ReportWire

Tag: football playoffs

  • For Bears and Packers, wild-card game is a rare playoff matchup in NFL’s longest-running rivalry

    [ad_1]

    CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers in a wild-card game and rare playoff matchup in the NFL’s longest-running rivalry.

    ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

    The two teams will be meeting in the postseason for just the third time. The Bears won a Western Division playoff game over the Packers 33-14 at Wrigley Field on Dec. 14, 1941. The Packers beat the Bears 21-14 in an NFC championship game at Soldier Field on Jan. 23, 2011.

    Christian and Samantha are getting ready for the Bears’ big game against the Packers on Saturday!

    The two teams split two tight games during the regular season.

    Green Bay quarterback Jordan Love is expected to play for the first time since Dec. 20, when he left the game in Chicago with a concussion. Chicago QB Caleb Williams makes his playoff debut. He was the No. 1 overall draft pick last year.

    SEE ALSO | Bears mascot Staley, Monster Squad hype up fans across Chicago ahead of Packers playoff matchup

    Green Bay (9-7-1) at Chicago (11-6)

    Saturday, 7 p.m. CST, Amazon Prime Video.

    BetMGM NFL odds: Packers by 1.

    Against the spread: Packers 6-10-1; Bears 9-7-1.

    Series record: Packers lead 109-97-6.

    Last meeting: Bears beat Packers 22-16 in OT at Chicago on Dec. 20

    Last week: Packers lost at Minnesota 16-3; Bears lost to Detroit 19-16.

    Packers offense: overall (15), rush (15), pass (17), scoring (16)

    Packers defense: overall (12), rush (18), pass (11), scoring (11)

    Bears offense: overall (6), rush (3), pass (10), scoring (9)

    Bears defense: overall (29), overall (27), pass (22), scoring (23)

    Turnover differential: Packers plus-1; Bears plus-22.

    Packers player to watch

    QB Jordan Love: He hasn’t played in a game since a helmet-to-helmet hit from Chicago’s Austin Booker in the second quarter of the Dec. 20 Packers-Bears game sent him into concussion protocol. Love was cleared before Green Bay’s regular-season finale, but the Packers opted to rest him for the playoffs. Love has nine touchdown passes and only two interceptions in six games against the Bears.

    Bears player to watch

    QB Caleb Williams. The Bears envisioned deep playoff runs on a regular basis when they drafted Williams with the No. 1 overall pick last year. They hope this is just the start. Williams threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Though his completion percentage ranked last among qualifying leaders, he became more and more comfortable in coach Ben Johnson’s system.

    Key matchup

    Chicago’s running backs against Green Bay’s defensive line. Though the Bears’ run game emerged as one of the best this season behind a retooled line, it was hard to tell against Detroit. Chicago managed just 65 yards rushing, with D’Andre Swift held to 40 yards on 10 attempts and rookie Kyle Monangai finishing with 14 yards on six carries. With Swift running for 1,087 yards and Monangai adding 783, the Bears were the only team with two 750-yard rushers. Green Bay struggled to stop the run in recent weeks, with Devonte Wyatt (ankle) and then Micah Parsons (knee) suffering season-ending injuries. The Packers gave up 150 yards rushing to the Bears in their most recent meeting and then allowed Derrick Henry to run for 216 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-24 loss to Baltimore.

    Key injuries

    Packers: WR/CB Bo Melton (knee), CB Kamal Hadden (ankle), CB Nate Hobbs (knee), DL Jordon Riley (Achilles tendon) and S Zayne Anderson (ankle) have gone on injured reserve since the most recent Packers-Bears game. … WR Dontayvion Wicks (concussion) has been ruled out for Saturday’s game. … OT Zach Tom (knee) missed the Packers’ last three regular-season games and is questionable for Saturday. Also questionable are DL Warren Brinson (foot), S Javon Bullard (knee), LB Nick Niemann (pectoral) and backup QB Malik Willis (shoulder/hamstring).

