The Packers elevated LB Michael Barrett and Safety Omar Brown from the practice squad.  The team earlier placed CB Jaire Alexander on Injured Reserve.  LB Quay Walker, Safeties Evan Williams and Zayne Anderson, DE Brenton Cox, WR Romeo Doubs, and OT Andre Dillard were inactive.  Michael Barrett did not play.

OFFENSIVE LINE:

The offensive line's run blocking was good.  The running backs gained 176 yards on 28 carries, a 6.32-yard average.  Melton and Reed had 4 carries for 4 yards, while Willis carried once for 3 yards.  Those jet sweeps are pretty when they work, but it has been a while since they have worked.  The line had an average day in pass protection.  The Bears had 7 quarterback hits and 3 sacks.  Those numbers are about the same as last week against the Vikings.  A free safety, a weak side linebacker, and a defensive end had 3 of the quarterback hits, with the other 4 by defensive tackles.

Sean Rhyan played the 65 snaps he needed to earn a Proven Performance Escalator, which is worth $1.92M in extra base pay in 2025.  With the 65 snaps, Rhyan managed to play almost exactly 35% of the teams offensive snaps over his first 3 seasons.  Several other players have earned the PPE enhancement for 2025: Zach Tom, Rasheed Jenkins, Kingsley Enagbare, and Romeo Doubs.  They also will earn PPE enhancements and all of them seem like locks to make the team (the enhancement is not guaranteed).  Overthecap has not updated their site, waiting until all the results are in.  OTC says the Packers have $62M in cap space, but with the 5 PPE enhancements, reader should just deduct about $10M from the number (5 x $1.92M). 

QUARTERBACKS:

Love completed 7 of 12 passes (58.33%) for 69 yards.  He finished with a 74.4 passer rating.  Throwing to the open man makes sense, but if the team lacks elite receivers, then the quarterback better have very good protection so he can get through all of his progressions.  The offense risks being disjointed as the ball does not come out in rhythm to the first option as often.  Sometimes Love looks like an earnest student trying to remember all of the information the coaches tried to impart of the course of the priort tree days.   

Willis, who came on in relief of Love after an elbow injury, completed 10 of 13 (76.92) for 136 yards (10.46/attempt).  Willis had a 109.8 passer rating, which was helped by a coupe of things: Reed caught a wobbly 31-yard pass when Willis' throwing arm was hit during the play, and some receiver went up and made plays on some of Willis' passes.  Specifically, Kraft and Heath high-pointed some passes from Willis for gains of 20 and 41 yards.  While I am giving credit to the receivers, I like that Willis let those two passes rip because he put them in good spots that let his teammates help the offense.  Neither throw was turnover worthy.  Willis does have to have more awareness in the pocket and a better internal clock.  Willis did not see Byard coming off the corner unblocked for what seemed like an eternity.  Willis took a crushing hit and fumbled.  There was another play where he got outside the tackle box and should have just thrown the ball away but decided to take another look downfield instead and got tackled behind the line of scrimmage, despite if being first down.  Neither quarterback threw for a touchdown or had an interception.  There was a play early with Willis at quarterback and Love split wide.  

RUNNING BACKS:

Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks once again looked good, and yet Josh Jacobs still managed to shine as the special back that he is.  Jabos gained 44 yards on just 6 carries for a 7.33-yard average and a touchdown on a really fine run.  Wilson gained 73 yards on 14 carries (5.21) and Brooks gained 59 yards on 8 carries (7.37).  Jacobs caught one pass for 2 yards, while Wilson caught his only target for a loss of 2.  Brooks had no receptions on 1 target.

TIGHT ENDS:

Kraft caught 4 of his 7 targets for 36 yards with a long of 20.  He threw some nice blocks but missed a couple.  Kraft's blocking nonetheless has really improved from his rookie year.  Musgrave made a beautiful sliding catch for 19 yards on his only target.  Sims and Fitzpatrick had no targets, the same as last week and the week before.  It seems like Kraft was often targeted while he was close to the line of scrimmage and in traffic.  Fitzpatrick was held egregiously on the punt that the Bears returned for a touchdown.  He was one of the few players who had a chance to thrust a spoke in that wheel.

WIDE RECEIVERS:

Heath caught 3 of his 5 targets for 53 yards with a long of 41.  Wicks caught 5 of 6 targets for 49 with a long of 16. Reed caught both of his targets for 48 yards, with a long of 31.  Reed had a fumble after one of his catches that was a turnover.  It was a classic punch-out by the defender.  Reed only has 2 fumbles, but he has some muffs on punts and he had dropped 9 pass according to Pro Football Reference, a charitable assessment in my view.  Watson dropped his only target.  He left the game after just 10 snaps when his knee gave out in a non-contact situation.  It looked like he stumbled on a section of the field.  Non-contact injuries are often bad - fingers crossed.

