Wow.
Okay, so the Packers could have had a much better chance at winning had they allowed the Bears to score a TD there. Seriously, what were they thinking? Which would you rather have:
- Down by 7, 1:30 to go, one timeout
- Down by 3, :05 to go, no timeouts
Getting a TD on a kickoff return is ridiculously unlikely. It doesn't happen that often. When was the last time an endgame lateral-frenzy worked anyway? With 5 seconds left, it negated the advantage of only being down by 3 anyway, since there was no time to get in position for a field goal.
I don't know if "step back from the line and allow the offense to score a TD" is in the Packers' defensive playbook, but it should have been. I know "step back from the line and don't score a TD" is in the Bears' playbook - they should have taken a knee there and kicked the FG. End result of the game was the same, but they sure would have looked dumb if they had made a TD and gave the Packers enough time to tie it up and possibly win in overtime.
Oh and genius move by the Bears of just having Cutler throw it downfield and milk the pass interference penalties. That is a completely legitimate strategy - they know how undisciplined the Packers are, so why not? Free 1st downs! Free yards! Some people are saying the Packers beat themselves; I'd say instead that they just allowed the Bears to beat them using silly strategies like drawing penalties. The Bears weren't too proud to exploit that weakness.