4. Packers 33, Bears 28 (2013)

It was the first of three consecutive years that the NFC North was decided on the final week. Green Bay was coming in at 7-7-1 and Chicago was 8-7. The winner was the champion of the division. It was an adventurous season for the Packers, as they started out 5-2 before Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone in the first meeting against Chicago. The Packers went on to lose 27-20 to Chicago at Lambeau Field and that would start a string of five consecutive winless weeks for them. The only time the Packers did not lose in those five games was a tie against Minnesota. Green Bay was 5-6-1 before it won two of its next three to stay within striking distance of the division. Chicago had a chance to win the division in week 16 after the Packers and Lions both lost, but the Bears were annihilated 54-11 in Philadelphia on Sunday Night Football.That would set up a showdown at Soldier Field to decide the winner of the division and a home playoff game against San Francisco. It was also the return of Rodgers, who had not played since breaking his collarbone. Rodgers had a solid return, but he saved his best for last. With the Packers facing a fourth down with less than a minute to go, he launched a 48-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Randall Cobb for the game-winning score with 38 seconds remaining.

The opening kickoff turned out well for the Bears, as Devin Hester returned it to the Chicago 43, and Green Bay’s Victor Aiyewa was whistled for an unnecessary roughness, which moved the ball to the Packers 42. But Chicago would do nothing with the terrific field position and the Bears would have to punt.

Then, Rodgers would take the field for the first time since his injury and he would lead his team on a lengthy drive. Green Bay would go on a 14-play drive in an effort to get on the board first. Mike McCarthy did not ease Rodgers back into the game. On this opening drive, Rodgers dropped back to pass nine of the 14 plays. He would go 6-of-8 for 39 yards, and he was sacked once. However, the last pass he threw was an ill-advised pass on 3rd-and-Goal at the 5 and he was picked off in the end zone by Chris Conte to keep the game scoreless.

Starting at the 20, it did not take long for the Bears to blow right down the field for the first score of the day. Jay Cutler used completions of 13 and 37 to Brandon Marshall to move them inside the Packers 10. That is where Cutler found Matt Forte for a touchdown on a 3rd-and-Goal. That was the only third down Chicago faced on the 80-yard drive that went eight plays.

Rodgers was intercepted once again on the Packers next drive and once again it was deep in Bears territory. But Rodgers would lead his team down the field for Green Bay’s first points of the game midway through the second quarter. The Packers started with solid field position at their own 36 and a Rodgers pass to Jordy Nelson for 26 yards and an unnecessary roughness penalty on Chicago’s Shea McClellin moved the ball moved the ball into the red zone. However, the drive would stall and Mason Crosby would nail a 33-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 7-3.

It got even better for Green Bay as Chicago had to start deep in its own territory to began its next drive. The Packers defense forced a three-and-out and would receive great starting field position after a short Adam Podlesh punt. The Packers would move into the red zone and had a 1st-and-10 at the 17. That was when Rodgers went back to pass and the ball was knocked out of his hands by Julius Peppers. Everybody on the field assumed it was an incomplete pass, but Jarrett Boykin picked it up for Green Bay. After a few moments of hesitation, he ran into the end zone for the touchdown. The replays showed that it clearly was a fumble and Boykin’s touchdown stood to give the Green and Gold their first lead of the game.

An Alshon Jeffery fumble put an end to the next Chicago possession and gave Green Bay great field position at the Bears 28 with less than two minutes to play in the first half. The Packers would move the ball inside the 10, but the drive would stall and Crosby kicked a short field goal with seconds left in the first half to give the Packers the 13-7 lead at the break.

It was a back-and-forth second half and the Bears would get it started. Hester would return a Tim Masthay punt 49 yards down to the 30. Five Forte runs later, Chicago would re-take the lead. But the Packers would answer right back. Using mostly runs, Green Bay would take the lead right back. In the Packers 80-yard drive, Lacy ran once for 17 and Starks ran four times for 51 yards to move the team down to the 12. Then back-to-back Rodgers passes put the Packers in the end zone. After a completion to James Jones for five yards, Rodgers found Cobb open in the end zone for the score and the Packers had the lead back, 20-14. But that would be far from Cobb’s biggest play of the game.

But back-and-forth the game went and Chicago took back the lead. On a 3rd-and-4 from the 32, Cutler went back to pass and found a wide open Jeffery for 67 yards down to the 1. Forte would punch it in a play later and Chicago had a 21-20 lead with five minutes to go in the third quarter. Green Bay would not answer on the next drive, though. After a pass to Nelson for a first down on the opening play of the drive, Rodgers threw three consecutive incompletions and the Packers had to punt. Chicago then went on a march to give the Bears their biggest lead of the game. Starting at its own 32, Chicago went on a 68-yard drive to give it a 28-20 lead. Forte had 54 combined yards on the drive, but it was Marshall who was on the receiving end of the score. Cutler would throw a pass to the right side for Marshall, and the receiver made a great catch in the end zone and Chicago had the lead by eight one play into the final quarter.

Back came Rodgers, moving Green Bay down the field 77 yards for the score in just six plays. He hit Nelson for 34 yards on the second play of the drive to move into Chicago territory. After a 12-yard completion to Jones, Rodgers threw a great pass to a diving Andrew Quarless for 22 yards down to the 6. Lacy did the work from there and the Packers cut the deficit to 28-27 with 11:38 remaining in the game. It would stay this way until the final minute of action.

Chicago would move into Green Bay territory on its next drive, but would have to punt. Green Bay would start at its own 13 with six and a half minutes left. Green Bay would move slowly up the field. It would face three fourth downs on the drive. The first 14 plays of the drive gained a total of 39 yards. Worried that the offense would not get another crack at the ball if they punted, the Packers went for it on 4th-and-Inches at their own 22. John Kuhn would plow ahead for a yard, moving the chains. Their second fourth down came following the two minute warning. It was a 4th-and-1 from their own 44, Rodgers threw a pass to the left for a lunging Nelson for six yards and a first down. The next three plays gained a total of two yards, so the Packers were forced with a 4th-and-8 from the Bears 48 with 46 seconds to play.

The Bears defenders thought it would be a shorter pass to move the chains. Rodgers took the snap and Chicago brought the blitz. Peppers came free, but Kuhn made a game-saving play, scrambling over to cut Peppers before he could get to the quarterback. That also allowed Rodgers to scramble to his left. He may have been able to run it for the first down if he wanted to, but he found Cobb all alone at the Bears 10. Cobb caught it and ran the final 10 yards for the score and the Packers took the 33-28 lead. The two-point attempt failed and the Packers lead remained at five.

Chicago had one more chance to win the game. The drive started at the 40, so the Bears had to travel 60 yards in a half a minute. Cutler’s first pass went to Martellus Bennett for 15 to move the Bears into Packers territory. However, the next two Cutler passes were incomplete. That would set up a third down with 10 seconds left. The Bears decided to go for it all and launch it into the end zone, but Cutler’s Hail Mary attempt was intercepted by Sam Shields and the Packers came into Chicago and stole the NFC North.

Green Bay would go onto lose in the Wild Card round on a last-second field goal to San Francisco, but nothing could take away from the great moment this was. It was great to not only win the NFC North on the final weekend of the season, but do it on the road against your archrival and break their heart in the process.