Green Bay Packers clinch wild card berth with win over Bears

The Green Bay Packers got a spectacular performance from quarterback Jordan Love on Sunday afternoon and in the process, clinched a spot in the upcoming playoffs. The Packers defeated the Chicago Bears 17-9, and with the win, officially clinched a wild card berth. Green Bay got some big-time performances from their young core of wide receivers (Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed) and their quarterback, Jordan Love.

THE #PACKERS ARE IN THE POSTSEASON! 😤#GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/8ita7JVJoa

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) January 8, 2024

They clinched the 14th and final playoff spot on Sunday, eliminating the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints in the process. The Packers will be a 7 seed and they’ll face off against the Dallas Cowboys, who are the No. 2 seed. The game will be next Sunday, January 14th, at 4:30 PM EST. It will be televised on FOX. For a full schedule of the wild card games, you can check that out here.

The Green Bay Packers have a very bright future

Jordan Love had by far the best performance of his career thus far, completing 27 of 32 passes for 316 yards, while tossing in two touchdowns with no interceptions. Former UVA star Dontayvion Wicks hauled in six catches for 61 yards and two touchdowns. Jayden Reed hauled in four catches for 112 yards.

In his first season as the full-time starter, Jordan Love has been simply spectacular, throwing for 4,159 passing yards and 32 passing touchdowns. The only other quarterbacks in NFL history to exceed those totals in their first year as the full-time starter are Patrick Mahomes and Kurt Warner. Green Bay clearly has their signal-caller of the future.

The future is clearly bright for the Packers’ offensive attack, and they’ve hit on a number of impressive wide receivers from the 2023 NFL Draft. They drafted Reed in the second round and Wicks in the fifth round.

Both have been values considering their impact on the Green Bay passing attack this year. Reed finished the season with 64 catches for 795 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, more catches and yards than Sterling Sharpe had in his rookie season. It was one of the best rookie seasons by a receiver in Packers’ franchise history.

Based on average age weighted for playing time, the Packers are now the fifth youngest team since the 1970 merger to make the playoffs, and the youngest since the 1977 Bears, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, the future is undoubtedly bright for the Green Bay franchise.