kidding themselves about the Packers’ chances of making the playoffs, and just see what you got in Love.
It’s a lost season regardless of what Rodgers does the rest of the season if he stays in, but I think most Packer fans are “curious”—rather than have any great expectations—about what Love can do, and finding out what that is would make it not such a “lost” season. What we saw against the Eagles last week may have just been the Eagles’ defense relaxing, and fool’s gold. But what the hell? You can be “entertained” in a lot of ways, just like you can by an awful B-movie; at least it’s good for laughs.
It seemed that starting Rodgers in the first half against the Bears to see what happens was the plan, and if the Packers quickly tanked in would come Love. This was likely the scenario when the Packers fell behind 16-3 with 17 seconds left in the first half, facing a fourth-and-4 on the Bears 14-yard-line; but who would have thunk-it: Rodgers actually managed to complete a short pass to Christian Watson, who scored a touchdown for a fourth consecutive game to make it 16-10 at halftime. Well, now we have to give Rodgers a chance to redeem himself after losing 7 out of 8 games.
After opening the second half with two three-and-outs and falling behind 19-10 heading into the fourth quarter, a 38-yard pass interference call and a 21-yard run by A.J. Dillon miraculously put the Packers back to within striking distance, 19-17. The Bears then failed to take advantage of a 49-yard pass from Justin Fields to N’Keal Harry deep into Packer territory, with the defense holding and forcing a blocked field goal attempt. What followed was Rodgers managing to game manage the Packers to a Mason Crosby field goal to take the lead.
That was followed by Fields’ throwing an interception, and in a throw-away play, Watson went end-around to run 46-yards to show-off his speed again and fly like Superman into the end zone:
A two-point conversion put the game away at 28-19 with a minute to go. Fields threw another pick, which only showed that under pressure he is mistake-prone, a lot of them. Take away those interceptions, he had much better passing numbers than Rodgers, who seems to have a tough time these days throwing for 200-yards in a game; Rodgers complaining about one missed catch shouldn't excuse all the bad passes he's thrown. The Packers’ defense wasn’t “stellar,” but three turnovers, including a fumble recovery, and the blocked field goal gave the Packers a win and feeling better going into the bye.
So what does this win mean against a team that the Packers have “owned” for the past 30 years? Well, for one thing it means that life for Rodgers has been extended for at least another game. It certainly helped that the Bears defensive front managed exactly zero sacks and zero quarterback hits in this game, so Rodgers has at least emerged from the game without worsening his injuries, and he has two weeks to recover now. That is certainly a good thing for him; whether or not it is a “good” thing for the team in attempting to determine an uncertain future is another thing.
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