Upon Further Review: Rest up! Packers cruise into postseason after win over Bears
Without a doubt, the Green Bay Packers are the best team in the NFC.
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Green Bay earned the top seed — and more importantly, the conference’s only first-round bye — with a 35-16 win over the Chicago Bears to finish off the regular season.
For the second straight campaign under head coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers finished with a 13-3 record. But this 13-win season feels different. Instead of sneaking away with close, nail-biter wins like last year, the Packers have dominated opponents on both sides of the ball in 2020. The Bears were no exception Sunday afternoon.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense sliced and diced its way down Soldier Field, racking up 30+ points for the 12th time this season and securing the title as the NFL’s top-scoring offense. While the Packers scored touchdowns on all four trips to the red zone, Chicago settled for three field goals from inside 30 yards. That was the difference.
Here’s a recap of Sunday’s game:
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Player of the game? How about Most Valuable Player? Rodgers all but locked up the 2020 MVP award with another dominant performance, throwing for 240 yards with four touchdowns and no picks on 19-of-24 passing. Rodgers set new career bests in touchdown passes (48) and completion percentage (70.7%) and logged a 121.5 passer rating, his best mark since posting a 122.5 rating in 2011 — his first MVP campaign. By throwing for four touchdown passes in each of his final three 2020 games, Rodgers left no doubts. He’s the MVP.
It’s getting hard to keep up with all these @packers plays 😭😅@AaronRodgers12 finds @tae15adams for another TD!!
Via @packers
— FOX Sports Wisconsin (@fswisconsin) January 4, 2021
DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME
Green Bay linebacker Christian Kirksey was all over the field, racking up seven tackles, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit and a sack. Safety Adrian Amos also had a solid game against his former team, logging nine tackles with one pass deflection and one interception — his second of the season.
THAT MOMENT
Chicago was brutal on third downs, moving the chains on just six of 15 attempts (40%). However, the Bears converted their first four attempts on fourth downs. Early in the fourth quarter, Chicago faced a fourth-and-1 from Green Bay’s 25-yard line. Trailing 21-16, a conversion capped off with a touchdown would give the Bears the lead. Mitchell Trubisky rolled right and fired a pass to Allen Robinson, his favorite target, but Packers cornerback Chandon Sullivan batted it down. The Bears drive, which started on their own 24-yard line and lasted over eight minutes, was over. On the ensuing possession, the Packers rolled 76 yards down the field the other way for a score to make it 28-16. Ball game.
THIS NUMBER
509 – As we mentioned above, the Packers were the NFL’s top-scoring offense this season with 509 points – an average of 31.8 per game. It’s the second-highest scoring unit in franchise history, trailing just the 2011 Packers, who racked up 560 total points en route to a 15-1 finish. Green Bay also registered 13+ wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1996-97, when Brett Favre led the green and gold to consecutive Super Bowl appearances.
As the @Bucks would say…let it fly.
Via @NFL pic.twitter.com/DtcNmPvQGL
— FOX Sports Wisconsin (@fswisconsin) January 3, 2021
THEY SAID IT
“Those guys are just the best at what they do. In my opinion, it’s not even close. Those guys are two special Hall of Fame players who consistently show up and perform at a really high level for us.” — head coach Matt LaFleur on the connection between Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams
“The MVP should be locked up. There’s nothing else to really talk about. It’s pretty clear to me who the MVP of this season is. It’s gonna be a person who has won a couple of them before.” — wide receiver Davante Adams on Aaron Rodgers’ MVP campaign
WHAT’S NEXT
Green Bay will get to rest for one week as the top seed in the NFC. The Packers will face the lowest seed to advance past wild-card weekend, which is either the No. 7 seed Bears, sixth-seeded Los Angeles Rams or the winner of the clash between the Washington Football Team and Tampa Bay.
