The Chicago Bears flipped a script that had been set for the past 30 years last January. Everybody knew that the Green Bay Packers always won games in the rivalry when it mattered most. You saw it in the 2010 NFC Championship and again in the 2013 season finale with the division on the line. Everybody expected the same outcome when the two teams met in the wild card round of the 2025 playoffs. It certainly unfolded as expected with Green Bay taking a commanding 21-3 lead.
Then things went off the rails. Chicago mounted a second-half comeback, taking advantage of every Packers mistake and scoring 25 points in the 4th quarter to go up 31-27. Green Bay failed to answer in the final seconds, cementing the greatest choke job in the rivalry’s history easily and perhaps the most brutal playoff loss the Packers had suffered since the NFC Championship loss in Seattle 12 years ago. For months, they managed to keep their real feelings about what happened under wraps from the media.
That finally changed when Tyler Dunne of Go Long TD got several coaches on the staff to vent about what happened. Let’s just say they had plenty to say.
“I don’t think we were a soft team,” one coach says, “but there were examples where we weren’t physical enough.”…
…“I don’t think the first half was as good as it seemed and the second half probably wasn’t as bad as it seemed,” one coach on staff says, before pausing. “But it was a shit show. That’s for sure.”…
…“Then, when we were dropping back,” a coach continues, “someone had a catastrophic fuck-up on each play. It was the same plays we were calling. It was just someone freaking out in the moment and making a mistake and it started snowballing. I don’t think we overcame that.”
It is clear the Green Bay Packers still can’t understand what happened.
For literal decades, they were the team that always closed games out when they had the lead in the 4th quarter. It was especially true against the Bears. From 1992 to 2023, Chicago managed only four 4th quarter comebacks to win against the Packers—none in the final 10 seasons of that stretch. Since Caleb Williams came aboard in 2024, the Bears have now done it to them three times in two seasons. That wild card game was by far the most gutwrenching of all. It seemed like something broke that day.
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Since then, the Green Bay Packers have looked nothing like the team they’ve been for many years. They’re 2-2 to start the season, and that is by the skin of their teeth. They had to overcome a 17-3 deficit against the New York Jets and barely survived 17-14 against the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were starting an undrafted rookie quarterback. All of this is happening while injuries keep piling up. Wide receiver Jayden Reed (neck) and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (Achilles) are both done for the season. It feels like Sunday’s game could be make-or-break for them on several levels.
The Packers haven’t felt this way in a long time.
Being mortal. For 30 years, they sat on a mantle above most other NFL teams because they had a Hall of Fame quarterback under center, first with Brett Favre and then Aaron Rodgers. Everybody assumed the good times would continue with Jordan Love at the helm. While the former 1st round pick has played strong football since becoming a starter, it hasn’t been anywhere close to Favre and Rodgers at their peaks. Without that elite umbrella to shield them, the weaknesses on their roster have become much harder to hide.
Unless you play sound, efficient football across the board, you’re going to lose games against good teams. That is what happened to them on that fateful night at Soldier Field. They started making mistakes, the Bears found some momentum, and there was no Canton-bound quarterback to save them, as in years past. For the first time, they had to watch what being truly vulnerable feels like.
