{"id":674903,"date":"2026-01-13T21:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T21:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674903\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T21:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T21:07:13","slug":"dont-forget-that-green-bays-defense-did-more-than-enough-for-three-quarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/674903\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Forget That Green Bay’s Defense Did More Than Enough For Three Quarters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Had you been told the Chicago Bears would have six points entering the fourth quarter of Saturday\u2019s playoff affair and that Jeff Hafley\u2019s defense would force two Caleb Williams<\/a> interceptions, you\u2019d feel pretty good about the Green Bay Packers\u2019 chances.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happened, and yet the Packers still lost. While people are justifiably paying a lot of attention to the 25 points they surrendered<\/a> in the fourth quarter, don\u2019t forget who set the table through 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

The first half was poetry in motion; Green Bay\u2019s offense and defense were firing on all cylinders. It harmonized into a 21-3 lead for the Packers at the break.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Green Bay got the first crack at the ball, but the offense sputtered out \u2026 and then did it again on three more drives. Meanwhile, the defense kept stepping up, delivering time and again.<\/p>\n

Hafley\u2019s defense deserves criticism for yielding an unbelievable 25 points in the final 15 minutes of Saturday\u2019s all-out debacle. However, given the caliber of Chicago\u2019s offense and the fact that Green Bay\u2019s offense couldn\u2019t even pick up a first down for much of the second half, wasn\u2019t the dam going to break at some point?<\/p>\n

Though the degree to which it broke is unacceptable, what else could you have possibly asked for from Hafley\u2019s group? Ben Johnson was panicking in the first half, going for it on one fourth down after another, even one at Chicago\u2019s own 32-yard line that they failed to convert. Hafley\u2019s defense also won the turnover battle 2-0, an unlikely prospect against a Bears team greedy for interceptions.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s defense was No. 1 in the NFL in takeaways this year, and its offense had the fewest giveaways. Yet Hafley\u2019s defense forced two turnovers and numerous turnovers on downs.<\/p>\n

The Packers put up 27 points. Typically, that should be enough. But when you start the second half with the drives the Packers did, it continued to put a strain on Hafley\u2019s defense to keep Chicago out of the end zone, and with little time to catch a breath.<\/p>\n

Green Bay\u2019s drive charts to start the second half went as follows:<\/p>\n

Three plays, minus-two yards, 1:07 off the clock
\nThree plays, eight yards, 1:39 off the clock
\nThree plays, 13 yards, 2:36 off the clock
\nThree plays, -10 yards, 0:51 off the clock<\/p>\n

Green Bay\u2019s offense went from a well-oiled machine to a scared bunch in a second half filled with one conservative Matt LaFleur play call after another. Meanwhile, the defense kept the team afloat until it eventually began taking on water.<\/p>\n

Nobody is giving Hafley or the defense a pat on the back and saying they were star-spangled spectacular. Giving up 31 points in a playoff game is no great accomplishment. But the numbers don\u2019t necessarily provide full context for the story; it was a taxed group because of a Green Bay offense that struggled for basic competence in the final two frames.<\/p>\n

In response to another epic postseason collapse, LaFleur said<\/a> the team needs to stay composed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve just got to do a better job of keeping our composure as a football team and going out there and doing the fundamental things that we practice all the time. I think when you get into these types of big games, when you don\u2019t execute simple fundamentals, it comes back to bite you. That\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n

Sounds like a culture problem, but I digress.<\/p>\n

Green Bay\u2019s defense was put through the wringer when it lost Micah Parsons<\/a> to a torn ACL<\/a>. Rashan Gary<\/a> promised<\/a> the defensive front would step up in Parsons\u2019 absence, but he didn\u2019t, and neither did they. Gary was a cardio collector<\/a> at best.<\/p>\n

Hafley needed to make adjustments in a life without Parsons. In the first game without Parsons \u2014 ironically at Chicago in Week 16 \u2014 Hafley dialed up pressure early and often. He didn\u2019t usually bring more than four rushers on Saturday night, but through the first three quarters, it wasn\u2019t required.<\/p>\n

Safety Javon Bullard<\/a>, who hasn\u2019t been shy to speak his mind throughout the year, didn\u2019t think<\/a> Chicago did anything too special during the come-from-behind win.<\/p>\n

No disrespect to them but it ain\u2019t (expletive) that they did. It\u2019s us. We got to finish. We whooping they (expletive) the whole game. They ain\u2019t do (expletive) special. We gotta finish. We ain\u2019t finish last time, we ain\u2019t finish this time. That\u2019s some (expletive) we gotta work on within us.<\/p>\n

Nobody claimed Bullard was a poet, but his overarching theme rang true. The Packers didn\u2019t finish, and it ruined what was a gem of a performance by their defense through 45 minutes. Nobody will remember that. The story in retrospect will always be about the 25 points they surrendered in the final quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Had you been told the Chicago Bears would have six points entering the fourth quarter of Saturday\u2019s playoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,41,345,2514,2513,462,8628,6,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-674903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-green-bay","10":"tag-green-bay-packers","11":"tag-greenbay","12":"tag-greenbaypackers","13":"tag-javon-bullard","14":"tag-jeff-hafley","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-packers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115889835092551804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}