The Green Bay Packers suffered a huge loss on Saturday night. Green Bay lost 22-16 against Chicago in an overtime thriller that had huge implications on the NFC North divisional race. The Bears improved to 11-4 with the win and are in the driver's seat in the division headed into Week 17. Meanwhile, the Packers fell to 9-5-1 but still have a good shot at making the playoffs. But they now have no margin for error.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur did not hold back when talking about the significance of his team's most recent defeat. He wants his team to feel the pain of this loss to help motivate them over the next two weeks.
“It should hurt because these guys, all of us, we put a lot into this thing and we had opportunities,” LaFleur said after the game per the Associated Press. “You’re up two scores late in the game and unfortunately, it flipped pretty quick.”
Packers fans have to feel some hope about leading for most of the game. But that's also what makes this loss all the more disappointing, especially with the playoffs starting in just a few weeks.
So what went wrong for the Packers in Week 16? And do they still have a chance in the NFC North despite losing to the Bears?
Below we will explore which Packers players are most to blame for Saturday's crushing loss to the Bears.
Jordan Love's concussion put a cap on Green Bay's offense
To be clear, I'm not blaming Jordan Love for getting injured. But I am saying that his injury had a major impact on this game.
Love suffered a concussion during the second quarter against the Bears. He took a helmet-to-helmet shot from Austin Booker before jogging off to the blue medical tent. Love went back to the locker room after leaving the medical tent and did not return for the rest of the game.
Love finished the game 8-of-13 passing for 77 yards. He also had two carries for seven yards.
The Packers put in backup Malik Willis to fill in for Love, and he played okay. Willis went 9-of-11 for 121 passing yards and a touchdown. He also contributed 10 carries for 44 rushing yards.
Willis deserves some credit for playing a clean game and keeping Green Bay in until the very end. But in fairness, Willis was responsible for one of the Packers' biggest errors of the game.
The backup quarterback fumbled the snap on a huge fourth-and-one play during overtime. Green Bay had the ball at the Chicago 36-yard line, but the fumbled snap resulted in a turnover on downs.
The Bears got the ball back and, just a few plays later, Caleb Williams threw the game-winning touchdown pass to DJ Moore.
Hopefully Love can get through concussion protocol as soon as possible. Otherwise the Packers could be in some danger.
Did Josh Jacobs get benched for performance reasons?
Green Bay's running game kept them in the game after Love's concussion. But the running game also had a few warts too.
Surprisingly, it was starter Josh Jacobs who did not rise to the occasion. The veteran running back played through a knee injury against the Bears and it showed.
Jacobs did not have a great day running, only managing 36 rushing yards on 12 attempts. But that's the worst of it.
Jacobs had an ugly fumble inside the five-yard line during the third quarter that changed the trajectory of this game. Chicago fell on the ball and kept Green Bay from scoring points on the drive.
Perhaps more worrying was the fact that Jacobs did not return to the game. Instead, Green Bay turned to Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks for the remainder at running back.
Jacobs' knee injury makes it reasonable to hold him. But LaFleur did not seem to know if Jacobs was hurt when talking with reporters after the game.
That suggests that Jacobs was actually benched for poor performance. This is something that Packers fans do not want to see.
If Jacobs continues to struggle this season, it will be one more hurdle for the Packers to overcome.
Packers pass rush did not look the same without Micah Parsons
The Packers knew it would hurt losing Micah Parsons to a season-ending ACL injury last week. But they might not have expected their defense to miss him this badly.
Green Bay did not manage a single sack on Caleb Williams without Parsons. And they had plenty of opportunities to put Williams on the ground.
Chicago passed the ball 34 times on Saturday, compared to 26 rushing attempts. The Packers put some pressure on Williams at times, but he was always able to evade the rush. In that sense, the Packers did the best they could.
But fans should be concerned about how their defense looked without their best player.
The Packers need someone else on their defense to step up as a pass rusher for the rest of the season.
If they cannot put pressure on the opposing quarterback, then Green Bay risks falling behind in every single game during the playoffs.
