Stock Report: Who’s Up, Who’s Down After Packers Beat Bears

The Green Bay Packers survived the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Karl Brooks’ stock is up following his game-saving blocked field goal.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) runs for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears. / David Banks-Imagn Images

Aaron Rodgers once loudly proclaimed that the Green Bay Packers owned the Chicago Bears.

He has since said that the deed to that ownership has been passed to Jordan Love.

If that is the case, then the rent was due today.

It was not convincing. It was not inspiring. But, at the end of the day, the Packers did what they always do. They beat the Bears 20-19 with Karl Brooks playing the role of hero, blocking a 46-yard field goal as time expired to get the Packers to 7-3.

He leads off our list of players with rising stocks.

Rising Stock

DT Karl Brooks

Brooks only made one impactful play on the day.

He did not pressure Caleb Williams. He didn’t sack him.

Instead, he saved his best for the last play of the game.

After two big plays from Caleb Williams to Rome Odunze, the Bears were in business to break their drought against the Packers.

Brooks had other ideas, as Cairo Santos’ kick hit his finger on its way to the uprights.

The kick fell well short, and the Packers survived, thanks to Brooks’ heroics.

DE Brenton Cox Jr.

Brenton Cox said earlier this week he was ready to show what he can do.

With the trade of Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cox was active for the first time this season.

Cox made an impact early in the game with a sack of Caleb Williams and a tackle for loss.

Both plays looked like Cox was unblocked to the naked eye, but on the tackle for loss on D’Andre Swift, Cox beat a pulling guard to make the play in the backfield.

Perhaps the same could be said on his sack, but he recognized a guitar fake from Caleb Williams and buried him for a 10-yard loss.

Cox was the only pass rusher to make an impact until late in the game against an offensive line that was part of Williams absorbing a season-high 38 sacks through Week 10.

He’s going to have plenty more opportunities as the season progresses. There are no saviors coming through the door for this putrid Packers’ pass rush; they’ll be relying on development from within.

Cox is a big part of that.

RB Josh Jacobs

Where would this offense be without Josh Jacobs?

Whenever the team has needed a play, or some stability, Jacobs has provided it.

If there were any more questions as to whether the Packers made the right decision in signing Jacobs to man their backfield, they should be gone.

Jacobs finished the day with 134 yards on 22 touches.

He scored the 50th touchdown of his career on a short burst in the third quarter to give the Packers a 14-13 lead.

Jacobs is the one reliable component on an offense that continuously has found ways to shoot itself in the foot.

WR Christian Watson

The Packers may not have a typical top receiver, but Christian Watson is the most talented one of this bunch.

He had three big plays in the passing game vs. Chicago, including a 25-yard reception on a nice play design from Matt LaFleur to get the talented receiver open. That play set up Jacobs’ touchdown.

Watson followed that up with another big play later in the game with the Packers trailing 19-14 early in the fourth quarter

Jordan Love rolled to his right and unloaded a pass down the right side of the field. Watson tracked the ball and hauled in the pass for a 48-yard completion. Curiously, Watson was not on the field on the subsequent fourth-and-goal where Jordan Love fell short of the goal line.

Finally, Watson made a 60-yard reception late in the game as the Packers were trying to mount a comeback. The diving reception might have been the play of the day and set up the decisive touchdown.

He finished the day with four catches for 150 yards.

Matt LaFleur has consistently rotated his receivers in the lineup throughout the year. He would be wise to leave his most talented receiver on the field more often than he has.

Nonetheless, this game was a big game for Watson, who the Packers have consistently said they want to be more involved.

Falling Stock

QB Jordan Love

Jordan Love did not throw an interception last week. Of course, the Packers were on their bye last week. Perhaps that’s the only way that the $220 million quarterback will take care of the football.

Love is in no danger of being benched or released. The Packers are committed to him, and for good reason.

He was excellent down the stretch last season.

He has not found that form this year.

Love threw another interception today. This one came in the red zone following a sequence that has become all too familiar with Green Bay’s red zone offense.

