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When the Packers prevailed on Sunday afternoon, though, and left Lambeau Field with a 17-9 win, they also clinched a playoff berth few believed was possible four months ago.
Green Bay improved to 9-8, earned the No. 7 seed and will travel to second-seeded Dallas for a wildcard game Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
“Well, that was fun,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said afterwards. “Really happy for our football team. The ability to persevere throughout the course of the season, to prove a lot of people wrong, but it’s really ultimately about their ability to stay together and continue to fight.
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The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Playoff-Clinching Win Over The Chicago Bears
Rob Reischel
Contributor
I report on the Green Bay Packers.
Jan 7, 2024,07:13pm EST
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It’s a perfect 10.
And with it comes a trip to the postseason.
The 208th meeting between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears had everything you could want.
Intensity. Drama. Enormous stakes.
When the Packers prevailed on Sunday afternoon, though, and left Lambeau Field with a 17-9 win, they also clinched a playoff berth few believed was possible four months ago.
Green Bay improved to 9-8, earned the No. 7 seed and will travel to second-seeded Dallas for a wildcard game Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
“Well, that was fun,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said afterwards. “Really happy for our football team. The ability to persevere throughout the course of the season, to prove a lot of people wrong, but it’s really ultimately about their ability to stay together and continue to fight.
“I’ve said it so many times, when you go through adversity and you just keep your head down you keep working and keep sticking together, and you come through it, usually you’re better for it. I think we are a calloused football team.”
To reach the postseason, the Packers had to beat their oldest rival. Not only did Green Bay accomplish that, it continued its remarkable, three-decade domination of the Bears.
The Packers won their 10th straight game against Chicago, which ties the longest winning streak in this rivalry that started more than a century ago. Green Bay also improved to 50-15 against the Bears since the start of the 1992 season and now leads this historic series 107-95-6.
In the process, LaFleur improved to 10-0 against the Bears during his five years as Green Bay’s head coach.
“This was an opportunity that we worked for all season long,” Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love said. “Obviously coming into it, this was a huge game for us. Our last couple of games have really been playoff games. We’ve had to win those. So just with our back against the wall, I’m just proud of this team. We fought, stuck together and put ourselves in position to make a playoff run.”
Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the Packers’ enormous win:
JORDAN LOVE: What a remarkable first season Love just completed as Green Bay’s starter.
Love was brilliant again Sunday night, completing 27-of-32 passes for 316 yards. He also threw two touchdowns, no interceptions and had a passer rating of 128.6.
Love finished his first season as Green Bay’s starter with 32 touchdown passes, which ranked second in the NFL. He also threw for 4,159 yards, just 11 interceptions and finished the year with a 96.1 passer rating.
“He’s just resilient,” LaFleur said of Love. “Those are things you cannot coach. You can sit there and talk about it till you’re blue in the face. However, that’s something he possesses and I admire him for that, his ability to stay even keel, to battle through adversity, to lead our team.
“He did an outstanding job and he’s been doing it. He’s certainly proved himself over the back half of the season. I don’t think there’s many questions left, to be honest with you. He’s just got to continue to do what he’s been doing and show up each and every day with that same mindset, and I think great things are in store for him.”
AARON JONES: The Packers are simply a different team with Jones on the field.
Jones carried 22 times for 111 yards, averaging 5.0 yards per carry. That marked the third straight week Jones eclipsed 100 yards — and the Packers were 3-0 in those contests.
“He’s gone for over 100 yards the past couple of weeks, which is something that’s not easy to do, so it gives our whole offense a big boost when you can run the ball, get other guys in there and then obviously it helps the passing game out,” Love said of Jones. “When you can run the ball the way he runs the ball, it just sets up more opportunities for everybody else. Like I said, he’s just a phenomenal player, you know, love to have him out there.”
DONTAYVION WICKS: The Packers were without speedy Christian Watson. Steady Romeo Doubs then left after the first series with a chest injury.
As has been the case all year, though, someone stepped up and this time it was Dontayvion Wicks.
On the Packers’ second series, Wicks had a 10-yard touchdown reception that gave the Packers a 7-3 lead. Then on Green Bay’s opening possession of the second half, Wicks had a 12-yard score in which he ran an inside slant, hauled in a pass at the 3, then ran through Chicago’s Kyler Gordon and Eddie Jackson on his way to the endzone.
