GREEN BAY – Double-digit lead, gone. Tie game, eight minutes left.
The Packers had struggled through a pair of three-and-outs among their three possessions in the second half, and now the game was on the line.
"I just said, 'Let's go win it,' know what I mean? This is all we got right here," QB Jordan Love said prior to driving the offense 65 yards for what turned out to be the winning score in Sunday's 28-21 victory over the Bears.
"I think everybody knows what time it is. They know what this drive means and what we gotta go out there and do. It's one of those things, what's understood doesn't have to be explained. Everybody has that mindset that we've gotta go answer."
The Packers did in what's become a hallmark of their current four-game winning streak – scoring when needed. They did it late to pull out a tough road game against the Giants, kept the Lions at bay with clutch scoring drives on Thanksgiving, and got the lead against the Bears to give the defense a shot at redemption after a tough second half.
It was the Packers' fourth TD drive of the game after an interception on the first possession, as Love once again showcased his ability to rebound from a miscue.
It's one of his many strong qualities at the game's toughest position, and fashioning a 120-plus passer rating with an INT on the ledger isn't easy.
The interception came right after a 14-yard sack put Love in third-and-forever on the opening drive, and he admittedly forced one down the middle into harm's way. C.J. Gardner-Johnson got the Bears' league-leading 18th interception of the season, but Green Bay's defense turned it into no-harm, no-foul with a three-and-out in Packers territory that kept the game scoreless.
From there? All Love did was complete 13 passes for 211 yards and three TDs after the first drive, a 139.8 passer rating following the INT.
"It's something that was a bad decision … and it's all about overcoming that," Love said. "We put our defense in a tough spot and they were able to overcome that.
"For us, it's just about moving on and playing that next play."
In this win the defense did the same, holding on as the Bears tried to grind the Packers down. Chicago ran 32 times for 138 yards – 90 of them in the second half – as the Bears averaged 4.3 yards per carry despite not having a single 10-yard rush all game.
That ball-control style helped protect QB Caleb Williams as they put together three straight scoring drives after managing just three points in the first half.
"They kind of controlled the game in the second half," Head Coach Matt LaFleur said. "But luckily, when they scored, we were able to answer a couple of times."
The offense's last response gave the defense a final chance to hold strong, with Keisean Nixon's interception finally cooling off Chicago's attack.
But the Bears certainly learned how they can beat the Packers, and they won't forget how close they came when these teams meet again in 13 days.
That, on top of the fact that the Packers travel to face 11-win Denver next week while the Bears host the three-win Browns, won't allow any celebrating to last beyond Sunday night.
"Yeah, it is what it is," LaFleur said of what lies ahead. "You've just got to move onto the next game. We've got a great test in front of us going to Denver.
"I don't think you can focus on anything other than that."
The Packers can ill afford to ignore that advice, because the margins are simply too thin. The current half-game lead over the Bears in the NFC North is as precarious as it gets, and nobody's won anything yet.
Yes, first place in early December with a 4-0 division record feels pretty good, but it must be another building block in the season's long climb, not the peak.
"It's all about finishing," Love said. "We're here, we've been here before, but we've got to finish it.
"So, it doesn't really mean anything right now but tonight was a huge win, going in the right direction going forward. We've still got a couple more weeks here, so we've got to keep stacking."