On second-and-1 from Chicago’s 5, Love pulled the ball on a run-pass option, resulting in Elgton Jenkins being flagged for being downfield. On second-6, a run play to receiver Jayden Reed lost 5 yards.

On third-and-11, had Tucker Kraft open but airmailed the pass.

Instead of a chance at a first down and a 14-3 lead, Love threw his 11th interception of the season.

Matt LaFleur has consistently dismissed Love’s interception issue this year.

In a pregame interview with Fox’s Erin Andrews, he told Andrews that some of Love’s interceptions were just the price of doing business.

If that is truly how LaFleur feels, it is something that needs to be corrected.

The interception questions that LaFleur said he was annoyed by will only continue to happen if he continues to throw them.

To Love’s credit, he did engineer a drive to give the team a 20-19 lead with 2:59 left in the fourth quarter, but it’s a drive they never should have needed.

DE Lukas Van Ness

With the trade of Preston Smith, there were opportunities opened up for the young pass rushers.

Van Ness figured to be one of them as the 13th pick of last year’s draft.

Instead, he was relegated to reserve duty with Kingsley Enagbare getting the start opposite of Rashan Gary.

Van Ness did little to acquit himself as a player looking to make a bigger impact on his team.

He was victimized on a zone read from Caleb Williams on two separate occasions. On D’Andre Swift’s 39-yard touchdown run, Van Ness was hooked by tight end Cole Kmet. Kmet is a solid player, but an edge rusher should not get hooked by any tight end, let alone a former first-round pick.

Van Ness’ quiet season took another disappointing turn after a tough day at the office.

LB Quay Walker

Speaking of first-round picks that have been disappointing, Quay Walker has struggled immensely this season.

That trend continued. On Chicago’s first touchdown drive in nearly a month, Walker nearly threw Roschon Johnson into the end zone, but he was ruled just short of the goal line.

For good measure, Walker met Johnson in the hole on the next play but failed to make the tackle as Johnson powered into the end zone to give the Bears a 10-7 lead at halftime.

Walker would get beaten later in the game by Caleb Williams on a fourth down, as well. Walker looked like he had Williams dead to rights but stopped in his tracks. That gave Williams enough time to find Roschon Johnson for a first down. 

Walker might be the team’s primary communicator on defense, which keeps him on the field, but his performance certainly warrants closer inspection into his role.

DT Kenny Clark

Through three quarters, Christian Watson had more tackles than Kenny Clark.

That’s not going to cut it for someone the Packers gave a rare third contract to this offseason.

Clark has been largely invisible for most of the year, and this should have been a game for him to dominate.

Clark was facing a backup guard with starter Teven Jenkins out with an ankle injury he suffered last week. When the fill-in starting left guard exited, a player who had been elevated from the practice squad moved into the lineup.

It did not matter. Clark’s impact, as it has been for most of the season, was minimal.

Perhaps the toe injury is limiting him more than he has let on, but this has been a trend for most of the season.

This is true of Clark, and the rest of the players on this defense who are paid to be big-time performers.

Situational Defense

As noted in our three reasons why the Packers could lose, situational football has been a major problem.

It continued against Chicago, which was able to dominate the time of possession and keep the ball out of the hands of Green Bay’s offense for most of the day.

One big reason for that was Chicago’s ability to stay ahead of the sticks and convert on the late downs of the drive. Chicago was 9-of-15 on third down and 2-of-2 on fourth going into the final desperation drive of the game.

They failed to convert on third-and-19 on their final series but made up for that on fourth down when Caleb Williams hit Rome Odunze deep down the sideline for 21 yards when a stop would have ended the game.

A few plays later, Cairo Santos had his 46-yard field goal blocked as time expired to preserve a 20-19 win.

Green Bay’s defense has been better situationally this year but it failed on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Green Bay’s offense went 1-of-5 on third down, 0-for-1 on fourth down and failed twice in the red zone.

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The #Packers shock the Bears on Karl Brooks' game-winning field goal. More to come from Soldier Field.https://t.co/rAldVeo5TJ

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) November 17, 2024

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