![](\"https:\/\/content.foxsports.com.au\/fs\/electrode\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
It was the franchise\u2019s first playoff win in 16 years. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no way to put it other than the Packers choked, conceding a whopping 25 points in the fourth quarter alone after taking a 21-3 lead into half-time. <\/p>\n
Packers coach Matt LaFleur\u2019s poor game management – including two wasted timeouts midway through the fourth quarter – has only seen the calls for his sacking grow louder.<\/p>\n
Despite immense talent his side has claimed the No.7 seed for three straight seasons and has not made a Super Bowl since 2010.<\/p>\n
The Bears failed three times on fourth down \u2014 and once in their own territory \u2014 paving the way for the visiting arch-rival Packers to jump out to a 21-3 half-time lead in their wildcard matchup. <\/p>\n
Despite marching down the field to the redzone on their opening possession, Caleb Williams and the Bears were held to a field goal before the Packers took the lead after a nine-play, 85-yard touchdown drive in response. <\/p>\n
Williams then threw an interception on a miscommunication between him and his receiver on 4th & 6 from the Green Bay 40, with Jordan Love leading the Packers on a 10-play, 87-yard touchdown drive to make it 14-3. <\/p>\n
Green Bay forced a Chicago another turnover on downs at the Bears\u2019 32 on their next drive, allowing the visitors to make it 21-3 on the cusp of half-time. <\/p>\n
The Bears made it 0-3 on fourth-down tries with their last possession of the half, and they were fortunate the Packers\u2019 Brandon McManus missed a 55-yard field goal attempt to make it 24-3 as time expired in the second quarter. <\/p>\n
Chicago made it 21-6 with a field goal after stopping Green Bay on its opening drive of the second half, but the Bears failed on fourth down for the fourth time on their second drive of the half to leave fans deflated again. <\/p>\n
Williams threw his second interception of the game on 4th & 1 from the Packers\u2019 six-yard line on yet another busted offensive play. <\/p>\n
But after the Packers\u2019 fourth punt from their fourth possession in the second half, the Bears finally cashed in after two field goals, with running back D\u2019Andre Swift punching in a touchdown from five yards out to make it 21-16 with 10:08 left. <\/p>\n
Desperately needing to make a fifth stop, the Bears struggled to get off the field, courtesy of a 22-yard second-down Love pass to Romeo Doubs, who already had a touchdown grab on the night. <\/p>\n
Then, Love found Matthew Golden on a screen play, with the rookie making tacklers miss during a 23-yard touchdown scamper. <\/p>\n
Williams and the Bears answered with a rare touchdown drive of their own, with the former USC superstar converting a massive 27-yard 4th & 8 pass to Rome Odunze that set up an eight-yard TD seed to Olamide Zaccheus. <\/p>\n
Williams then connected with Colston Loveland for the two-point conversion to make it 27-24, Packers. <\/p>\n
Love took his team down the field, in large part thanks to a one-handed Doubs snag for 34 yards, before stalling near the redzone. But in a monumental swing, Brandon McManus missed the 44-yard attempt. <\/p>\n
With 1:43 left, Williams led the Bears on a six-play, 66-yard go-ahead touchdown drive, passed for his second of the night to DJ Moore for 25 yards. <\/p>\n
But there was still time on the clock, as Love and the Packers marched back down the field into Bears territory. But Chicago, again, stopped the Packers on one last-gasp desperation Love heave, batting the ball down as time expired. <\/p>\n
Miami outlast Ole Miss in thriller | 01:17<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Los Angeles Rams survived an almighty NFL playoffs scare, prevailing 34-31 over the Carolina Panthers in Sunday morning\u2019s wildcard round opener. <\/p>\n
Carolina stumbled into the playoffs with a losing 8-9 record, coming in heavy underdogs against the 12-5 Rams, but the hosts dug themselves out of an early 14-0 hole to stun the favourites and take a 31-27 lead late on with a spot in the divisional round on the line. <\/p>\n
But with his back well and truly against the wall, Most Valuable Player candidate Matthew Stafford stood tall \u2014 not for the first time in the game \u2014 to lead a seven-play, 71-yard drive capped by a touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson with 38 seconds left to make it 34-31. <\/p>\n
Stafford, 37, finished 24-42 passing for 304 yards, three touchdowns and one interception despite appearing to struggle with a finger\/hand concern. <\/p>\n
\u201cTotal team effort. Obviously had some mistakes along the way. I turned it over,\u201d said Stafford.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo a lot to clean up. But we found a way to win it late. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in my teammates. I know they believe in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Los Angeles prevailing, if Philadelphia beats San Francisco and Chicago beats Green Bay \u2014 which kicks off at 12pm AEDT \u2014 the Rams will travel to Seattle to play the one-seed Seahawks in the divisional round. <\/p>\n