This isn't the most dynamic group of wide receivers; it may be that I overestimated the room.  I like Heath's toughness, his blocking and he is plays special teams.  Melton plays a lot of special teams.  He had opportunities this year with injuries and suspensions.   Melton played 251 snaps this year, a big increase over the 139 he played last year.  Yet, he has just 8 receptions for 91 receiving yards after putting up 218 yards on 16 receptions in just 139 snaps last year.  His passer rating when targeted this year is 39.0.  Watson managed 555 snaps this year and only 9 more receiving yards than his rookie season.  Doubs has proved his value but did not make the jump fans hoped for.  Reed finished with 857 yards this season.  Wicks had 166 fewer receiving yards despite playing 128 more snaps and getting 12 more targets than last year.  Wicks also had 9 drops, according to PFR, the same number as Reed.  The Packers likely will lead the NFL in drops, not to mention not catching the tough but catchable pass attempts.  The Packers no longer have the diva wide receiver, true, but they also lack the go-to clutch player.

DEFENSIVE TACKLES:

Brooks had 4 tackles (3 solo) including a tackle for loss.  Slaton had 3 tackles (2 solo) and a tackle for loss.  He penetrated into the backfield early in the game.  Wooden had 3 tackles (2 solo).  Clark had 2 tackles (1 solo). Wyatt had 1 solo tackle. The Bears gained 83 yards on 26 carries for a 3.19-yard average with a long of 14.   

The Bears only gained 224 yards on offense.  They had to punt 6 times.  The Packers stopped them on 8 of their 11 possessions, the 6 punts, a fumble and an interception.  One of their touchdown drives was just 3 plays for 21 yards.  The Bears did convert 8 of 15 third and fourth down opportunities. 

DEFENSIVE ENDS:

Gary had 3 tackles (2 solo) with an early sack and a quarterback hit.  Van Ness had 2 tackles (1 solo).  Mosby had 2 assisted tackles.  The record shows no quarterback hits for Mosby because trying to jump on the quarterback's back is not exactly textbook form. Enagbare had no statistics other than the horse collar tackle that turned a negative play on the Bears game-winning drive into a personal foul and a first down.  Enagbare may have had the most disappointing season of all the Packers.  

The Packers had a mere 2 quarterback hits and 1 sack, which came very early in the game.  If Caleb Williams sometimes looked frazzled, it was mostly pressure he put on himself.  Williams finished 21 of 29 (72.41%) for 148 yards (5.10 yards per attempt) and a 95.2 passer rating.  Williams did not do a lot, but he was reasonably efficient.  The Packers need more pressure against playoff teams.  Note that Gary only played 28 snaps.  It looks to me like the Packers tried to win this game but insisted on protecting their stars as much as possilbe while eeking out a win.  Gary has had 5 sacks in his last 8 games after getting only 2.5 sacks in his first 9 games.  He (or someone) need to catch fire in the playoffs.   

LINEBACKERS:

Edgerrin Cooper 7 tackles (4 solo) tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 quarterback hit, multiple pressures and a fumble recovery (McKi8nney's).  Eric Wilson had 5 tackles (1 solo).  McDuffie had 3 assisted tackles.  Hopper no statistics.  RB Roschon Johnson caught all 5 of his targets but for only 15 yards.  Kmet caught 2 passes for 3 yards and De'andre Swift had no receptions on 2 targets.  The opponents TEs and RBs did not do much harm. 

DEFENSIVE BACKS:

Olapado got 50 snaps after playing just 18 snaps in the first 16 weeks.  He had 4 tackles (1 solo).  Nixon had 6 tackles (5 solo) and 2 tackles for loss.  Nixon always plays hard and is a physical presence.  He is always active, and on balance he has had a good year, especially as a blitzer.  Bullard had 5 tackles (2 solo) with a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery.  He has got the tackling down.  McKinney had 4 tadckles (3 solo) and his 8th interception.  He did fumble but the Packers recovered it.  What a great free agent signing.  Valentine had 3 tackles (2 solo) and he forced a fumble.  Stokes had 1 solo tackle in his 5 snaps.

DJ Moore is the only receiver who hurt the Packers.  Odunze caught 2 passes for 18 yards, though he had a 15 yard reception on their last drive.  Moore caught 9 of his 10 targets for 86 yards and a touchdown, with a long of 32.  He also caught the 18-yard pass to set up their winning field goal.  Valentine played pretty soft coverage (and the Packers used a 3-man rush) on the play.  [The Bears tripled blocked Kenny Clark and single blocked Enagbare and (I think) Gary on the completion to Moore.]  Valentine tackled Moore immediately, but I wonder if he was supposed to give up the middle and let Moore run out the clock?  Surely Moore would have just given himself up so the Bears could spike the ball in time.    

SPECIAL TEAMS:

McManus made all 3 of his field goals, including a go-ahead 55-yarder late field goal and his only field goal and both of his extra points.  Whelan punted 3 times a 44.3-yard gross average with one inside the 20.  The punt coverage team had an abject failure when the Bears used a ruse to make the coverage guys think the punt was to the right when it was to the left, leading to a 94-yard touchdown return.

RB: 1.00

TE: 1.40 (big number)

WR: 2.58

DT:  1.93

DE:  1.98

LB:  2.16

DB:  4.92 (big number)

Photo courtesy of Dan Powers, USA Today Network.