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From Lost to Locked In
The defensive flip that changes the Bears-Packers Wild Card game.
The Chicago Bears didn’t win Saturday night’s Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers because their defense dominated from start to finish.
They won because it finally caught up to the moment.
That distinction matters because the first half at Soldier Field looked like the exact scenario Ben Johnson feared heading into the postseason — and the reason he coached the game the way he did. Johnson’s refusal to punt wasn’t bravado or stubbornness. It was an acknowledgement of reality. He believed his offense would need to score every time it touched the ball to beat Green Bay, because trusting the defense to string together stops felt like a gamble.
Recent history backed that up. Chicago’s defense, opportunistic all season, had also been carved up repeatedly. In their final two regular-season games against San Francisco, the Bears surrendered 71 points and 929 total yards. A week earlier, cameras caught Johnson lamenting a punt late against Detroit in Week 18, muttering into his headset that he should have kept the offense on the field. Against the Packers, he wasn’t about to make the same mistake.
The defense validated that thinking in the first half. Green Bay marched to 21 points on 232 yards, with Jordan Love efficient and comfortable (9-of-15, 139 yards, three touchdowns) and Josh Jacobs consistently churning out positive runs. Chicago looked disjointed — late to fits, slow to close, reactive instead of aggressive. Down 21–3 at halftime, the Bears were staring at elimination.
Then the tone flipped.
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