By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Jan 08, 2024 at 4:26 PM

On paper, Sunday night seemed so familiar.

Once again, the Packers' hopes came down to the final game. Once again, all they had to do was win at Lambeau. And once again, it was a divisional rival standing in their way, with nothing to play for but years of spite and hopes for next season – aka, motivation enough.

Yet everything also felt so completely different on Sunday. Whereas last season's finale felt like a last desperate grasp at a bygone era, this year's finale felt like the first exciting (and, yes, occasionally infuriating) step of a new generation. Whereas last season's finale felt like promise squandered, this year's edition felt like promise fulfilled. Whereas last season was all pessimism and eyerolls, this year's been optimism and eyes opened to potential.

And that was all before the game even started and we arrived at the biggest difference of all: This time, we actually won the damn game.

That's right: Unlike last year where Aaron Rodgers and the Packers acted like merely showing up earned them a 20-0 birthright lead, Jordan Love and company played hard and scrapped for a 17-9 win over the Chicago Bears – who may be improving but also, as always, still suck. And now Green Bay's pleasantly surprising campaign ends with its most pleasant surprise of all: a trip to the postseason. Not too shabby for a team who started the season playing some of the ugliest football in green and gold since Brett Hundley, were living down to the "youngest team in football" designation and had people wondering if the Pack should tank for a higher draft pick.

Safe to say things turned around.

And now they're turning toward Texas, where the Dallas Cowboys and familiar face Mike McCarthy await the Packers in a first-round matchup Roger Goodell couldn't love more. Most predictions have the Packers sticking around in the playoffs for a fun time, not a long time – but most predictions about this year's Pack have already been proven wrong, so why not do it some more. 

But before we start looking too far ahead, let's take one final look back at how the Packers owned the Bears once again. 

1. Red carpet report 

Packers fashionX

The red carpet was out last night and everyone's eyes were on the fashions ... at Lambeau Field, of course. Why, was there something else going on last night too?

Anyways, the Packers had some wild looks last night, and I'm not talking about Frozen Tundra Man. Starting on the left, apparently wearing Mega Man boots is a thing now? You put one of those viral oversized hats on him, and you've officially got a Backyard Baseball character. In the middle, you have so much lime green that I legitimately thought that Packers player was wearing a Grinch costume two weeks late. And on the right, of course, we have Aaron Jones rocking an iconic look that the French fashion houses and runways are calling "the victory formation."

2. A Barry good performance

Packers defenseX

It was just a few weeks ago that every Packers fan was wishing Santa would bring them a pink slip with Joe Barry's name on it. And now here we are, with the embattled defensive coordinator's defense playing a key role in getting the Packers to the postseason. 

Sure, there was some of the "bend, don't break" shenanigans that fans have learned to loathe over the years. But for the most part, the Packers front line did a great job making Bears quarterback Justin Fields look uncomfortable in the pocket thanks to relentless pressure, sacking him five times on the night and – most importantly – not letting him use his speedy athleticism to escape and prolong drives. Whenever the Green Bay offense fell short on Sunday night – which, despite how good they looked, was more often than preferred – the defense was there to get a critical stop and keep the Bears at bay.

Fans' Christmas wishes may still come true and Barry may still be shown the door during the offseason – but if that is the case, at least he'll leave on some high notes. 

3. Oh, what a Love-ly night

Another Sunday, another night of pretty sterling quarterbacking for the Green Bay Packers. 

Indeed, Sunday capped off a terrific, critic-defying first chapter of the Jordan Love era, going 27-for-32 with more than 300 yards and two touchdowns – starting with this pretty pass to Dontayvion Wicks for the night's first score. Love keeps moving the offense with impressive calm, finding guys down the field with ease even while moving around under pressure – and best of all, most of the easy-pass yips from earlier this year seem to have passed out of his system.

With last night's performance, Love ends his inaugural starting season with the second most touchdowns in the league (32), the seventh most yards, fewer interceptions than Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, and a wholly unexpected postseason trip. Not too bad for a guy who can't play football.

4. Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back

I haven't seen a Wicks this tough since the stairwell sequence in "John Wick Chapter 4" this past summer! (Oof, even Jo Koy thinks that line was rough.) But really, after having to sit out last week's big game against the Vikings, the rookie receiver came back with a vengeance against the Bears, lighting up the chatty Chicago secondary for six catches and 61 yards plus the game's two lone touchdowns. When the team took a bunch of pass-catchers this past draft (Reed, Wicks, Kraft and Musgrave), the hope was that maybe half of them would hit. Instead, they've all struck gold in green and gold this year. 

5. Heart-attack Pack

Love fumbleX

Despite looking like the much better team on the field, the scoreboard told a different story for much of Sunday's game with the help of some small but significant Packers miscues.

