Packers vs. Bears: Jordan Love makes history, earns dominant win behind revamped offensive line

The Chicago Bears (3-2) entered Lambeau Field in Week 5 looking to honor their recently deceased former player and Hall of Fame head coach Mike Ditka against their arch-rival Green Bay Packers (3-2) on Sunday.

Sunday’s game between the NFC North foes played out much like it did in the era of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers (1992-2022, 48-15 Packers, including playoffs) than it did in Ditka’s era as head coach (1982-1992, 15-5 Bears), with the Packers winning 31-7 behind a laser show from quarterback Jordan Love. Love completed 25 of 31 throws for 367 yards and 2 touchdowns against Chicago, making him the Packers record holder for most passing yards in a game against the Bears at Lambeau Field. He broke Lynn Dickey’s previous record of 345 passing yards, set in 1983. The victory, by 24 points, was the biggest victory against the Bears since 2014, the year Rodgers won the second of his four NFL MVPs. The Packers are now 5-3 against the Bears’ in Love’s eight career starts against them since 2023, including the playoffs.

“We were fluid today. Executed at a very high level. I was proud of everyone. This is what it looks like when we play to our level, and we have playmakers making plays on the field, the O-line does a great job,” Love said after the game on FOX. “It’s the standard for us… It’s huge. It’s a win we needed at home, to allow us to continue building on this foundation.”

Love has been chasing big game with regularity over wide receiver Christian Watson (143 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns on 6 catches) and wide receiver Matthew Golden (123 receiving yards on 6 catches), making Watson and Golden the first Green Bay duo with 120+ receiving yards in a game since 2016. This last happened when Davante Adams and Jordy Nelson accomplished the feat against the Tennessee Titans 10 years ago. Love hit Watson for gains of 42 yards (the first touchdown of the game that made the score 7-0), 31 yards and 53 yards (Love’s second touchdown pass that made the score 20-7 with 13:10 left in the third quarter). He connected with Golden on throws of 36 yards and 50 yards.

In total, Love connected on six of eight of his eight throws of 20+ air yards for a career-high 258 yards and 2 touchdowns on his 20+ air yard passes. According to the league’s Next Gen stats, only Russell Wilson (264 with the New York Giants in Week 2 of the 2025 season against the Dallas Cowboys) had more in the NGS era (since 2016). According to ESPN Insights, Love joined Ben Roethlisberger as the only players to have more than 30 air yards in a game five times since ESPN began tracking that metric 20 years ago, in 2006.

Much of the credit for Love’s play should go to Green Bay’s reworked offensive line. The packers revamped their offensive line with the signing of three veterans entering Week 4 following their 35-14 blowout home loss on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons: guard Laken Tomlinson, guard Kevin Zeitler and guard/tackle Mekhi Becton. Love had a season-high 2.76 ERA on Sunday against the Bears, and in each of the last two weeks against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13.3% pressure rate) and Chicago (23.5% pressure rate), he recorded his two lowest pressure rates of the season. It’s no coincidence that Green Bay has used the same offensive line starting five combinations in each of the last two weeks: Jordan Morgan (left tackle), Tomlinson (left guard), Sean Rhyan (center), Travis Glover (right guard) and Anthony Belton (right tackle). Zeitler, a 36-year-old Pro Bowl guard, was active for the first time in Week 5, but he did not record any offensive snaps in Week 5. He contributed six snaps on special teams.

Dominant defense

After the Bears managed to come back in the fourth quarter with quarterback Caleb Williams in each of the last two meetings against the Packers, Chicago had almost no offensive success against the Packers, averaging just 3.6 yards per play on Sunday, the lowest in a game for Bears head coach Ben Johnson in his career as offensive coordinator and head coach, which spanned 73 games. They also matched their worst turnover margin (-5, five turnovers to zero) in a game since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, according to CBS Sports Research. Both Bears quarterbacks entered the game, Tyson Bargent (87 passing yards and two interceptions on 12 of 21 throws) and Case Keenum (108 passing yards and one interception on 11 of 19 passes) threw interceptions, and Keenum also lost a fumble. Bears receiver Rome Odunze fumbling the ball on a fourth down accounted for the fifth gift.

“They were flying everywhere today,” Love said of his defense. “I don’t even know how many turnovers they had, but it was like four. They were flying all over the place, making plays left and right. They were getting us the ball, and they’ve been doing that all season, so like we said, we had a couple losses, but… guys are just playing.”

With a rebuilt offensive line giving Love much more time to throw and on-ball defense, the Packers’ defense’s nine takeaways are fourth-most in the NFL heading into the late afternoon games of Week 5. Green Bay can look to be a playoff contender again. On the other hand, the Bears definitely need Williams, who is out with a hamstring injury, back in the lineup. Williams’ return might not be able to fix Chicago’s leaky secondary on the other side of the ball.