Three Overreactions After Packers Beat Bears, Officials

Whatever questions that Jordan Love needed to answer this season have been answered emphatically. After Sunday’s three-touchdown performance, he’s up to fourth in passer rating.

With Love having proven he’s a franchise quarterback and counterpart Caleb Williams on the rise, the Packers and Bears have stability, and potential greatness, at the most important position in sports. Because of that, the rivalry has been renewed and the next chapters are going to be historic.

“It meant a lot to everybody,” Love said of winning the game. “Obviously, we’ve all known the comments that were out there so it is what it is. This is a game that means a lot to everybody. It’s an NFC North matchup. Obviously, Bears were No. 1 seed. So, it’s a huge game. We’ll see these guys here in a couple weeks again.”

2. Jordan Love Does It Again

This could practically be a copy-and-paste segment.

Big-time quarterbacks lead big-time drives in big-time games. Jordan Love did it again.

On Sunday, the Bears had just driven to the game-tying touchdown. Green Bay’s defense was reeling, so Love needed to deliver a clutch drive – preferably for a touchdown.

When he stepped in the huddle, with the offense starting at the 35 with 8 minutes to play, the message was simple.

“I just said let’s go win it. This is all we got right here, so let’s just go win it,” Love said. “I think everybody knows what time it is. They know what this drive means and what we got to go out there and do. It’s one of those things, what’s understood doesn’t have to be explained.”

The Packers’ season success doesn’t have to be explained. They are 9-3-1. Five of the wins have come on fourth-quarter comebacks (four) or game-winning drives (four) directed by Love. While Josh Jacobs did the heavy lifting against the Bears, Love completed both pass attempts, including an 18-yard strike to Jayden Reed that put the ball on Chicago’s 36.

Only next week’s quarterback, Denver’s Bo Nix (six), as well as the Bears’ Caleb Williams and the Panthers’ Bryce Young (five apiece) have directed more game-winning drives.

The defense bent but didn’t break, with Keisean Nixon’s interception preventing the Bears from scoring a touchdown and potentially adding the winning two-point conversion.

“Really good players,” coach Matt LaFleur said when asked about the reason for the team’s late-game success. “That’s what you’ve got to have in this league. It’s hard to win games without great players. And we’re fortunate we’ve got [a lot of them].

“What’s so great about our guys is, we feel like we have a lot of great players, but as great of players as they are, the character in that locker room, I think, is second to none. I love that group, I love this team, and we’re just going to continue to battle.”

The team’s fourth-quarter prowess stands in contrast to the 2023 season, when Love as a first-year starter continually came up short in key moments – including a 19-17 loss at Denver in which his final drive failed to get into field-goal range.

Green Bay’s four-game winning streak has been bookended by Love leading game-winning drives against the Giants and Bears and doesn’t include his clutch fourth-down conversion to clinch the win last week at Detroit.

“It’s just guys making plays,” Love said. “It’s leaning on each other, having confidence. We practice situations (like) 2-minute every day in practice, and I think that’s an area that we’ve improved on a lot.

“But I think it’s just the mindset. We’ve had a couple drives where we went down there and done what we needed to do, and I think that just keeps building confidence. Everybody in that huddle, nobody blinks, and we know what we need to go accomplish.”

3. NFL Officiating Stinks

Bad calls happen in every game. The outcome at Detroit a couple weeks ago might have been different had Packers coach Matt LaFleur not been granted a timeout, which erased a fourth-and-goal false start by Anthony Belton.

The officiating, however, was egregious against the Packers on Sunday.

A catch and fumble by Bears tight end Colston Loveland on the opening series was changed from a 17-yard catch (but no fumble) into an incompletion. A diving 34-yard catch by Packers tight end Luke Musgrave on the ensuing possession was overturned when the replay official somehow found indisputable evidence that Musgrave failed to control the ball.  

Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon was flagged for unnecessary roughness in the second quarter after Bears receiver Luther Burden had his hand on Nixon’s throat.

“I thought he got grabbed and I thought that was a penalty but … I’m not an official,” LaFleur said.

The catch/no-catch plays were bang-bang plays. The Nixon penalty was the classic case of the instigator not getting caught.

Meanwhile, referee Craig Wrolstad continually turned a blind eye to Packers defensive end Micah Parsons being held by Bears blockers. During the Bears’ final drive, Caleb Williams hit Devin Duvernay for 24 yards to the Packers’ 23 at the 2-minute warning.

As The Beer Barrel Polka played during the break, the Lambeau Field videoboard showed Parsons being held on the play by right tackle Darnell Wright again and again and again as LaFleur lobbied for a call.

“I’m not going to get into what we were talking about,” LaFleur said. “Officials, I don’t think that their jobs are easy by any stretch. I think it is a difficult job but I guess I don’t know what holding is anymore because I thought that was pretty clear – clear and obvious hold – but I guess I don’t know what that means.”

In the NBA, the great players get all the calls. In the NFL, Parsons gets none. Green Bay’s blockers are guilty of 19 holding penalties. Green Bay’s defenders have drawn only 13.

“I’m just never on the right end of the stick it seems like,” Parsons said.

Wrolstad’s crew entered the game ranked in the middle of the officiating pack in penalties. He had called 26 holding penalties, or 2.17 per game, but perhaps his hands were too cold to reach for the flag as the Bears’ offensive tackles on multiple occasions had an arm wrapped around Parsons’ neck to prevent him from turning the corner.

Wright had been guilty of four offensive holding penalties this season, second-most in the league, according to NFL Penalties. He was flagged once against Green Bay’s Rashan Gary.

“Yeah, I’m immune,” Parsons said. “I’ve just got to keep fighting through. That’s been the definition of my career, just always fighting through whatever. I’m a smaller guy, and I think they realize that and I’ve got an advantage on the defensive side and I play with great leverage and I’m able to get under people’s arms.

“The rulebook is you’ve got to be in the chest area and I’m just not getting grabbed in the chest area. But, like I said, there’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve just got to keep fighting through.”

Ultimately, thanks to Nixon’s clinching interception, the Packers survived a ferocious comeback by the Bears and some questionable officiating to take first place in the NFC North. 

“F*** ’em,” Nixon said of a couple penalties. “I’ll be all right. And I’ll take that pick any day.”