Bears beat Packers 24-22 on a final-play field goal to end 2 lengthy losing streaks and a 5-12 season

Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune on Jan 5, 2025

Published in Football

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GREEN BAY, Wis. — At long last, the Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers.

Cairo Santos made a 51-yard field goal as time expired Sunday at Lambeau Field to lift the Bears to a 24-22 victory in their season finale. Santos, who had a potential winning field-goal attempt blocked in the previous Bears-Packers meeting in November, raced around the field in celebration after making the kick.

The Bears (5-12) ended an 11-game losing streak in the rivalry with the Packers. It was their first victory in the series since December 2018 and their first win in Green Bay since 2015.

They also broke a 10-game losing streak this season, tied for the franchise’s longest single-season skid with the stretch that ended the 2022 season.

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams engineered the winning drive in the final minute after the Packers pulled ahead 22-21. He completed an 18-yard pass to DJ Moore in the middle of the field to get the Bears to the Green Bay 33-yard line, then spiked the ball with two seconds left to set up Santos’ field goal.

Williams threw for 148 yards and a touchdown.

The Packers played most of the last three quarters without starting quarterback Jordan Love, who injured his elbow. Malik Willis filled in and threw for 136 yards. Emanuel Wilson rushed for 73 yards and a touchdown.

The Packers (11-6) already had made the playoffs, but they were playing to move up in seeding from No. 7 to No. 6 with a win over the Bears and a Dallas Cowboys win over the Washington Commanders. The Commanders won 23-19.

With a 21-19 lead, the Bears had the ball and were trying to pull farther ahead or at least run out the clock. But Moore fumbled and the Packers recovered at the Bears 43-yard line. Four plays later, Packers kicker Brandon McManus made a 55-yard field goal for the lead.

The Bears went up 21-13 when Moore took a short Williams pass and turned it into a 32-yard touchdown. The Bears originally went for a 2-point conversion, which was stopped but negated by a defensive penalty. They then kicked the extra point.

The Packers pulled within 21-19 on Wilson’s 21-yard touchdown run, but Willis’ 2-point conversion pass to try to tie the game was incomplete. Willis had a 41-yard pass to Malik Heath the play before the touchdown.

After leading 14-13 at halftime, the Bears got to the Packers 40 on their first drive of the third quarter, but a trick play went awry. Williams pitched the football to Moore, who pitched to Keenan Allen, who threw an interception to Packers safety Xavier McKinney.

The Bears got the ball back four plays later when safety Kevin Byard slammed into Willis, forcing a fumble. Linebacker T.J. Edwards recovered at the Bears 46, but the offense couldn’t convert the takeaway into points.

Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson left in the second half with a quadriceps injury and didn’t return.

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