NFL Saturday Night: Bears rally past Packers; Eagles clinch NFC East
Bears' DJ Moore makes the game-winning catch with Green Bay's Keisean Nixon draped all over him Saturday night in Chicago. (AP photo)
CHICAGO (AP) — Caleb Williams threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore in overtime, and the Chicago Bears overcame a 10-point deficit late in the fourth quarter Saturday night for a 22-16 win over the Green Bay Packers, who lost quarterback Jordan Love to a concussion.
The Bears (11-4) extended their lead in the NFC North to 1 1/2 games over the Packers (9-5-1) with two left to play and got some payback for a loss at Lambeau Field two weeks earlier. It was Chicago’s sixth win this season after trailing in the final two minutes and its most incredible — Green Bay had a win probability of 99%.
Chicago moved closer to its first trip to the postseason since 2020 with a rare victory in the NFL’s oldest rivalry. Counting the playoffs, the Bears are 7-30 against Green Bay since 2008. They would clinch a playoff berth if old nemesis Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Cairo Santos kicked a 43-yard field goal that got Chicago within 16-9 with 1:59 remaining. The Bears had no choice but to try an onside kick, and Josh Blackwell recovered it.
The Bears tied it with 24 seconds left when Williams beat an all-out blitz on fourth down and lofted a pass to a wide-open Jahdae Walker in the right corner of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown. Coach Ben Johnson opted to have Santos kick the tying extra point rather than go for the 2-point conversion.
In overtime, the Packers had fourth-and-1 at the Chicago 36 when backup quarterback Malik Willis fumbled the snap. Chicago took over at the 36 and, four plays later, Moore hauled in the winning TD from Williams with Keisean Nixon draped all over him, setting off a wild celebration. Two weeks earlier, Nixon sealed the Packers’ win when he intercepted Williams in the end zone.
Already missing Micah Parsons after the star pass rusher suffered a season-ending knee injury in a loss at Denver last week, the Packers had to get by without Love, who took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Chicago’s Austin Booker in the second quarter. Love jogged to the medical tent and then headed to the locker room.
EAGLES 29, COMMANDERS 18
The Philadelphia accomplished something that hadn’t happened in two decades: win a second consecutive NFC East title.
“Gets better and better,” running back Saquon Barkley said as he walked through the scene Saturday night, “each time.”
This was not a terrific performance by the reigning Super Bowl champions, from a fumble on the opening kickoff to a pair of penalties on the tush push to three wide-left field-goal tries to a halftime deficit. Still, Barkley, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles eventually got going in the right direction
The game included a late brawl when Barkley tacked on a 2-point conversion that increased the Eagles’ lead to 19 points before the Commanders scored a meaningless TD.
Starting plays under center far more frequently than he did earlier in the season, Hurts completed 22 of 30 throws — with 15 of those caught by A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith — for 185 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He connected with Smith from 5 yards out in the first half and with Dallas Goedert from 15 in the third quarter to cap a 17-play, 83-yard, 10 1/2-minute drive.


