GREEN BAY, Wis. — Bo Melton ran a deep post from the left slot and was running wide open down the middle of the field when Packers quarterback Jordan Love launched a pass with about 40 seconds to in the first half Sunday. The ball landed in the receiver’s arms at the 2 — beyond the reach of scrambling safety Jaquan Brisker — and he stumbled backward into the end zone to take a 14-3 lead at Lambeau Field.
The Packers held the same lead against the Bears when the clock expired to end the half.
The Bears’ Cairo Santos kicked a 33-yard field goal with 1:14 to play in the second quarter go down 7-3. The Packers might have happily taken that score into the locker room, had Santos not left his squibbed kickoff short of the kick return zone, giving the Packers the ball at their 40 — and a reason to be aggressive.
The first 20 minutes or so of the 211th meeting of the Bears-Packers rivalry had been a rockfight, with the longest play from either team being overturned by replay review — a 17-yard pass to Bears tight end Colston Loveland and a 34-yarder to Packers tight end Luke Musgrave, both of which were deemed incomplete.
About six minutes into the third quarter, the Bears blitzed Packers quarterback Jordan Love on third-and-10 from the 23 and he lofted an easy touchdown throw to Christian Watson, who ran a slant route against safety Kevin Byard in man coverage.
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams struggled in the first half, going 6-for-14 for 32 yards, with 10 of those yards coming on a third-and-19 checkdown with 10 seconds left in the half.
Before completing a 12-yard pass to Luther Burden with eight minutes to go in the first half, Williams was 1-for-7 for two yards. The Bears scored at the end of that drive, aided by Keisean Nixon’s 15-yard unnecessary roughness flag after a skirmish with Burden.
For the first time all season, the Bears were in a scoreless tie at the end of the first quarter.
Love threw an interception to C.J. Gardner-Johnson on the Packers’ first drive of the game. He returned the pick to the Packers’ 36, but the Bears went five yards backward over the next three plays and were forced to punt.
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