It's uncanny.
The Green Bay Packers continue to get outnumbered statistically yet find ways to win football games. It happened again at sunny and chilly Lambeau Field as the Packers held off the Chicago Bears 21-13 and with help from the Dallas Cowboys who defeated the Los Angeles Rams 44-21, clinched their first playoff appearance in three years.
Matt LaFleur becomes the first rookie head coach in franchise history to lead a Packer team into the post-season,
But back to the numbers. While it appeared the Packers (11-3) outplayed the Bears (7-7), they were outgained 492-292, they were behind in first downs 20-12, they lost the time of possession battle by almost nine minutes and still came out on top in a game that literally came down to the final snap.
After the second Aaron Jones rushing touchdown put Green Bay up 21-3 midway through the third quarter, the Packer offense managed one first down and punted on their final five possessions.
Mitchell Trubisky led Chicago to a field goal drive, then hit Anthony Miller on a 2 yard slant to make it an 8 point game and Green Bay kept giving up the ball in rapid fashion.
With 1 second left on the Green Bay 34 yard line, Trubisky dumped a short pass to Tarik Cohen who covered yards up the middle before lateraling the ball back to Trubisky who flipped it to Jesper Horsted who coughed the ball up and it rolled to the two yard line where Tramon Williams smothered it to end the game.
Just another way to win said LaFleur afterward:
(Audio: Matt LaFleur)
That will be for the NFC North crown at US Bank Stadium. Even with a loss, the Packers can finish with a victory in Detroit to capture the division and be no worse than the number 3 seed.
Aaron Rodgers managed just 203 passing yards but hit Davante Adams on a gutsy 4th and 4 touchdown from the 29 yard line in the opening quarter.
The Green Bay defense allowed only and Eddie Pineiro 30 yard field goal in the first half, limiting Chicago to 115 yards.
The Packers got a season best 45 yard kickoff return from Tyler Ervin after the field goal but came up empty when Rodgers was called for intentional grounding on third and 4 from the 31 and a 4th down pass went incomplete.
Jaire Alexander intercepted a Trubisky shot to the end zone from his own 41 yard line on the final play of the half and in a bit of foreshadowing, tried to lateral the ball the length of the field, tossing it to Adrian Amos who flipped to Kevin King and then finally to Darnell Savage before the half ran out.
Adams pulled down a 34 yard catch on the opening series of the third and after a Rodgers 17 yard scramble, Jones broke a tackle on a 21 yard touchdown run for a 14-3 lead.
On the next series, Jake Kumerow caught a 49 yard pass up the sideline that was challenged by Matt Nagy, claiming Kumerow stepped out of bounds before the catch. The play was upheld and two snaps later, Jones burst through from the 2 for his 17th touchdown of the year, three off the franchise record set by Ahman Green.
That's when the Packer offense dried up and the defense was asked to finish the game.
Dean Lowry made a spectacular interception when Trubisky was hurried and hit by Za'Darius Smith giving Green Bay the ball at the Chicago 33 but a third down sack foiled the series.
With 1:42 left Green Bay couldn't muster a first down setting up Chicago's frantic drive from their 22 to the Packers 34 where the game finally closed.
It's never how, it's how many but this makes 7 of 11 victories by one possession or less for the Packers who have now put themselves into position to return to Lambeau in January after a 7-1 home season.
With the victory, the Packers now lead the all-time series with Bears 99-95-6.