    Bears: WR Rome Odunze (foot) expects to play after missing the final five regular-season games. … CB Kyler Gordon (groin) is questionable as he attempts to return after being sidelined since Week 13. He has been limited to three games because of hamstring and groin injuries. … CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson, LB Amen Ogbongbemiga and DL Joe Tryon-Shoyinka have been ruled out because of concussions. … OL Braxton Jones (knee) is questionable.

    Series notes

    The Packers are 30-7 against the Bears counting the playoffs since the start of the 2008 season, with the past four games coming down to the wire. In 2024, both came down to field-goal attempts by Chicago’s Cairo Santos on the final play – one that got blocked and one that was successful. This season, Green Bay hung on to win 28-21 in Week 14 at Lambeau Field when Keisean Nixon intercepted Williams in the end zone with 22 seconds remaining. Chicago returned the favor two weeks later, rallying from 10 down in the final two minutes of regulation before Williams threw a 46-yard touchdown to DJ Moore in overtime. This is the third playoff game between the longtime rivals – all in Chicago. The Bears won a Western Division playoff game over the Packers 33-14 at Wrigley Field on Dec. 14, 1941. The Packers beat the Bears 21-14 in an NFC championship game at Soldier Field on Jan. 23, 2011.

    Stats and stuff

    The Packers have the NFC’s No. 7 playoff seed for the third straight year. They reached the divisional round in 2023 and lost 22-10 at Philadelphia in the wild-card round last season. … The Packers dropped their final four regular-season games. … They’re the fourth team to enter the playoffs after losing at least four straight games to end the regular season. The others were the 1986 New York Jets, 1999 Detroit Lions and 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers. The only team in that group to win a playoff game was the 1986 Jets, who beat Kansas City in the wild-card round before losing to Cleveland in overtime in the divisional round. … Packers DL Rashan Gary had 7 sacks in Green Bay’s first seven games but doesn’t have any since. … Packers RB Josh Jacobs had 13 touchdown runs this season, putting him in a tie for fourth place in the league. Jacobs didn’t play against the Vikings and had just 39 yards rushing on 16 carries over his final two regular-season games as he dealt with a knee issue. … The Bears won the NFC North for the first time since 2018 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2020. They have lost three straight postseason games since the 2010 team beat Seattle in a divisional game at Soldier Field. … The Bears dropped their final two regular-season games, losing to Detroit on a last-second field goal after coming up short in a 42-38 shootout at San Francisco. They gave up 433 yards against the Lions after the 49ers went off for 496. … If Chicago beats Green Bay, Ben Johnson would become the franchise’s first coach to win a playoff game in their first season. … The Bears led the league in interceptions (23), takeaways (33) and turnover differential (plus-22) while committing a league-low 11 turnovers. … Chicago won six games after trailing in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter. … With seven interceptions, S Kevin Byard led the league for the second time in his 10 seasons.

    Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

    [ad_2]

    AP

    Source link

  • Aledo not looking ahead; Bearcats thrash Saginaw in bi-district round

    [ad_1]

    Brady Powell (39) runs for one of his touchdowns against Saginaw In Thursday’s 5A Division 1 bi-district playoff game at Tim Buchanan Stadium in Aledo. Special to the Star-Telegram / Tom Marvin

    Brady Powell (39) runs for one of his touchdowns against Saginaw In Thursday’s 5A Division 1 bi-district playoff game at Tim Buchanan Stadium in Aledo. Special to the Star-Telegram / Tom Marvin


    Tom Marvin

    Special to the Star-Telegram

    ALEDO

    How hard will it be for the top-ranked Aledo football team to not look ahead to a rematch with No. 4 Denton Ryan? Everyone outside of the Bearcats locker room is talking about the likely clash in the state quarterfinals…three more weeks away.

    But everyone inside the Aledo locker room is focused on the task at hand, although Ryan does linger in the back of most of their minds. The Bearcats started the Class 5A Division I bi-district round by jumping on Saginaw from the start en route to an 80-12 romp over the Rough Riders on Thursday night at Buchanan Stadium.

