GREEN BAY – No one’s blaming them for the loss by any means.
But two Packers receivers each would love to have a play back from the final drive of Saturday night’s defeat at Soldier Field, and having to sit with those plays all offseason will be more motivation than either could ask for.
First is Jayden Reed. On second down from the Chicago 49-yard line with 55 seconds left and the Packers trailing by four points, Reed ran a deep corner route to QB Jordan Love’s left against Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon’s man coverage.
Reed got a step on Gordon, and Love put the ball on the money, only to have it glance off Reed’s hands as he reached just above his helmet to snag it. Had Reed caught it, the Packers would’ve had the ball around the 25 with just under 50 seconds left and a timeout.
Even more agonizing, that whole side of the field was clear, so if Reed catches it and slips from Gordon’s grasp along the boundary, he might’ve scored.
“I ain’t even sleep man,” Reed said Monday during locker clean-out when asked about the play. “I didn’t sleep that next day ’til like 5 a.m., just thinking about it. I’m still thinking about it right now.
“I know that’s a play I gotta make, if I want to be a great player in this league. All I can do now is work. I can’t get it back. It ain’t no excuse. I gotta have it. My only mindset is don’t let it happen again.”
It was a stomach-sinking moment for Reed, who had battled back from a long absence due to collarbone and foot surgeries that cost him 10 games in 2025. He also had left the Packers’ playoff game in Philadelphia a year ago due to injury, so this was the type of moment he longed for through a lot of painful rehabs.
To his credit, Reed came right back two plays later with a 20-yard reception for a first down at the Chicago 23. But by then the Packers had burned their last timeout, and a 10-second runoff due to center Sean Rhyan’s injury on the play left only 22 ticks on the clock.
Which then led to the next big regret, this one from Christian Watson, who ran a post route to the goal line in between zone defenders bracketing him, and Love’s bullet throw with a rusher in his face was just out of reach from his one outstretched arm.
Reviewing that play, Watson explained there were two throwing windows for Love to get him the ball, one to the QB’s right and the other more down the middle. With pressure closing in on Love, Watson thought he might try to hit him in the first window, so he slowed up for one stride, just in case.
When he saw Love firing for the second window instead, he reaccelerated and couldn’t quite get there at the goal line.
“I mean, it’s easy to go back and say you could’ve done this, could’ve done that,” Watson said. “But if I could go back, I would definitely just try to run through that a little bit more, try to get two hands on it for sure.”
Being so self-critical is in Watson’s nature, and there’s no doubting his drive and desire after coming back from last January’s ACL injury to become the offense’s most explosive and reliable weapon from late October on. This will just be another motivator.
He’s sure it’ll be the same for Reed, too, his receiving mate affectionately known as Bird.
“It’ll definitely motivate him,” Watson said. “Bird’s up there with one of the top competitors in this building.
“At the end of the day he wants when his number is called to make those plays, but there’s no blame from me on him. I feel like we all could have done better. But I know it’ll definitely push him to be better for sure.”
Watson went on to say there are any number of plays the entire team looks back on with regret, and he’s right. Not to oversimplify, but just the three missed kicks alone (two FGs, one PAT) changed so much scoreboard math down the stretch, it’s entirely possible the Packers would’ve been able to kick a game-winning or game-tying field goal rather than have to push for the end zone on their final drive.
“You could go back and (find) probably 20-25 plays that could have been a difference in that game,” Watson said. “Everyone has their own kind of gripes about the game and how it went and plays that they could have made.”