But if the seven-seed Packers beat the Bears, they\u2019ll travel to play Seattle as the lowest remaining seed, while the Rams would face the winner of Eagles-49ers. <\/p>\n
Veteran quarterback Stafford put together a perfect opening drive for the five-seed Rams, going 4-4 for 52 yards and a precise touchdown pass to Puka Nacua. <\/p>\n
Then, early in the second quarter, Los Angeles capitalised off a Bryce Young interception, with Nacua bustling in for his second score of the day on a run play. <\/p>\n
Young, in his playoffs debut, floated one past his intended receiver Jalen Coker and into the arms of Cobie Durant. <\/p>\n
Earlier in the first quarter, Panthers left tackle Ickey Ekwonu had to be carted off after suffering an apparent right knee injury. <\/p>\n
Ekwonu, who was quickly ruled out of the game, plays a critical role on the left side of the line protecting Young\u2019s blindside. Guard Robert Hunt was also under an injury cloud in his first game since being activated off of injured reserve. <\/p>\n
And with Young under all sorts of pressure from the Rams\u2019 pass rush, Fox US analyst Greg Olsen said the Carolina offensive line was \u201cleaking in all areas\u201d. <\/p>\n
But the home side responded, with Young marching the Panthers down the field before Chuba Hubbard punched it in from close range to make it 14-7 in the second. <\/p>\n
Down 17-7 late in the half, Carolina\u2019s Trevor Etienne muffed a punt to gift Los Angeles another possession before the break. However, the home side was able to stop Stafford and co. on fourth down. <\/p>\n
Young then led the Panthers down the field with seconds remaining and cashed in with a crucial rushing touchdown on 3rd & 10 to narrow the deficit to 17-14 at half-time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis might be the best half of ball we\u2019ve seen from the young quarterback,\u201d Olsen said after Young had lifted since his first-quarter interception. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow in the heck is this a three-point game?\u201d Fox play-by-play caller Joe Davis asked. <\/p>\n
Olsen replied: \u201cI have no idea. For a quarter and a half, it couldn\u2019t have gotten worse (for the Panthers).\u201d<\/p>\n
The Panthers tied the game halfway through the third quarter thanks to a 46-yard Matt Fitzgerald field goal. <\/p>\n
Then, late in the third, Stafford \u2014 under an injury cloud with an apparent right finger issue \u2014 led the Rams down the field before the drive stalled for a go-ahead field goal. <\/p>\n
And on the next Los Angeles drive, Stafford\u2019s finger issue might\u2019ve played a part as he threw an interception on an underthrown ball intended for Davante Adams. <\/p>\n
Looking to make the Rams pay full price, Young connected with Coker for 52 yards to take the Panthers into the redzone. <\/p>\n
Chuba Hubbard then punched in his second touchdown of the day to make it 24-20 Panthers in a monumental swing. <\/p>\n
But Stafford, who alongside New England sensation Drake Maye is a leading candidate for this year\u2019s Most Valuable Player award, stood up with his team on the canvas. <\/p>\n
The 37-year-old signal-caller led an 11-play, 67-yard drive capped off by a 13-yard touchdown dot to running back Kyren Williams to put the visitors back up 27-24. <\/p>\n
Carolina couldn\u2019t get anything going on its next drive, but after stopping the Rams on their ensuing possession, the Panthers\u2019 Isaiah Simmons blocked Los Angeles\u2019 punt to gain possession at the Rams\u2019 30 in a massive moment. <\/p>\n
Young then threw his first touchdown pass of the night on a sweet toss to Coker to put the Panthers back up 31-27 with 2:39 remaining. <\/p>\n
But with his back well and truly against the wall, Stafford stood tall again to lead a seven-play, 71-yard drive capped by a touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson with 38 seconds left to make it 34-31, Rams. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bears have completed an historic comeback in their wildcard round clash with their arch-rival Green Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2095,64,63,689,485,1257,1248,215057,1243,215061,215056,94364,3231,53910,481,1263,6588,115847,9139,2041,2067,677,158818,215059,215060,215055,215058,64337,85,2614],"class_list":["post-405576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-california","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-crushing-injury-blow","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-greg-olson","tag-guard-robert-hunt","tag-injury-cloud","tag-jack-jovanovski","tag-jalen-coker","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-mike-mcdaniel","tag-national-football-league","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-offensive-line","tag-pass-rush","tag-playoff-games","tag-playoffs-action","tag-playoffs-debut","tag-right-knee-injury","tag-sports","tag-united-states-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}