Thanks to Anders Carlson missing yet another field goal – a mere 41-yarder – on the team's first otherwise-impressive drive and the team misplaying a final pass at the end of the half, the Packers went into the break with a mere one-point lead. Then, on a third-quarter drive that could've helped put the game to bed early, Jordan Love fumbled away a third-down scramble for a first down, giving the Bears some new life. For too long, the vibe felt very much like the Packers were doing just enough to lose – an all-too-familiar sight for Green Bay fans during clutch games in recent years. 

Thankfully the Bears couldn't capitalize on these few mishaps, and while fans (and their sanities) would've appreciated a blowout, they'll certainly accept a stressful win too. One imagines, though, that the Packers won't be able to leave so many points off the board and live to see another day against the Cowboys in the playoffs. 

6. Everyone plays a part

Before the season started, one of the questions about the Packers' offense was: Who's going to step up and be the guy for Jordan Love, to meet the moment when the team needs a big catch or play? The answer has turned out to be ... everyone!

Romeo Doubs has been a regular safety valve for Love, especially in the red zone with eight touchdowns. Wicks has popped, making tough catches for the team, and so has Bo Melton, coming out of nowhere to become essential with all the injuries. And speaking of which, you can't forget about Christian Watson, who was returning to his remarkable rookie year form before he re-injured himself. And I haven't even gotten to the tight ends! Musgrave put in impressive early-season work before his kidney exploded while Kraft has been a revelation stepping into the starting role, playing with energy, making big catches and even putting in the work as a blocker. 

And then there's Jayden Reed, who ends the regular season as the team's leading receiver across the board: catches, yards and touchdowns (if you add his two rushing scores). That includes his big Sunday night, leading the team with 112 yards through the air – most coming on this huge pass play that put Green Bay in position to reclaim its eight-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Reed's been a sparkplug for this Packers offense ... but honestly, just about everyone in the receivers' room has turned out to be a sparkplug this season. For a team famed for failing to surround its quarterback with pass-catching talent in recent years, the Pack now has an embarrassment of riches – and for potentially years to come.

7. Bo so close

Bo Melton's feel-good season with the Packers almost had the perfect capper when he snagged this lazer from Jordan Love early in the fourth to finally give Green Bay a two-possession lead. Well, when he ALMOST snagged this lazer, as replay showed he couldn't quite gain possession in time to call it a touchdown. But still, in a year full of special stories and surprises, Bo Melton's late rise from practice squad member to preferred clutch target, an unexpected hero when so many expected names went down with injury, might be the most special and surprising of the bunch.

8. Big final sack

I'll be entirely honest: I had no idea who Karl Brooks was before Sunday night. But I'm glad he was around to make this huge sack on the Bears' final drive of the night, helping nudge a nerve-racking last push from Chicago out of field goal range. The true dagger would eventually come later, but this moment – a guy making a play when the Packers needed one – was an early sign that, despite how close things seemed on the scoreboard, the Bears weren't ending their losing streak to the Packers this weekend. 

9. Crafty to Kraft-y

For only the second time in his debut season, Jordan Love hit more than 300 passing yards with 316 – and he saved his most important ones for last, hitting a breaking-free Tucker Kraft while shifting in the opposite direction on a huge third-down conversion late in the fourth. They'd need one more first down to truly lock the game away, but there's not much that excites Packers fans more than seeing a team that doesn't desperation heave the ball on third down or fail to salt the clock away late in games. Actually, there's one thing that's even more exciting: seeing how well Love is currently clicking with his young receiving corps. What was once a hinderance – a new quarterback trying to get on the same page with his fresh-faced rookie pass-catchers, all getting up to NFL speed – is now hope for seasons to come. 

10. Jones-ing for the dagger

Jordan Love has inspired some MVP talk with his strong run of late-season performances – but any good Packers fan knows that Aaron Jones is the true most valuable player on the team. When you feed him the football, wins happen – just ask the Panthers, Vikings and now Bears.

After spending much of the season either injured or underutilized, Jones has been a fully armed and operational battle station, rushing for 100 yards in three straight games with bouncy, bulldozing runs that make A.J. Dillon's quads cry. This late-season run marks the first time the Packers have had three straight games with 100-yard rushing performances since Ahman Green in 2006 – a feat topped by a game-clinching fourth-quarter run so thrilling and cathartic that Wayne Larrivee and Larry McCarren had to joint-announce the ritualistic dagger. 

11. Final thoughts 

Packers celebrateX

Here's the greatest part of yesterday's win (besides making Bears fans cry yet again) and trip to the postseason: It's all just gravy.

This season wasn't about making the playoffs or having Super Bowl ambitions. It was about a proof of concept – of Jordan Love as a starting NFL quarterback, of Matt LaFleur as a head coach without Aaron Rodgers, of the extremely young offensive core around their inexperienced leader. A win Sunday night or not, this season proved their concepts correct, with room to grow and improve to that next level in the future. With Sunday's victory, it turned out that future has become now. And even if their postseason ends quickly, it appears to be just the beginning.

So yeah, this is just gravy ... but OK, to heck with just gravy, let's go get the whole dang meal too, starting with Dallas on Sunday. 

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.