Block party: Packers escape Chicago with win on Karl Brooks’ walk-off field-goal block

From the sideline, Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur couldn't quite tell what transpired in the closing seconds Sunday afternoon.

All they knew was that their Green Bay Packers had won the ballgame, and that their 20-19 victory over the Chicago Bears had added yet another unforgettable moment to the NFL's longest-running rivalry — defensive lineman Karl Brooks blocking Cairo Santos' 46-yard field-goal attempt as the Soldier Field clock struck 0:00.

"I didn't know what happened," Love, the Packers quarterback, said of Brooks' block, which he didn't see until FOX Sports showed him Brooks' play before his on-field postgame interview with Erin Andrews. "I could see that it came out kind of wobbly, so I was figuring somebody must've gotten a hand on it."

Said LaFleur, who improved to 11-0 against the Bears as the Packers coach: "I just saw the ball go up, obviously fluttering out of there. And I saw all our players surrounding Karl Brooks, so I figured he probably was the one who blocked it."

Indeed, he was. And the fact that he did allowed the Packers (7-3) to escape Chicago with a win while sending the reeling Bears (4-6) to their fourth straight loss — and their second excruciating defeat in a month.

"It was just an unbelievable feeling," said Brooks, who blocked a kick at Minnesota as a rookie late last season as well. "At first when I touched it, I didn't think I got enough of it. (When) it fell short, that's when I really celebrated."

So did his teammates, thrilled to have survived after playing a less-than-stellar game on both sides of the ball.

"Relief," LaFleur replied when asked what he felt after Brooks' block. "It was a rollercoaster game. But that's this league, and you have to be resilient. Not everything is always going to go your way, and you've got to keep battling, keep battling, keep battling, keep battling,

"I told our guys, 'We'll never ever apologize for winning, and we'll take it. We're going to learn from this, and we've got a big battle next week.'"

Before worrying about next Sunday's showdown at Lambeau Field with the 5-5 San Francisco 49ers — the team that has beaten the Packers in the playoffs to end three of their previous five seasons under LaFleur — the Packers have plenty else to examine.

Like why Sunday came down to Santos' right foot — and Brooks' left middle finger — in the first place.

After taking the opening kickoff and driving 70 yards in eight plays on their way to a 15-yard Love-to-Jayden Reed touchdown pass on a free play where the Bears had 12 men on the field, the Packers didn't score again until 6 minutes, 34 seconds remained in the third quarter on Josh Jacobs' 7-yard touchdown run.

In between those two scores, the Packers had only two real possessions: One ended in a punt, and the other in Love's 11th interception of the season when he airmailed a ball intended for tight end Tucker Kraft in the red zone.

"It was just a bad throw," said Love, who finished the day 13 of 17 for 261 yards with one touchdown and the one interception (113.0 rating) but now has equaled his INT total from last season in just eight starts. "Just missed him high."

Those lack of possessions then led LaFleur into a questionable decision early in the fourth quarter with the Packers trailing 19-14.

After Christian Watson (four receptions, a career-best 150 yards) came down with a 48-yard completion that Love threw into double coverage downfield, the Packers had first-and-goal from the Chicago 8-yard line.

After Jacobs netted just 3 yards on his first two carries, Love was sacked for a 1-yard loss on third-and-goal from the 5. Instead of kicking a 24-yard field goal to cut the lead to 19-17, LaFleur chose instead to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the Chicago 6. With Reed covered in the end zone, Love took off scrambling and was stuffed shy of the goal line.

"Possessions were at a premium," LaFleur said when asked what his reasoning had been. "I didn't know when we were going to get the ball back.

"I don't know what all of you analytical people say out there — whether you should go for it or kick it — but I just thought, 'We're on the 5-yard line, let's go for it. We're down five points.' With the hope that, worst case scenario, we'll get a stop and get the ball back with pretty good field position."

The defense finally did get a stop after the Bears had driven into Packers territory, chewing up 7 minutes of clock in the process as the Bears converted three third-down situations — an issue the Packers defense had all day.

A combined 6-for-40 on third down during their three consecutive losses coming into Sunday, the Bears were 9 of 16 on third down against the Packers.

"It's tough, because I think that we can play way better ball than what we did today. But it's hard to win in this league," Packers veteran safety Xavier McKinney said. "When you do win, you've got to be somewhat happy about the win because it's hard to win. But also, you've got to know that there's a lot of things to improve on."

Taking over with 4:17 to go, Love then hit Watson on the drive's second play, with Watson turning a 20-yard diving catch into a 60-yard gain after cornerback Jaylen Johnson fell down.

After a 13-yard scramble by Love that left him inches short of the goal line as he hurtled out of bounds at the pylon, Love scored on a QB sneak to take the lead and set the stage for Brooks' kick-blocking heroics.

"Just like you draw it up, right?" LaFleur quipped. "I figured this would be a four-quarter battle and that's exactly what it was, it took all 60 minutes. Thankfully, we made a play at the end of the game."