    Aledo (11-0), ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 5A DI according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, will move on to the area round and focus on the winner of the Amarillo Tascosa (6-4)-El Paso Parkland (3-7) game that is being played in Amarillo on Friday night.

    “We’ve got to take it week by week and prepare for each opponent as hard as we can and as much as we can,” said Aledo quarterback Lincoln Tubbs who finished with 194 yards passing completing 10 of 15 and rushing for 57 more yards on 5 carries. “But we definitely have that in the back of our minds and we’re definitely ready for it.”

    Very little went right in the first half for Saginaw (7-4), the fourth-place team out of District 4-5A DI. The Rough Riders were forced to punt on their first possession and Aledo’s Lamel Swanson looked to have returned the kick 47 yards for a touchdown, but a holding penalty nullified the play.

    Starting at the Saginaw 23, it took the Bearcats four plays to take the lead when Kaden Winkfield bulled over right guard for a 7-0 lead with 8:25 left in the first quarter.

    Aledo went on to score TDs on 6 of its next 7 drives to take a 49-6 lead at the break. Winkfield added scoring runs of 14 and 3 yards with the latter coming with no time left on the clock in the second quarter.

    Backfield mate Brady Powell had 3 rushing scores of his own from 13, 16 and 9 yards. Quarterback Lincoln Tubbs tossed a slip screen to Kaydon Finley who raced 67 yards to pay dirt with 1:41 left before halftime.

    Aledo dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball. Saginaw’s only bright spot in the first half was a 98-yard bomb down the right hash from quarterback Joshua Greek to Kaiden Stewart.

    Out side of the 98-yard play, the Rough Riders managed only 58 yards of total offense against Aledo, including minus-12 on the ground on 15 carries.

    “We can’t take any team lightly,” said Aledo defensive lineman Tymon Meeks, who dominated inside for the Bearcats. “We have to prepare for any team the same way as if we were going to play Denton Ryan or Denton Guyer. A team like Ryan is always on our mind, but it has to be controlled and not out of whack.

    “We have to take it one week at a time, but with that, hopefully we’ll see them in the playoffs.”

    The Bearcats are very aware of what happened last year when Aledo defeated Ryan in the regular season, but lost to them in the playoffs to end their season.

    “I believe we know we’ll probably see them late in the playoffs,” said Aledo junior safety Cooper Hull, who had one of the Bearcats’ two interceptions on the night. “We know that when we get there we’ll have had all of the work that we put in since the start of January until now under our belts and when we play them we’ll be ready. We’re looking to go to state.”

    After Tubbs and Finley connected on an 11-yard scoring pass to start the third quarter, making it 56-6, the Bearcats’ reserves took over to finish the game. Reserve running back Jeremiah Johnson actually led Aledo in rushing with 100 yards on 6 carries with TDs of 11 and 42 yards.

    Winkfield finished with 84 yards on 11 carries and Powell picked up 98 yards on 6 totes. Finley had 6 receptions for 141 yards for the Bearcats.

    Greek went 21 of 36 for 258 yards for Saginaw with his favorite target being Stewart who had 8 catches for 179 yards.

    “When you have a big offensive line that’s physical, like we do, they’re going to create holes,” said Aledo coach Robby Jones, whose team rushed 48 times for 486 yards and finished with 680 total yards. “Our defensive line has been doing that all season, making quarterbacks uncomfortable in the pocket and I thought that they did that again tonight.”

    Jones isn’t worried about his team looking ahead to Ryan saying that his team will not be thinking about them until they get to that point. His concern right now is Tascosa, a team heavily favored over Parkland, that runs a flex bone, triple option offense that can create havoc for opposing defenses.

    “Tascosa brings a whole new challenge for us if we play them,” said Jones. “They run an offense that you just don’t see much anymore. You might not see it during the whole season and then you have to get ready for it in the playoffs.

    “It will take all week to prepare for it and what’s tough is being able to get a scout team to give our defense a good look in practice.”

    [ad_2]

    Darren Lauber

    Source link