CHICAGO (AP) -Alex Brown blocked Mason Crosby’s 38-yard field-goal attempt after Matt Forte scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to forge a 17-17 tie with the Green Bay Packers and send the game into overtime on Monday night in the coldest game on record at Soldier Field.
With the Bears’ playoff hopes hanging in the balance, Brown knocked down a low kick to preserve the tie.
Forte came up big in the end after being held to 20 yards rushing through the first three quarters.
Trailing 17-10, the Bears had just taken over at their 49 when Forte broke off a 28-yard run around the left side and followed that with an 8-yarder, putting the ball on the Packers 15. On fourth down at the 4, he plowed through for a first down. Green Bay decided not to challenge the spot and Forte ran it in for the tying touchdown.
The Packers then took over on the Chicago 35 after a 28-yard kickoff return by Will Blackmon and an unnecessary roughness penalty against Adrian Peterson after he stepped out of bounds. Green Bay then drove to the 20, before Crosby’s field goal got blocked with 18 seconds left.
The Packers were leading 14-10 through three quarters after Aaron Rodgers threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns.
n Grant that made it 14-3 later in the period as the Packers heated up on a frigid night.
With their playoff hopes flickering, the Bears made it a four-point game on Kyle Orton’s 3-yard pass to Greg Olsen early in the third quarter after Brad Maynard’s punt deflected off a Green Bay player, keeping the drive going.
But Charles Woodson picked off Kyle Orton near midfield and returned it to the Chicago 30 late in the third, drawing .
That set up Mason Crosby’s 28-yard field goal, and with the Bears in Green Bay territory, Nick Collins picked off Orton at the 11.
The gametime temperature was 2 degrees, a record low at Soldier Field, and the wind chill was a numbing minus-13. The big freeze came after the Bears (8-6) got some big breaks over the weekend, with NFC North leader Minnesota losing along with Dallas, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. That kept Chicago in the running for both the division title and a wild-card berth, but on a frozen field, both teams had trouble warming up.
A 37-3 loser at Lambeau Field last month, the Bears managed just 92 yards through the first three quarters. Maynard booted two punts of 60 yards or more in the first quarter and the defense held its ground early on, but the Packers took control with Rodgers leading the way.
he pass late in the first quarter. The Bears went nowhere, and the Packers (5-9), who have lost four straight since that win over Chicago, then drove 91 yards to the end zone. Rodgers’ 7-yard pass to Jennings capped the drive, making it 7-0.
The Bears wasted little time cutting into the lead.
Manning returned the kickoff 70 yards – the last 20 with Jarett Bush clutching his jersey – to set up a 31-yard field goal by Robbie Gould. It was the fourth return of 50 or more yards in the past three games for Manning.
After seeing their lead shrink to 7-3, the Packers saw Donald Driver get helped to the sideline with a knee injury after he crashed to the field lunging for a deep pass to start the next drive. He returned in the second half, but while he got help, the Packers charged on, driving 58 yards to take a 14-3 lead.
Grant finished it with a 17-yard reception, running over Chicago’s Craig Steltz on the way to the end zone.
The Bears caught a break on the opening possession of the third quarter when Maynard’s punt hit Green Bay’s Bush as he ran back, amounting to a 42-yard gain that put the ball on the Packers 27. Desmond Clark caught a 21-yard pass, and Orton found Olsen in the back of the end zone to cut it to 14-10 four minutes into the third.
Green Bay’s Mason Crosby missed a 46-yard field goal with 3:31 left in the third, moments before Woodson intercepted Orton.
back was 8-for-16 with 76 yards, and Matt Forte had 20 yards rushing on 11 carries through three quarters.
Chicago played the second half without safety Mike Brown, who left the game with a calf injury, and also lost Kevin Jones to a hamstring problem.
The Bears haven’t won more than two in a row since the 2006 Super Bowl season, and even if they take this game and beat Houston on Sunday, there’s no guarantee they would make the playoffs. Minnesota would clinch the division with a win over the New York Giants, and the wild-card odds are even longer. The Bears would need Dallas to lose to or tie Philadelphia and have Tampa Bay lose to or tie Oakland.
A loss wipes the Bears out of playoff contention, something they certainly did not expect after stumbling to 7-9 last season. But their playoff hopes were hanging because of inconsistent play and losses to Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta in which they blew late leads.
Their worst performance was at Green Bay.
The Packers limited the Bears to 234 yards of total offense that day while forging a three-way tie for the division lead, but they stumbled just as they entered the race and fell out of contention.
Add A Comment