The Green Bay Packers got explosive plays from Christian Watson, an encouraging performance from Rashan Gary and near-perfect passing day from Jordan Love under pressure, but lingering struggles in the red zone on offense and coverage problems in the passing game on defense turned Sunday’s showdown with the Chicago Bears into a nail-biter at Soldier Field.
In the end, it took an impressive special teams play from the Packers to secure a victory.
Here are five stats from Pro Football Focus to know from Sunday:
10.0: The receiving yards averaged per route run by Packers receiver Christian Watson. Anything above 2.0 yards per route run is elite for a season; 10.0 for a game is otherworldly. Watson ran only 15 routes but caught four passes for 150 yards, including three of at least 25 yards. His 25-yarder set up a touchdown in the third quarter, and his 60-yarder set up the final go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter.
5: The number of pressures from Rashan Gary, a team high. He produced three hurries, one quarterback hit and one sack — an impressive feat considering how often the Bears were throwing quick or short. Gary added four run stops, another team high. The problem? While Gary was great, no one else on the Packers defense had a particularly good day on Sunday.
8-for-8: Jordan Love’s passing numbers while under pressure. He has struggled while pressured this season, but not Sunday. He connected on all eight passes for 185 yards, or 23.1 per attempt. Don’t be surprised if Love, now with two healthy legs, is much, much better against pressure down the stretch of this season.
8-for-10: Caleb Williams’ passing numbers when blitzed by the Packers. The rookie quarterback completed eight passes for 87 yards and twice scrambled against extra pressure. On the final drive, he identified a blitz coming pre-snap, changed the protection and fired a completion to Keenan Allen to get the Bears into field goal range. His passing grade against the blitz was elite — 94.5. The Packers only pressured Williams on 11 of 39 dropbacks.
7: The number of Packers defenders who were charged with giving up multiple completions. Williams and the Bears attacked everyone. Javon Bullard, Edgerrin Cooper, Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Xavier McKinney all gave up at least three completions into their coverage. Sunday was the Packers’ third-lowest coverage grade of the season.
